Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
Kristina Fried, Bertha Justice Fellow, prior to joining IJDH, worked as a Legal Fellow with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC. During her fellowship, Kristina worked with stateless persons on administrative and legislative advocacy, as well as intervention on individual stateless and refugee cases. She also spent a semester working with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights on strategic litigation and advocacy concerning violent push-backs of migrants at Europe’s external borders, in particular assisting with a submission to the Human Rights Committee. Prior to that, Kristina worked with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies representing victims of gender- and gang-based violence in their asylum claims. Kristina holds a B.A. from the University of Melbourne in Islamic Studies and Arabic and is a 2020 graduate of Boston University School of Law, where she specialized in international human rights law. During law school, Kristina served as a student attorney with the International Human Rights Clinic, where she worked with civil society to map stateless populations in Lebanon, identify the root causes of statelessness, and propose an advocacy strategy to address those causes.
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Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH)
IJDH has successfully helped Haitians enforce their human rights since 2004. The Institute partners with BAI to support grassroots struggles for justice in Haiti and in the powerful countries abroad where decisions about Haitians’ rights are often made. IJDH and BAI combine traditional legal strategies with organizing, emerging technology and public advocacy to address the root causes of instability and poverty in Haiti. We fight for justice with routinely excellent legal work, but also with creativity, humility, inspiration and humor, and a supportive work culture. We effect broad changes with modest resources by nurturing large advocacy networks. Notable achievements include: •Representation of 5,000+ Haitian victims of cholera in a class action lawsuit against the United Nations, in pursuit of justice and accountability for the UN’s direct role in causing the October 2010 outbreak. This case is currently in the appeals process; •A 2014 appeals court decision reinstating charges of torture, murder and other crimes against former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier; •Convictions in twelve of sixteen rape cases that reached trial 2012-2014; •Successful prosecution of the Raboteau Massacre, a 1994 military/paramilitary attack on a pro-democracy neighborhood, that convicted the top military and paramilitary leadership of Haiti’s 1991-1994 “de facto” dictatorship. Among the convicted is the highest-ranked officer ever deported from the U.S. on human rights grounds; •Important training for social justice lawyers, who have used their training to advance human rights in Haiti, the U.S., and throughout the world; BAI/IJDH’s work has been featured in several award-winning documentaries, a Harvard University case study, and is the focus of the 2014 book How Human Rights Can Build Haiti.