Plateforme des Organisations Haïtiennes de Défense des Droits Humains/Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH)
POHDH trains people at the grassroots level to work within their communities for human rights, and to monitor and document human rights abuses.
The Plateforme des Organisations Haïtiennes de Défense des Droits Humains/Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH), founded in 1991, is a national coalition of nine of Haiti’s foremost human rights groups. Through its communication and advocacy programs, POHDH educates and trains the Haitian population on the various categories of human rights; the state’s human rights obligations; and national, regional, and international mechanisms for the protection of human rights in Haiti. POHDH’s weekly radio program, “Koze dwa Moun” (the Human Rights Cause) is a key part of POHDH’s communication and popular education strategy, reaching thousands of listeners every week.
Through these efforts, POHDH now has a network of over 150 human rights monitors in all 10 departments (states) of the nation. Its strategic aims are to improve human rights monitoring for policy and procedural change, to improve assistance to victims of human rights violations, and to end the culture of impunity.
In the face of widespread land grabbing, POHDH lifts up the importance of the human right to land, and conducts research and documentation about the right to land in collaboration with peasant movements and allied organizations, including several of Grassroots International’s other Haitian partners and allies.
