Mario Joseph
Encyclopedia
Mario Joseph, Haiti
's most prominent human rights
lawyer
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD9123FF93BA15754C0A9609C8B63&scp=11&sq=mario%20joseph&st=cse, has led the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
(BAI) in Port-au-Prince
since 1996. Attorney
Joseph and the BAI represent political prisoner
s and victims of political violence
, and fight to make Haiti's justice system work for poor people.
The BAI was established by the Haitian government to help victims and the justice system prosecute human rights cases, mostly from Haiti's 1991-1994 de facto military dictatorship
. From 1996 to 2004, the office fought to make the justice system work for Haiti's poor, by representing human rights victims in court and helping them advocate both inside and outside of the courtroom
. The BAI worked closely with judge
s, prosecutors, police
and government officials, providing legal, technical and material assistance, as well as policy
advice. The BAI has trained Haitian law school
graduates, hosted U.S. law student interns and worked with U.S. law school clinics through its clinical program. Attorney Joseph has been the attorney of record for the victims, and the chief trial lawyer, and helped supervise the BAI training program.
Under Joseph's leadership
, the BAI has pioneered a "victim-centered approach," that combines traditional legal representation with capacity building for victims’ organizations and political strategies to advance the interests of his clients while maximizing his cases’ impact on the broader Haitian society.
. Three members of the military high command were deported from the U.S. to Haiti to face charges in Raboteau, including the former Assistant Commander-in-Chief
, the highest ranked soldier ever deported from the U.S. to face human rights charges.
Attorney Joseph helped the Center for Justice & Accountability pursue perpetrators of the Raboteau Massacre in U.S. courts, by providing expert testimony
and legal advice, and helping to coordinate with his clients. These efforts led to a historic damage recovery of $430,000 for the victims in May, 2008.
Under Haiti's brutal and unconstitutional Interim Government (2004–2006), Attorney Joseph represented political prisoner
s, including top former government officials, journalists and grassroots organizers. His courageous advocacy generated frequent threats- his family was forced to leave the country, and Amnesty International issued an urgent action on his behalf in October 2004. For most of these prisoners, especially those who could not afford legal fees, Attorney Joseph was the only lawyer who would take their cases.
, to place systematic pressure on the dictatorship and its democratic successor to respect the rule of law. His work became a focal point for international pressure on the Interim Government, and he is regularly consulted by members of the U.S. Congress, human rights organizations, journalists and grassroots
activists throughout the world. Perhaps most important, by standing up for the wrongfully imprisoned during the dictatorship
, Joseph gave confidence to other political dissidents, who knew that Attorney Joseph would help them if their own political activities led to arrest.
One of Joseph's most prominent cases under the Interim Government was that of Catholic Priest and human rights activist Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste
, who was arrested while feeding hundreds of children their only meal of the day. "Fr. Gerry" had been imprisoned and forced into exile several times since he opposed the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1980s. The University of San Francisco
conferred an honorary degree on him on September 11, 2006, in recognition of his social justice work. Fr. Jean-Juste was arrested three times in 2004 and 2005, and brought in for questioning three more times. He spent a total of seven months in prison. Joseph represented Fr. Jean-Juste at the police station
, at hearings and before trial and appellate courts. He managed to obtain pre-trial release for Fr. Jean Juste twice, in October 2004 and January 2006. The second release probably saved Fr. Jean-Juste's life, as he was suffering from treatable but untreated leukemia
. The charges were finally dismissed following Joseph's successful appeal of them, in June 2008. Fr. Jean-Juste is now free to return to his parish work, and to his feeding program, which now feeds over 7,000 meals a week.
Joseph's work on Fr. Jean-Juste's behalf extended beyond the courtroom, and even the borders of Haiti. He collaborated closely with Bill Quigley, Fr. Jean-Juste's U.S.-based lawyer, and a professor at Loyola New Orleans University Law School, Fr. Gerry's doctor, Dr. Paul Farmer
, and with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, who pressured the U.S. government to intervene on Fr. Gerry's behalf.
In January 2007, Joseph testified as an expert on Haitian law before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
in Costa Rica, in the case of Yvon Neptune
v. Haiti, the only Haitian case ever decided by the Court. His testimony helped convince the Court to find that Haiti had violated 11 provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights
during its persecution of Neptune. He also helped convince the Court to transcend Neptune's case, and order the Haitian government to adopt a plan to improve its inhuman
prison conditions within two years.
Attorney Joseph also provided expert testimony to the New York State court handling the criminal prosecution of Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel Constant
, whom Joseph had helped convict in the Raboteau massacre case. Constant's New York charges were for bank fraud
, but Attorney Joseph helped convince the court that Constant's crimes in Haiti justified a rejection of a plea deal giving him a light sentence.
, Haiti's leading teaching college, and the Gonaïves Law School. Since 2005, he has been a member of the governing Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
's most prominent human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFD9123FF93BA15754C0A9609C8B63&scp=11&sq=mario%20joseph&st=cse, has led the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
The Bureau des Avocats Internationaux is a public interest law office located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, founded in 1995. Its mission is to work with victims of human rights violations to force open the doors of Haiti's justice system for the majority of Haitians who are poor...
(BAI) in Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
since 1996. Attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
Joseph and the BAI represent political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s and victims of political violence
Political violence
Political violence is a common means used by people and governments around the world to achieve political goals. Many groups and individuals believe that their political systems will never respond to their political demands. As a result they believe that violence is not only justified but also...
, and fight to make Haiti's justice system work for poor people.
The BAI was established by the Haitian government to help victims and the justice system prosecute human rights cases, mostly from Haiti's 1991-1994 de facto military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
. From 1996 to 2004, the office fought to make the justice system work for Haiti's poor, by representing human rights victims in court and helping them advocate both inside and outside of the courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
. The BAI worked closely with judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
s, prosecutors, police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
and government officials, providing legal, technical and material assistance, as well as policy
Policy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
advice. The BAI has trained Haitian law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
graduates, hosted U.S. law student interns and worked with U.S. law school clinics through its clinical program. Attorney Joseph has been the attorney of record for the victims, and the chief trial lawyer, and helped supervise the BAI training program.
Under Joseph's leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
, the BAI has pioneered a "victim-centered approach," that combines traditional legal representation with capacity building for victims’ organizations and political strategies to advance the interests of his clients while maximizing his cases’ impact on the broader Haitian society.
Raboteau Massacre
Attorney Joseph was the lead lawyer for the victims in the prosecution of the BAI's most successful case, the Raboteau Massacre trial. After six weeks of trial ending in November 2000, the Raboteau Massacre jury convicted 53 defendants for a 1994 attack on a pro-democracy neighborhood, including the de facto dictatorship's top military and paramilitary leaders. The Raboto case is considered Haiti's best complex criminal case ever, and one of the most important human rights prosecutions anywhere in the AmericasAmericas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. Three members of the military high command were deported from the U.S. to Haiti to face charges in Raboteau, including the former Assistant Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
, the highest ranked soldier ever deported from the U.S. to face human rights charges.
Attorney Joseph helped the Center for Justice & Accountability pursue perpetrators of the Raboteau Massacre in U.S. courts, by providing expert testimony
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
and legal advice, and helping to coordinate with his clients. These efforts led to a historic damage recovery of $430,000 for the victims in May, 2008.
Under Haiti's brutal and unconstitutional Interim Government (2004–2006), Attorney Joseph represented political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s, including top former government officials, journalists and grassroots organizers. His courageous advocacy generated frequent threats- his family was forced to leave the country, and Amnesty International issued an urgent action on his behalf in October 2004. For most of these prisoners, especially those who could not afford legal fees, Attorney Joseph was the only lawyer who would take their cases.
Representative Experience
Joseph's political prisoner work has gone beyond freeing individuals from injusticeInjustice
Injustice is the lack of or opposition to justice, either in reference to a particular event or act, or as a larger status quo. The term generally refers to misuse, abuse, neglect, or malfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system. Misuse and abuse with regard to a particular...
, to place systematic pressure on the dictatorship and its democratic successor to respect the rule of law. His work became a focal point for international pressure on the Interim Government, and he is regularly consulted by members of the U.S. Congress, human rights organizations, journalists and grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
activists throughout the world. Perhaps most important, by standing up for the wrongfully imprisoned during the dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
, Joseph gave confidence to other political dissidents, who knew that Attorney Joseph would help them if their own political activities led to arrest.
One of Joseph's most prominent cases under the Interim Government was that of Catholic Priest and human rights activist Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste
Gérard Jean-Juste
Fr. Gérard Jean-Juste was a Roman Catholic priest and rector of Saint Claire's church for the poor in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He was also a liberation theologian and a supporter of the Fanmi Lavalas political party, the largest in Haiti. In 1978, Father Jean-Juste founded the Haitian Refugee Center...
, who was arrested while feeding hundreds of children their only meal of the day. "Fr. Gerry" had been imprisoned and forced into exile several times since he opposed the Duvalier dictatorship in the 1980s. The University of San Francisco
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco , is a private, Jesuit/Catholic university located in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1855, USF was established as the first university in San Francisco. It is the second oldest institution for higher learning in California and the tenth-oldest university of...
conferred an honorary degree on him on September 11, 2006, in recognition of his social justice work. Fr. Jean-Juste was arrested three times in 2004 and 2005, and brought in for questioning three more times. He spent a total of seven months in prison. Joseph represented Fr. Jean-Juste at the police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
, at hearings and before trial and appellate courts. He managed to obtain pre-trial release for Fr. Jean Juste twice, in October 2004 and January 2006. The second release probably saved Fr. Jean-Juste's life, as he was suffering from treatable but untreated leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
. The charges were finally dismissed following Joseph's successful appeal of them, in June 2008. Fr. Jean-Juste is now free to return to his parish work, and to his feeding program, which now feeds over 7,000 meals a week.
Joseph's work on Fr. Jean-Juste's behalf extended beyond the courtroom, and even the borders of Haiti. He collaborated closely with Bill Quigley, Fr. Jean-Juste's U.S.-based lawyer, and a professor at Loyola New Orleans University Law School, Fr. Gerry's doctor, Dr. Paul Farmer
Paul Farmer
Dr. Paul Edward Farmer is an American anthropologist and physician. He is currently the Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University, formerly the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician and Chief...
, and with U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, who pressured the U.S. government to intervene on Fr. Gerry's behalf.
In January 2007, Joseph testified as an expert on Haitian law before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
in Costa Rica, in the case of Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune was Prime Minister of Haïti from 2002 until 2004. He was appointed by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took office on March 15, 2002...
v. Haiti, the only Haitian case ever decided by the Court. His testimony helped convince the Court to find that Haiti had violated 11 provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights
American Convention on Human Rights
The American Convention on Human Rights is an international human rights instrument.It was adopted by the nations of the Americas meeting in San José, Costa Rica, in 22 November 1969...
during its persecution of Neptune. He also helped convince the Court to transcend Neptune's case, and order the Haitian government to adopt a plan to improve its inhuman
Inhuman
Inhuman may refer to:*Inhuman, a member of the fictional Marvel Comics race, the Inhumans*Inhuman , an album by Desecration*Inhuman Games, a game companyIt may also refer to:*Inhuman Condition, an EP from the band Massacre...
prison conditions within two years.
Attorney Joseph also provided expert testimony to the New York State court handling the criminal prosecution of Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel Constant
Emmanuel Constant
Emmanuel Constant is the founder of FRAPH, a Haitian death squad organized in mid-1993 to terrorize supporters of exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide....
, whom Joseph had helped convict in the Raboteau massacre case. Constant's New York charges were for bank fraud
Bank fraud
Bank fraud is the use of fraudulent means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently representing to be a bank or financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offense...
, but Attorney Joseph helped convince the court that Constant's crimes in Haiti justified a rejection of a plea deal giving him a light sentence.
Before BAI
Before joining the BAI, Joseph worked on human rights cases for the Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission. Also an educator, Joseph has held a variety of teaching and administrative posts. He is a graduate of the École Normale SupérieureÉcole Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
, Haiti's leading teaching college, and the Gonaïves Law School. Since 2005, he has been a member of the governing Bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers.