Haiti

A multi-party, semi-presidential republic, the island of Haiti gained independence in 1804, making it the first modern independent nation of Latin America and the Caribbean. Haiti is predominantly a Christian country, with the largest denomination being Roman Catholicism. Many Haitians (regardless of religious affiliation) also hold spiritual beliefs deriving from Haitian Vodou, a form of belief that blends traditional religions of West Africa and Roman Catholicism and brought to Haiti during the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries.[ref]https://theconversation.com/what-is-haitian-voodoo-119621[/ref]

Constitution and government Education and children’s rights Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
There is systematic religious privilege
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general
There is an established church or state religion
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
State-funding of religious institutions or salaries, or discriminatory tax exemptions
There is state funding of at least some religious schools
Religious schools have powers to discriminate in admissions or employment
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
Some religious courts rule in civil or family matters on a coercive or discriminatory basis
Discriminatory prominence is given to religious bodies, traditions or leaders
Religious groups control some public or social services
Some concerns about political or media freedoms, not specific to the non-religious
Concerns that secular or religious authorities interfere in specifically religious freedoms
Constitution and government
There is systematic religious privilege
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general
There is an established church or state religion
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
State-funding of religious institutions or salaries, or discriminatory tax exemptions
Education and children’s rights
There is state funding of at least some religious schools
Religious schools have powers to discriminate in admissions or employment
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
Family, community, society, religious courts and tribunals
Some religious courts rule in civil or family matters on a coercive or discriminatory basis
Discriminatory prominence is given to religious bodies, traditions or leaders
Religious groups control some public or social services
Freedom of expression advocacy of humanist values
Some concerns about political or media freedoms, not specific to the non-religious
Concerns that secular or religious authorities interfere in specifically religious freedoms
Use of Conscientious Objection clauses resulting in the denial of lawful services to women and LGBTI+ people
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in all or most state-funded schools with no secular or humanist alternative
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: Kazakhstan

The state is secular, with separation of religious and political authorities, not discriminating against any religion or belief
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report
No fundamental restrictions on freedom of expression or advocacy of humanist values
Insufficient information or detail not included in this report

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

No condition holds in this strand
No condition holds in this strand

Countries: Andorra

No condition holds in this strand
Religious courts or tribunals rule directly on some family or ‘moral’ matters; it is legally an opt-in system, but the possibility of social coercion is very clear
No condition holds in this strand

Countries: no countries relate to this boundary condition

Localised or infrequent but recurring and widespread social marginalisation or prejudice against the non-religious

This condition is unusual in that it is applied in cases where there is some social discrimination, but it is not pervasive or nationwide. This condition is applied when there is sufficient background evidence to warrant the assertion that discrimination is not anomalous but widespread, and this condition may be applied for example even where if there is no legislative discrimination or where the non-religious may have legal recourse against such discrimination. However, societal discrimination (i.e. discrimination by peers, as opposed to state or legal discrimination) is not easily measured, and for this reason the Report does not currently have similar more severe boundary conditions to capture higher levels of social discrimination per se. In principle these may be introduced in future. However, we consider that countries with actual higher levels of social discrimination against the non-religious will generally already meet other higher level (more severe) boundary conditions under this thematic strand.

Countries: Botswana, Greece, Serbia, United States of America

The dominant influence of religion in public life undermines the right to equality and/or non-discrimination

Applied when the influence of religion on public life undermines others’ rights, such as SRHR, women’s rights, LGBTI+ rights.

May be applied when the influence is overt (i.e. when religious laws are applied to undermine others’ rights) or covert (i.e. where religious pressure groups exert influence to affect policy)

Countries: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Croatia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eswatini, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Liberia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Oman, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Zambia

The non-religious are persecuted socially or there are prohibitive social taboos against atheism, humanism or secularism
Complete tyranny precludes all freedoms of expression and thought, religion or belief

Applied when overriding acts of oppression by the State are extreme, to the extent that the question of freedom of thought and expression is almost redundant, because all human rights and freedoms are quashed by authorities.

Countries: North Korea

Expression of core Humanist principles on democracy, freedom and human rights is brutally repressed
Expression of non-religious views is severely persecuted, or is rendered almost impossible by severe social stigma, or is highly likely to be met with hatred or violence
There is significant social marginalisation of the non-religious or stigma associated with expressing atheism, humanism or secularism
Religious or ideological indoctrination is utterly pervasive in schools
There is a nominal state church with few privileges or progress is being made toward disestablishment

Countries: Bulgaria, Norway, Peru, Rwanda

The non-religious are barred from some government offices (including posts reserved for particular religions or sects)
‘Apostasy’ is outlawed and punishable with a prison sentence

Countries: Bahrain, Comoros, Jordan, Kuwait

‘Apostasy’ or conversion from a specific religion is outlawed and punishable by death
Some religious courts rule in civil or family matters on a coercive or discriminatory basis
Religious authorities have supreme authority over the state

Countries: Iran

State legislation is partly derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Preferential treatment is given to a religion or religion in general

This condition is applied where there are miscellaneous indicators that organs of the state offer various forms of support for a religion, or to religion in general over non-religious worldviews, suggesting a preference for those beliefs, or that the organs of that religion are privileged.

Countries: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste (East Timor), Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Zimbabwe

There is a pattern of impunity or collusion in violence by non-state actors against the nonreligious
State-funded schools provide religious education which may be nominally comprehensive but is substantively biased or borderline confessional
Religious or ideological instruction in a significant number of schools is of a coercive fundamentalist or extremist variety

This condition highlights countries where schools subject children to fundamentalist religious instruction with no real opportunity to question fundamentalist tenets, or where lessons routinely encourage hatred (for example religious or ethnic hatred). The wording “significant number of schools” is not given a rigid quantification (sometimes the worst-offending schools are unregistered, illegal, or otherwise uncounted); however the condition is not applied in cases where only a small number of schools meet the description and may be anomalous, as opposed to being indicative of a widespread problem.

Countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

State legislation is largely or entirely derived from religious law or by religious authorities
Anomalous discrimination by local or provincial authorities, or overseas territories
Religious or ideological instruction is mandatory in at least some public schools (without secular or humanist alternatives)
‘Blasphemy’ or criticism of religion is outlawed and punishable by death
Government figures or state agencies openly marginalize, harass, or incite hatred or violence against the non-religious
Government authorities push a socially conservative, religiously or ideologically inspired agenda, without regard to the rights of those with progressive views
It is illegal to advocate secularism or church-state separation, or such advocacy is suppressed
Prohibitive interreligious social control (including interreligious marriage bans)
Quasi-divine veneration of a ruling elite is enforced, or a single-party regime holds uncontested power, subject to severe punishment
Legal or constitutional provisions exclude non-religious views from freedom of belief
It is illegal to register an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization, or such groups are persecuted by authorities
There is a religious tax or tithing which is compulsory, or which is state-administered and discriminates by precluding non-religious groups
The non-religious are barred from holding government office
Some concerns about children's right to specifically religious freedom

This condition may apply if specifically religious education, religious materials, or specific religious denominations are so tightly controlled that children are in fact over-protected from exposure to religion and are likely unable to explore or construct their own worldview in accordance with their evolving capacities. This condition helps us to classify states (perhaps with secular constitutions) which have criminalized specifically religious beliefs or practices. This condition is not applied if the restricted beliefs or practices are found to be outlawed due to their being of an extremist variety. While this condition does not directly reflect discrimination against non-religious persons or non-religious ideas, it does represent an overall threat to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief; such restrictions could spill over to affect non-religious beliefs later; and they pose a risk of backlash against over-zealous secular authorities or even against non-religious individuals by association.

Countries: China, Congo, Democratic Republic of, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guyana, Italy, Kazakhstan, Laos, Madagascar, Mexico, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe

It is illegal or unrecognised to identify as an atheist or as non-religious
It is made difficult to register or operate an explicitly Humanist, atheist, secularist or other non-religious NGO or other human rights organization
Legend
 
Systemic Discrimination
Mostly Satisfactory
More information about rating table

Constitution and government

The Haitian Constitution and other laws and policies generally protect and, at the same time, respect religious freedom. However, there were reports of societal abuses or discrimination against minority religions, including practitioners of Haitian Vodou and Muslims.

By law, religious institutions must register with the government to receive government benefits; however, there is no penalty for operating without registration. Registration affords religious groups standing in legal disputes and provides tax-exempt status.[ref]https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/171783.pdf[/ref]

Religious privileges

Despite Roman Catholicism’s status as the official religion in the country coming to an end with the adoption of the 1987 constitution, an 1860 concordat between the Holy See and the state is still in place, and Catholicism retains traditional authority socially, as well as privileges from the state. The Haitian government confers monetary assistance to Catholic priests, bishops and archbishops.

The National Council for Haitian Muslims, composed of Sunni and Shia groups, continues to seek official government recognition. Although the government granted the Ahmadiyya Muslims a registration number in 2018, it did not grant the group full recognition. No Muslim group has successfully attained full recognition by the government. [ref]https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/haiti/[/ref]

Education and children’s rights

The government provides financial support to some Catholic schools in the country. This assistance is not available to other religious groups.

Organised missionary groups and missionaries who identify with a broad range of religious groups operate privately-funded schools and orphanages (as well as clinics and hospitals.)

Family, community and society

Vodou practitioners continue to be stigmatized and persecuted for their beliefs, which are poorly understood and treated with suspicion. According to the Haitian Vodou Federation, in 2019 a Vodou priest from Mackandal was attacked with machetes after being accused of the sudden and unexplained death of a neighbor. In another incident, neighbors set fire to the house of a mambo (a Vodou priestess) whom a Protestant pastor accused of causing the death of an infant.[ref]Ibid[/ref]

Muslims married in a religious ceremony are restricted from receiving the same government recognition afforded to Christian marriages and can only acquire government recognition through a civil court.

Gender-based violence

Haiti’s criminal justice system does little to protect women and girls against gender-based violence. Haiti does not have specific legislation against domestic violence, sexual harassment, or other forms of violence targeted at women and girls. Rape was only explicitly criminalized in 2005. Gender-based violence escalated in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in 2010 as many were displaced to live in temporary camps. In 2018 it was revealed that Oxfam employees perpetrated sexual abuse and exploitation.

LGBTI+ rights

Although there were no laws criminalizing the changing of one’s gender or sex, local attitudes in Haiti remain unfriendly to openly LGBTI+ identification and expression. Despite an ever burgeoning advocacy and activism by sexual minorities and human rights groups in the country, LGBTI+ individuals still experienced a particularly high degree of hostility from more conservative areas of society, including government officials. Religious and other conservative groups in Haiti have actively prohibited the social integration of LGBTI+ individuals. Parliamentarians in the country have publicly declared that they would not and should not acknowledge any particular type of LGBTI+ rights legislation, including marriage equality.

In 2018, two anti-LGBTI+ bills were passed by the Haitian Senate. The first one included “proven homosexuals” in a list of individuals (alongside pedophiles and child pornographers) to be deprived of a certificate of moral good standing, which is a document that is required for acceptance into certain universities and often an expected part of job applications. The other bill called for banning “demonstrations of support for homosexuality,” and would make so much as attending a same-sex wedding punishable by three years in prison and a fine of almost $8,000, regardless of the fact that gay marriage is not legal in Haiti. While neither measure has passed through Parliament, the bills have nonetheless had an impact by feeding general social acceptability for blatant anti-LGBTI+ discrimination and homophobia.[ref]https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-02-06/why-its-gotten-harder-lgbt-people-haiti-earthquake[/ref]

In November 2019, Haiti’s leading LGBTI+ activist Charlot Jeudy was found dead in his home. While the full circumstances of his death remain unknown, it was widely suspected to be the result of a hate crime.[ref]https://www.ebar.com/news/news//285210[/ref]

Freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values

The law in Haiti typically affords freedom of speech and press, and, in practice, the government generally respected these rights. The independent media were active and free to express a wide variety of views. However, there were allegations of officials and security agents bothering and even causing threat to some journalists who criticised the government.[ref]state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm[/ref]

On 14 March 2018, freelance photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur – who was investigating the consequences of clashes between the police and gangs in Grand-Ravine, where two police officers and nine civilians have been killed – disappeared.

Suppression of protests

Since 2018, Haiti has experienced waves of protests; what began as protests against growing fuel prices, transformed into calls for the president’s resignation after he was accused of overseeing the embezzlement of millions of dollars of public funds.[ref]https://www.france24.com/en/20190601-haitian-investigators-say-president-embezzlement-scheme[/ref]

Journalists have paid a heavy price; several journalists covering the protests were attacked and beaten. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), has noted increased attacks attacks on journalists, raising particular concern about an incident during which a journalist was shot by a Haitian senator who opened fire outside Haitian parliament on 23 September 2019. [ref]https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/media_center/PReleases/2019/258.asp[/ref] At least three journalists have been killed; prominent radio journalist Néhéme Joseph, was killed on 10 October 2019, and Pétion Rospide, reporter for Radio Sans Fin, was shot dead on 10 June 2019 during one of the protests.[ref]https://cpj.org/2019/10/radio-panic-fm-journalist-found-dead-in-haiti-foll.php; https://rsf.org/en/news/journalist-shot-dead-amid-anti-government-protests-haiti [/ref] On 9 November, Bernard Belle-Fleur, a Télé Soleil and Radio Nationale d’Haïti journalist and operator, was shot repeatedly and killed by unknown assailants.[ref]https://pen-international.org/news/human-rights-day-the-perspective-from-haiti[/ref]