Pharra Metellus, Debater of the Public Law School of Hinche
The tournament was organized under the theme “AN N Kwape Trèt Moun (Let’s Eradicate Trafficking), by the BEST project (Building Enduring System to Eradicate Trafficking), funded by USAID, co-implemented by LUMOS, IAWJ and CRS. The Final game was hosted on Sunday February 20th, 2022, between the Public Law School of Hinche and the Public Law school of Cap-Haitian.
The motion of the debate was stated as follow: “The 2014 law against human trafficking lacks legal strength without a version in Haitian Creole”. The debate was held entirely in Haitian creole to celebrate the UN International Mother Tongue Day (February 21st).
Group photo with both Public Law Schools team members
For Jane Charles-Voltaire, Senior Program Officer of IAWJ: “The IAWJ feels happy to have initiated this debating tournament through the BEST program. Since 1991, IAWJ has implemented innovative judicial training programs that advance human rights in several countries. This debate initiative is an example of this because it took an intergenerational approach to building the capacity of young Haitian lawyers in the fight against the forms of trafficking, such as Child Domestic Servitude. In addition, this final, with a subject of debate in Creole, testifies to the spirit of innovation at IAWJ but also to the importance of publicly debating important societal issues such as trafficking in a language that any Haitian can to understand”.
Smith Derosier, of the Public Law School of Hinche receiving his certificates
Eight (8) teams participated in this tournament from 6 cities around Haiti. All team members of the competition preliminary received a training on the issue of Trafficking delivered by The Haitian School of Magistrates (EMA) and another training on Debating Skills. Team members of the Public Law Schools, as champions, will receive small grants for their academic research on Human trafficking in Haiti, and other gifts such internet modem and data plan to help them in their studies.