#LibresEtEgauxHT: The UN Free & Equal campaign in HAITI
During the last year, the United Nations Free and Equal campaign in Haiti has been promoting equal rights and fair treatment of LGBTI people through an initiative led by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with support from the Being LGBTI in the Caribbean (BLIC) project team and local Civil Society Organisations.
The UN Free & Equal Campaign in Haiti #LibresEtEgauxHT focuses on raising awareness and encouraging a more inclusive behaviour towards the rights and the fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bi, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people in the country.
This is achieved through a different set of actions which include communicating messages of respect towards persons of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities; hosting workshops and meetings that provide training focused on promoting equal rights and fair treatment of LGBTI people; using social media to spread fact sheets and videos on the topic; and lending support and legitimacy to the work carried out by different LGBTI CSO’s in Haiti to counter prejudice and harmful stereotypes directed at this community. For the first time, OHCHR Fact Sheets and social media cards combatting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity were translated into créole.
The initiative is being promoted on social media by “Being LGBTI in the Caribbean”, a project that aims to enhance knowledge, partnerships and capacities of LGBTI communities, civil society and States to reduce human rights violations and negative attitudes towards LGBTI people in the region, with country level focus in specific Caribbean countries, one of them being Haiti.
The campaign serves as an important and powerful lift to help initiate a national conversation about the importance of including and integrating the LGBTI community, and the danger of discriminating against marginalized groups, promoting the rights of all individuals in Haiti.
