The Organization

The Diaspora is sometimes misunderstood and neglected. It encounters a number of legal, migration, economical, social, tourism, cultural and educational problems. In the host country; as well as in the country of origin.

To be able to move to another country, all Haitian immigrants need to identify themselves. They must present documents that provide information on their origin. In their efforts to find these documents, identify themselves, make requests to organize their migratory situation, and meet with their families; Haitian migrants find themselves face to face with the Haitian civil registry system. This system suffers from great dysfunction.

For example, racketeers (counterfeiters) control the most requested institutions. Such as the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT),  Immigration and Emigration Service, and National Archives. Racketeers cause: the dysfunction of existing systems, the complication of administrative procedures, and the presence of serious errors in birth, marriage, death, divorce certificates, etc.

This is a burden on the especially vulnerable and marginalized groups in the Haitian Diaspora. Particularly in countries such as the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, the French West Indies, and Latin America. For these groups, obtaining a reliable civil status certificate is long, difficult, and costly. Today, 40% of the Haitian population has no forms of civil status documentation. The currently developing migratory process combined with the emigration of many people from all social strata has increased the demand for civil status documents. 

Other problems facing the Haitian Diaspora in the legal field are land tenure insecurity. Many members of the Haitian Diaspora work hard to earn money in order to buy land, build a house, and retire in their home country. These lands are often subject to spoliation. Haitians are witnessing an invasion of property by heavily armed men. Accompanied by a Justice of Peace bursting into the Haitians property rights of our nationals living abroad, this discourages the Haitian Government from investing in the country.

Sometimes these fellow citizens do not buy from honest sellers. This is due to a lack of knowledge about the credibility of the seller, dishonest notaries, and bad faith surveyors. As well as corruption, which is like gangrene in the judicial system. Furthermore, in the case of possession of a deceased heir’s estate (land, house, car, bank account, death or insurance premium), Haitians living abroad are often victims of dishonest lawyers. The list of problems faced by members of the Haitian Diaspora from a legal point of view is extensive.

The Diaspora not only faces legal problems, but economic concerns, too. The majority of our brothers and sisters abroad express the unbridled desire to invest in Haiti, but are very reluctant. While these investments could benefit them and facilitate the creation of jobs and wealth in the national economy, those who have taken the risk of investing have often seen their investments fail. This is a result of the lack of support from the authorities of the country. In addition to legal and economical spheres, the needs of the Diaspora are felt in the tourist and cultural spheres as well.

Before Haiti can rely on foreign tourism, Haitians living overseas, especially those of the second and third generation, should naturally be considered as the first tourists or visitors. It should be noted that the propensity of Diaspora members wishing to go on vacation to the country is greater than the desire to invest or work in tourism. To clarify, the Diaspora represents a lucrative market for tourism. However, it is often observed that these members of the Diaspora, instead of visiting Haiti, choose to go elsewhere particularly in the other Caribbean islands through cruises during their leisure time. The country contains quite a few tourist sites more attractive than those found in other Caribbean countries, such as historic places, pilgrimages, hot springs, waterfalls, rivers, mountains, Azure blue beaches, etc., which are misunderstood by almost all our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora.

How can all of these problems be placed in a structural framework to find the solutions needed?

Aware of this lamentable situation faced by Haitians in the Diaspora, the Global Assistance Network for Haitian Diaspora (HGSN) aims to accompany members of the Haitian Diaspora community to meet their needs, by providing them with reliable legal, migration, economic, social, tourist and cultural assistance. To achieve this objective, the HGSN intends to work in partnership with public institutions such as the Ministry of Haitians Living Abroad (MHLA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (MJSP), Ministry of Tourism and Creative Industries (MTIC), Ministry of Culture and Communication (MCC), Ministry of Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), The Tourist Association of Haiti (ATH), Center for Facilitation of Investment (CFI), Associations of Lawyers, Notaries and Surveyors, Associations of Engineers and Architects, Medical Associations, Associations Haitian Economists, Travel Agencies, Car Rental Companies and Hotel Chains. To better serve the Haitian Diaspora community on the issue of migration, the network also intends to work with the following international organizations: International Organization for Migration (IOM),  

United Nations Development Program (UNDP), World Bank (WB) and other Socio-professional Associations operating in Haiti and abroad.