In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Garry Conille, the Office for the Protection of Citizens (OPC) explains the impacts of insecurity on the right to education in general in Haiti and its disastrous consequences on scholars of the State University of Haiti (UEH) in particular. "[...] The current situation requires urgent measures at the level of the central government in order to facilitate the continuity of higher education activities which constitutes an essential path towards sustainable development. personal development and economic, technological and social transformations.

[...] Indeed, during the armed assaults perpetrated in downtown Port-au-Prince, various faculties of the State University of Haiti (UEH) were violently attacked. According to the assessment drawn up by the Rector of the UEH, Professor Fritz Deshommes, the losses recorded are considerable. Among the vandalized structures are : the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine; the Faculty of Sciences; the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy; the Faculty of Law and Economics; the École Normale Supérieure; the École Nationale des Arts... All these entities have been ransacked by armed bandits who control, for the most part, the metropolitan area, making it impossible for students to access classrooms.

[...] Important materials and equipment, books and other goods have been taken away or destroyed by criminal groups. In addition, the premises of the Faculty of Applied Linguistics have been invaded by displaced persons looking for a place to take refuge.

Faced with this sad reality, while an inestimable number of students have chosen to seek refuge in other regions of the country to escape gang violence, others decide to continue their studies in Port-au-Prince despite the precarious conditions. At the same time, no one is able to accurately inventory the number of young university students who have simply left the country due to despair about restoring security and many other factors, in the indifference of certain state authorities. Teachers and administrative staff of the faculties are not spared. This situation has even caused a considerable drop in enrollment and also jeopardizes the quality of higher education.

[...] Consequently, the OPC invites the Government to place the problems of the State University of Haiti at the center of its priorities so that urgent measures are adopted, in concert with the Rectorate, with a view to creating the material and security conditions essential for the full resumption of academic activities within all entities of the UEH [...]"

HL/ HaitiLibre