“The official death toll is 10,000, however MSF estimates it to be 30,000-100,000.”

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) assists Haitians in enforcing human rights to escape poverty and vulnerability. IJDH, along with its local partner, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), litigates cases in Haitian, U.S. and international courts. They train progressive Haitian lawyers, document human rights violations and works with grassroots activists in Haiti, North America and throughout the world. The BAI and IJDH have spearheaded several innovative, high-impact human rights cases, including the Raboteau Massacre case, tried in 2000 and hailed as one of the most important human rights prosecutions in the Americas. More recent IJDH/BAI cases include the prosecution of former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, a complaint against the United Nations for introducing cholera to Haiti, and the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project.

As a human rights lawyer and activist, Brian founded the Boston-based IJDH. He lived and worked in Haiti from 1995 to 2004, first with the United Nations and after 1996 with the BAI. Brian is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Middlebury College. He has held a Brandeis International Fellowship in Human Rights, Intervention and International Law and a Wasserstein Public Interest Law Fellow at Harvard Law School. Awards Brian has received for his work include the 2014 Salem Human Rights Prize and an honorary degree from Canisius College. He has been widely published on human rights in Haiti, in legal journals, and prominent newspapers globally. Brian is on the Editorial Board of Health and Human Rights Journal.