Haiti

No engagement, apart from letter sent to Foreign Minister in advance of Buenos Aires conference.

October 2017: Meeting scheduled with the ambassador in Geneva for the 7th of November.

November 2017: GCPEA met with the Deputy Ambassador of Haiti in Geneva and the humanitarian expert advisor. It was a very good discussion of the Safe Schools Declaration and a very positive meeting. The deputy ambassador was very supportive and had carefully reviewed the documents in advance of the meeting. She gave us some of our own advocacy arguments about why the Declaration is important for every country regardless of whether they are in conflict or not because of the protective benefits of education for children, the value of education for the community, how generations are being lost due to disrupted education, and how safe schools can prevent child recruitment, early marriage, etc. The ambassador and her expert took careful note of the number of endorsing states, the support of the SG and SRSG, the possibility for Haiti to be a leader in the Caribbean region, and the level of support in the EU (a big donor for them). She asked if UNHCR was involved and was happy to learn that they are a Coalition and steering committee member. She also asked about UNFPA and was pleased when I advised that we have invited them to provide a moderator for the Panama workshop (tbc). She responded to the information that girls can be disproportionately impacted and less likely to return to school if education is interrupted. GCPEA briefly referred to how peacekeepers in Haiti are already bound by the DPKO ban, and also mentioned how Haiti likely has many relevant measures in place already because of their efforts to improve disaster risk reduction. She expressed her interest in the framework, toolkit, and Ministries paper. To follow up in writing, and she pledged to make a recommendation to her capital. Vero and Gisela briefed the Save regional office in Panama and Save Haiti on the Declaration in advance of a mission to Port-au-Prince with a focus on education with the aim to encourage the government of Haiti to join the Safe Schools Declaration

January 2019: GCPEA conducted an advocacy visit to Port-au-Prince on 10 January. The purpose of the visit was to encourage endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration. Save the Children Haiti supported the organization of the visit. As part of visit, GCPEA met with the Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a representative of the Ministry of Defense, and experts from the Ministry of National Education and Professional Training. Opportunities for follow-up engagement were identified jointly with Save the Children and Plan International Haiti.

March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

May 2019: Participated in the Third International Conference in Palma.

September 2022: Endorsed the Call to Action on Education in crisis situations (refers to EuA22 data) at the Transforming Education Summit