Haiti - Elections : Accessibility and electoral participation, of people with special needs
During a training BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) organized with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), Ketizia Brunard (one-handed since the 2010 earthquake), Secretary of the National Associative Network for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, encouraged the authorities to launch a census of the people with special needs to give them the opportunity to participate in the electoral process "I hope the people with reduced mobility will we able to contribute to elect the next leaders of the country [...] To facilitate the participation of people with special needs, the leaders could experiment the electronic voting or through the mobile phone or even set up in each municipality special offices."
Recall that the BRIDGE trainings are part of the program of support to the electoral process implemented by UNDP with funding from the Government of Haiti, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Mexico and the European Union which aims to strengthen the capacity of public institutions especially in the field of elections. In 2014, more than 40 election officials have had the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the electoral administration, to deepen the issues of gender and disability access to the political and electoral process, and think about sustainable solutions for regular elections, free and transparent.
The BRIDGE training will continue throughout 2015 and focus on youth participation, the diaspora and especially women, because although constituting 52% of the Haitian population, they are still too often relegated to the background of the social, political and economic affairs.
Haiti was only 5 women deputies, or 4% of the Lower House, ranking the country at the 138th position globally, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Note that according to Handicap International, in Haiti, nearly 4,000 people had to be amputated a member after the earthquake of 12 January 2010.
