Mario Joseph

Joseph received degrees from Haiti's École Normale Supérieure and Gonaïves Law School. He then worked on human rights cases for the Catholic Church's Peace and Justice Commission before joining the BAI in 1996.{{cite book |title=Let Haiti live: unjust U.S. policies towards its oldest neighbor |last=Miles |first=Melinda |author2=Eugenia Charles |year=2004 |publisher=Educa Vision, Inc. |isbn=1-58432-188-1 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0AxgjmKYYsC&q=%22Mario+Joseph%22+%22Justice+and+Peace+Commission%22&pg=PA389 |access-date=15 March 2012}}

Joseph was the lead lawyer for the victims in the prosecution of the BAI's most successful case, the Raboteau Massacre trial. The trial was described by a United Nations expert as "the longest and most complex" in the history of the Haitian judicial system.{{cite web |url=http://ijdh.org/articles/article_raboteau-2.php |title=Raboteau Verdict in Haiti "A Landmark in Fight Against Impunity", but Case Not Yet Finished, says UN Independent Expert |date=20 November 2000 |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |access-date=16 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322183857/http://ijdh.org/articles/article_raboteau-2.php |archive-date=22 March 2016 |url-status=dead }} After six weeks of trial ending in November 2000, the Raboteau Massacre jury convicted 53 defendants for a 1994 attack on a pro-democracy neighborhood, 37 of whom were convicted in absentia. The Court also ordered that the defendants pay civil damages of 1 billion gourdes (roughly $43 million USD).{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/19/world/haitian-junta-is-sentenced-in-absentia.html |title=Haitian Junta Is Sentenced In Absentia |date=19 November 2000 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=6 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106121137/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/19/world/haitian-junta-is-sentenced-in-absentia.html |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Three former members of the military high command were later deported from the U.S. to Haiti to face charges in Raboteau, including former Assistant Commander-in-Chief Jean-Claude Duperval, who had worked at Disney World for five years after leaving Haiti.{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/01/15/crime.haiti.reut/ |title=Disney worker deported to Haiti for massacre |agency=Reuters |date=16 January 2004 |publisher=CNN |access-date=15 March 2012}} According to the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), Duperval was the highest-ranked soldier ever deported from the U.S. to face human rights charges.{{cite web |url=http://ijdh.org/who_we_are/bai |title=IJDH Haitian Affiliate: Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |access-date=16 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304132409/http://ijdh.org/who_we_are/bai |archive-date=4 March 2012 }}

Joseph helped the Center for Justice & Accountability pursue other perpetrators of the Raboteau Massacre in U.S. courts. On 16 May 2008, these efforts resulted in a damage recovery of more than $400,000 USD from former Col. Carl Dorélien, who had recently won the Florida State Lottery.{{cite web |url=http://ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_5-21-08.php |title=Human Right Legal Victory Leads to Historic Recovery for Massacre Survivors in Haiti |date=21 May 2008 |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |access-date=15 March 2012}} The same year, Joseph also provided an affidavit against Emmanuel Constant, a former paramilitary leader and convicted Raboteau perpetrator, when Constant was on trial for mortgage fraud in New York.{{cite web |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-07-25-haitian-mortage-fraud_N.htm |title=N.Y. jury: Ex-Haitian paramilitary leader guilty of mortgage fraud |date=26 July 2008 |work=USA Today |access-date=15 March 2012}}

In 2012, Joseph and IJDH Director Brian Concannon filed suit against the United Nations on behalf of victims of the 2010–2011 Haiti cholera outbreak, allegedly introduced to Haiti by UN troops in October 2010.{{cite web|url=http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/haiti-cholera-united-nations-sanitation-public-health-justice |title=Haiti: Lawyers Seek Reparations for Cholera Epidemic |publisher=Pulitzer Center |date=18 September 2012 |access-date=9 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008180002/http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/haiti-cholera-united-nations-sanitation-public-health-justice |archive-date=8 October 2012 |author=Megan Dhaliwal |url-status=dead }} According to the Haitian Health Ministry, as of August 2012, the outbreak had caused 7,490 deaths and caused 586,625 people to fall ill.{{cite web|url=http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/haiti-cholera-public-health-sanitation-water-practices |title=Panic Has Subsided, But Cholera Remains in Haiti |author=Megan Dhaliwal |date=7 August 2012 |publisher=Pulitzer Center |archive-date=8 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008184841/http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/haiti-cholera-public-health-sanitation-water-practices |access-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} Investigations by the New England Journal of Medicine{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rishi-rattan/haiti-cholera_b_1762725.html |title= Baseball and Science in the Time of Cholera |author=Rishi Rattan |work=Huffington Post |date=9 August 2012 |access-date=9 October 2012}} and the US Centers for Disease Control{{cite web|url=http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/4/10-1973_article.htm |title=Recent Clonal Origin of Cholera in Haiti |publisher=Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |access-date=9 October 2012}} pointed to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti base in Mirebalais as the source of the cholera outbreak. The UN denied responsibility, though epidemiological and genome studies appeared to have conclusively established the peacekeeping force's role, and UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton described the force as "the proximate cause of cholera". By challenging the legal immunity of peacekeepers, The Economist described the suit as a landmark case that could "affect peacekeeping operations worldwide".{{cite web|url=http://www.economist.com/node/21553450 |title=First, do no harm |date=28 April 2012 |work=The Economist |archive-date=11 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911234330/http://www.economist.com/node/21553450 |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} In August 2012, a Pulitzer Center reporter described the case as going "nowhere fast", though Joseph and Concannon intended to continue pursuing it.

Joseph speaks about the case in the short documentary Baseball in the Time of Cholera,{{cite web|url=http://ijdh.org/archives/28740 |title=Threats, Harassment and Intimidation Against Attorney Mario Joseph |date=4 October 2012 |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |archive-date=21 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521185756/http://ijdh.org/archives/28740 |access-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} which won the 2012 Best Documentary Short Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/news/Baseball_in_the_Time_of_Cholera_Online.html#.UHQw7hXA-So |title=New Doc Brings Worldwide Attention to Cholera Epidemic in Haiti |publisher=Tribeca Film Festival |date=12 July 2012 |archive-date=1 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001122900/http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/news/Baseball_in_the_Time_of_Cholera_Online.html |access-date=9 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} The case was dismissed by the Southern District of New York on the grounds of UN immunity, but has been appealed to the second circuit.{{cite web|title=Cholera Victims Appeal Court's Dismissal of Their Case|url=http://www.ijdh.org/2015/05/topics/health/principal-appellate-brief-of-plaintiffs/|website=IJDH|publisher=IJDH|access-date=1 June 2015|date=27 May 2015}}{{cite web|last1=Boon|first1=Kristen|title=SDNY Finds UN Immune in Haiti Cholera Case|url=http://opiniojuris.org/2015/01/20/sdny-finds-un-immune-haiti-cholera-case/|website=Opinio Juris|access-date=1 June 2015|date=20 January 2015}}

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Joseph worked through the BAI on the Raboteau case as well as on various other cases aimed at bringing to justice ex-military and paramilitary death squad members. His activities and the activities of the BAI during this time period are discussed in more depth in a 2012 book with Monthly Review Press. The activities of the BAI and the Haitian government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in seeking justice for the victims of paramilitary and military violence are documented in detail.{{cite web |url=http://monthlyreview.org/press/books/pb3003/ |title=Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti |date=August 2012 |publisher=Monthly Review Press |access-date=5 June 2014}}

He and the BAI were also tasked with helping to investigate the murder of famed radio journalist Jean Dominique and the security guard at Dominique's radio station. His view on how the case was exploited and manipulated to undermine the elected government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide is discussed in more depth in an interview with Joseph and attorney Brian Concannon. The interview is published in the journal of Haitian studies.{{cite web |url=https://15a49726-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/jebsprague/Sprague_2007_JOHS_Dominique_Investigation_Joseph_Concannon.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cpARiCU67UXnlmRS0f35hej5t2I2HO0xzJDGv0whNAtwJujNtHvn7OHP5Zgh83t12XtA9BZVizu2JFPqK9gLI4IsJIWlzCiHooqUi21b7wG0MxKIBVw0JFK6cg94X1eOtdbIdCnLBvnOtdqLG4r1HoyBY-_i6csipk7iGoG0KjswjAhQ6TvgocLLsIVboBi3rt3LD5LXnnKI6K3sz_heS6g5cZzZEjgcvQanN5eCo1So4tOLC2SrXKmKzkhQjgguchOPhHkrKmhyN-CX2GwC3wmDBku9Q%3D%3D&attredirects=0 |title=Haiti and the Jean Dominique Investigation: An Interview with Mario Joseph and Brian Concannon |date=2007 |publisher=Journal of Haitian Studies |access-date=5 June 2014}}

Joseph represented Catholic Priest and human rights activist Fr. Gérard Jean-Juste,{{cite web |url=http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/wadner_pierre/1573 |title=Activist Priest Gérard Jean-Juste in Port-au-Prince Appeals Court |author=Wadner Pierre |date=14 December 2007 |publisher=The Dominion |access-date=15 March 2012}} who was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International following his multiple arrests in 2004 and 2005.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr36/008/2005/en/ |title=Haiti:Arbitrary Arrest/Prisoner of Conscience |date=25 July 2005 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=15 March 2012 }}

In January 2007, Joseph testified before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica, in the case of Yvon Neptune v. Haiti, the first Haitian case that the Court had considered. On 6 May, the Court ruled that the Haitian government had violated 11 provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights by keeping Neptune, a former prime minister, in detention and failing to try his case with sufficient speed.{{cite web |url=http://ijdh.org/projects/political-prisoners/yvon-neptune |title=Yvon Neptune |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |access-date=16 March 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711131500/http://ijdh.org/projects/political-prisoners/yvon-neptune |archive-date=11 July 2012 }}

In 2010, Joseph and the BAI worked with a number of victims of sexual abuse in the IDP camps created following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/haitian-human-rights-lawyer-mario-joseph-slams-elections-aid-1.941103 |title=Haitian human rights lawyer Mario Joseph slams elections, aid |author=Jennifer Clibbon |date=25 November 2010 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=16 March 2012}}

In January 2012, Joseph spoke out against a ruling by a judge that former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier would be tried only for embezzlement and corruption charges, rather than human rights abuses.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/31/baby-doc-duvalier-charges-haiti |title=Baby Doc avoids human rights abuse charges in Haiti |agency=Reuters |date=31 January 2012 |work=The Guardian |archive-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014024630/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/31/baby-doc-duvalier-charges-haiti |access-date=8 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}

Under Haiti's interim government (2004–2006), Joseph represented alleged political prisoners, including top former government officials, journalists and grassroots organizers. His advocacy generated frequent threats; his family was forced to leave the country, and Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action alert out of concern for his safety in November 2004.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr36/058/2004/en/ |title=Haiti: International Legal Network: Human Rights Defenders at Risk: Renan Hedouville and Other Members of Carli, and Lawyer Mario Joseph |date=November 2004 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=15 March 2012}} His family received political asylum from the U.S. and now resides in Miami.

In late 2012, Joseph reported increasing levels of intimidation attempts against him and stated his belief that he was being targeted by the Haitian government. On 28 September, Jean Renel Sénatus, former Chief Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince, stated that he had been dismissed by the Ministry of Justice after refusing to order the arrest of 36 opposition activists, including Joseph. The reports caused Amnesty International to begin another "Urgent Action" letter-writing campaign on Joseph's behalf, calling on authorities to investigate the threats.{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr36/009/2012/en/ |title=Lawyers in Haiti Threatened and Intimidated |date=4 October 2012 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=5 October 2012 }} The alleged intimidation was also protested by the Center for Justice and Accountability,{{cite web |url=http://www.cja.org/article.php?id=1181 |title= Haiti: Human Rights Lawyers Face a Rising Tide of Persecution. |year=2012|publisher=Center for Justice and Accountability |access-date=8 October 2012}} the Center for Economic Policy and Research,{{cite web |url=http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/public-support-grows-for-threatened-human-rights-attorney-mario-joseph |title= Public Support Grows for Threatened Human Rights Attorney Mario Joseph. |year=2012|publisher=Center for Economic and Policy Research |access-date=17 October 2012}} the US National Lawyers Guild,{{cite web |url=http://www.nlg.org/news/citing-intimidation-death-threats-national-lawyers-guild-calls-protection-haitian-lawyers |title=Citing Intimidation, Death Threats, National Lawyers Guild Calls for Protection of Haitian Lawyers to Government Critics. |year=2012 |publisher=National Lawyers Guild |access-date=4 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325135802/http://www.nlg.org/news/citing-intimidation-death-threats-national-lawyers-guild-calls-protection-haitian-lawyers |archive-date=25 March 2013 |url-status=dead }} US Congressman John Conyers,{{cite web |url=http://conyers.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=News.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=25ed4ef8-e30d-5c34-449f-30857cac0899 |title= Conyers Calls for Protection for Human Rights Advocates in Haiti. |year=2012|publisher=John Conyers |access-date=16 October 2012}} and the Center for Constitutional Rights.{{cite web |url=http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-urges-international-scrutiny-of-repression-and-persecution-of-human-rights-attorneys-haiti |title= CCR Urges International Scrutiny of Repression and Persecution of Human Rights Attorneys in Haiti. |year=2012|publisher=Center for Constitutional Rights |access-date=5 October 2012}}

Joseph considered MINUSTAH as an occupation force. According to him, the United States used the United Nations to control the politics in Haiti indirectly. Brazil only took part in the operation because the US offered a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.{{Cite web |last=Victor |first=Fabio |date=August 2019 |title=Terra Desolada |url=https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/materia/terra-desolada/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230930022240/https://piaui.folha.uol.com.br/materia/terra-desolada/ |archive-date=30 September 2023 |access-date=30 September 2023 |website=Revista Piauí |language=pt-BR}}

After the arrest of the Brazilian ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva due to Operation Car Wash, he signed a letter stating that Lula was a political prisoner.

Joseph died following a traffic collision on 31 March 2025. He was 62.{{cite web |title=Mario Joseph, a renowned human rights attorney in Haiti, dies after a car accident |url=https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/world/article/mario-joseph-a-renowned-human-rights-attorney-in-20252652.php |website=My Journal-Courier |date=1 April 2025 |access-date=1 April 2025 |language=en}}

In 2009, Joseph won the Katharine and George Alexander Law Prize from the Santa Clara University Law School,{{cite web |url=http://law.scu.edu/alexanderprize/past-alexander-prize-winners.cfm |title=The Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize |year=2012 |publisher=Santa Clara University Law School |access-date=15 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601122617/http://law.scu.edu/alexanderprize/past-alexander-prize-winners.cfm |archive-date=1 June 2012 |url-status=dead }} and the Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award from the Center for Justice & Accountability.{{cite web |url=http://www.cja.org/article.php?id=377 |title=The Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award |year=2008 |publisher=Center for Justice & Accountability |access-date=15 March 2012}} He delivered the Judge Leon A. Higginbotham Human Rights Lecture at the University of Pennsylvania in November 2011,{{cite web|url=http://www.sas.upenn.edu/irp/event/higginbotham-human-rights-lecture-building-black-haiti-more-justly |title=Higginbotham Human Rights Lecture: "Building a Black Haiti More Justly" |publisher=Penn Arts & Sciences |archive-date=9 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109004753/http://www.sas.upenn.edu/irp/event/higginbotham-human-rights-lecture-building-black-haiti-more-justly |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} and was recognized by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York in June 2012{{cite web|url=http://ijdh.org/archives/26909 |title=Brian Concannon and Mario Joseph at CCR Social Justice Throwdown |date=11 June 2012 |publisher=Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |archive-date=24 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624001908/http://ijdh.org/archives/26909 |access-date=17 October 2012 |url-status=dead }} for his "extraordinary work."{{Cite web|url=https://ccrjustice.org/node/3700|title=3rd Annual Social Justice Throwdown|website=Center for Constitutional Rights|language=en|access-date=7 August 2019}} He delivered the commencement address in May 2013 for graduates of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.{{Cite web|url=https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/news/past.html|title=Past Headlines: News: IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law: IUPUI|website=IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law|language=en-US|access-date=7 August 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.ijdh.org IJDH Home Page]
• {{IMDb name| 5677687}}

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Category:1960s births

Category:Year of birth uncertain

Category:2025 deaths

Category:Road incident deaths in Haiti

Category:20th-century Haitian lawyers

Category:Haitian human rights activists

Category:21st-century Haitian lawyers