Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Remembering Mario Joseph, BAI Managing Attorney
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
09 Apr 2025
Mario Joseph

The world has lost a champion of justice with the passing of Mario Joseph, a Haitian human rights lawyer who spent nearly three decades fighting for victims of state violence, cholera negligence, and political repression. His legacy lives on through the countless activists, lawyers, and advocates he inspired, carrying forward his belief in justice for Haiti.

Originally published in Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

The Institute for Justice and Democracy is infinitely sad to announce that our collaborator of 29 years, Mario Joseph, passed away on Monday, March 31, as a result of injuries sustained in a one-car accident.

Mario had led the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port-au-Prince since 1996, winning historic victories for victims of massacres by the Duvaliers and the de facto regime,  victims of the UN cholera, sexual assault survivors, and political prisoners, among others. He persevered in this work through frustration, threats of death and arrest, the relentless advance of gang violence and the uncountable obstacles that all Haitians struggle through every day.

Mario’s greatest legacy might be the legions of people he inspired and trained to win battles for justice around the world: his BAI colleagues, a whole generation of public interest lawyers in Haiti, the IJDH team, and dozens of us who daily use what Mario taught us to fight for justice in courts, on the streets, in academia, and in government service throughout Haiti, the Americas, Europe and Africa.

Mario was born in 1963 in rural Verrettes, Haiti. He grew up, like many Haitians, in a household with no running water and not enough food. Although many of Mario’s neighbors never had the opportunity to learn to read, through perseverance, intelligence and good fortune, Mario was able to obtain scholarships to high school and the national teaching university, then work his way through law school.

Mario won international recognition, honorary degrees and human rights prizes, but he never forgot where he came from. He was happiest when organizing for justice with grassroots activists, at the BAI office that he turned into an organizing center, in dusty urban streets or under the shade of a remote village tree.  

Mario’s eyes lit up with pride and love whenever he talked about his three girls, Marcia, Marcy and Mayina.

We are grateful that Mario was able to receive skilled and compassionate treatment for his injuries, under unimaginably challenging conditions, from the medical staff at the University of the Aristide Foundation for Democracy Hospital and the teams from Zanmi Lasante and Partners in Health who jumped in to offer support.

Details on funeral services are not yet available. IJDH will host an online Celebration of Life for Mario at a date to be determined.

We do know that Mario’s fight will continue. The staff of both BAI and IJDH are devastated by this loss but are committed to extending Mario’s legacy of uncompromising advocacy for the rights of Haiti’s impoverished minority. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with everyone else who is inspired by Mario’s legacy.

There are many videos and news articles that demonstrate Mario’s impact. We recommend starting with this 10-minute video and this article.

Kenbe fem,

Brian Concannon, for the IJDH and BAI Team

Mario Joseph Bio:

Mario Joseph, who the New York Times called “Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer,” led the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 1996 to 2025. During his more than 30 years of human rights work, Mario has spearheaded historic human rights cases, including the Raboteau Massacre trial in 2000, hailed as one of the most important human rights cases ever in the Western Hemisphere;  Yvon Neptune v. Haiti, the first Haiti case ever decided by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; claims against the United Nations on behalf of the victims of the cholera brought to Haiti by UN peacekeepers; and the claims of eight victims of former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.  The Raboteau prosecution and the BAI’s cooperation with U.S. immigration officials led to the deportation of three former Haitian Generals, including the highest-ranked officer ever deported from the U.S. on human right grounds.

Mario Joseph provided social movements in Haiti with the legal support they needed to fight for democracy and basic human rights.  The BAI’s Rape Accountability and Prevention Project demonstrated that the justice system can be compelled to respond fairly and competently to rapes against poor women. The BAI’s Progressive Lawyer Training Program built a generation of committed, trained public interest lawyers in Haiti, who went on to serve in the justice system, academia and non-profits in Haiti.

Mario was born in 1963 in Verrettes, Haiti. He grew up, like many Haitians, in a household with no running water and not enough food. Although many of his neighbors and siblings never had the opportunity to learn to read, through perseverance, intelligence and good fortune, Mario was able to obtain scholarships to high school and the national teaching university, then work his way through law school.

Mario was awarded the Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award from the Center for Justice & Accountability, the Alexander Human Rights Award from Santa Clara University, and Honorary Doctorates from the University of San Francisco and Indiana University School of Law. He was a finalist for the 2013 Martin Ennals Human Rights Defenders Award.

Haiti
Human Rights

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Socialist Workers' Movement of the Dominican Republic
Fighting Apartheid in the Dominican Republic is Essential!
28 May 2025
Fighting apartheid in the Dominican Republic is essential to achieving redress for people of African descent in that country.
Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
The Black Alliance for Peace Calls for Resistance Against the Accelerating Imperialist War on Black/African Peoples in Our Americas
14 May 2025
Accelerating crises of imperialism in Haiti, Ecuador, and beyond highlight the urgent need for regional Pan-Africanist, anti-imperialist unity
Mildred Trouilot Aristide
Haiti And The Global Movement For Reparations
16 April 2025
Haiti Action Committee is honored to share the keynote address given by Haiti’s former First Lady Mildred Aristide
Janvieve Williams Comrie
Panama’s Outrage Over Deportations: A Reckoning with a Reality Long Ignored
12 March 2025
Trump administration interference in Panama has brought about a reckoning on migration and human rights throughout the region.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Who Protects the People from the Human Rights Protectors?
26 February 2025
Can Palestinians get a little Humanitarian Intervention?
Clau O'Brien Moscoso , Austin Cole
The Struggle for a Zone of Peace Continues!: A Conversation with Austin Cole
26 February 2025
The newly launched U.S./NATO Out of the Americas Network activates local grassroots organizations across the region in an effort to make this h
Kit Klarenberg
USAID Exported CIA Balkan Terror to Haiti
26 February 2025
/*-->*/ /*-->*/
Nato Koury
Guantánamo Bay’s forgotten history of detaining Haitian migrants
19 February 2025
The threats by the Trump administration to detain migrants in Guantanamo Bay will not be the first time the United States has used the facility
Jake Johnston
Where Does the Money Go? A Look at USAID Spending in Haiti
12 February 2025
The Trump administration is dismantling USAID, intending to absorb its mission into the State Department. USAID's engagement with Haiti demonst
Clau O'Brien Moscoso
Combatting Imperialism, Defending Sovereignty: Zone of Peace in Haiti and the Americas
22 January 2025
On Sunday, January 19th, 2025, the Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Charles Rangel and the End of Black Politics
    28 May 2025
    The late Charles Rangel served as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for more than 40 years. But the goals of Black politics and electoral politics are not necessarily the same.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Intellectual Origins of Imperialism and Zionism, Edward Said, 1977
    28 May 2025
    “In theory and in practice, then, Zionism is a degraded repetition of European imperialism.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Independent, Sovereign Eritrea Stays the Course
    28 May 2025
    Eritrea remains true to the revolutionary ideals forged during its 30-year War of Independence.
  • Jon Jeter
    Following Kamala’s Script, Maryland Governor Vetoes Reparations Bill, Angering Black Voters He Will Need in White House Bid
    28 May 2025
    By vetoing a bill to study reparations, Maryland Governor Wes Moore has aligned himself with a long line of Black Democrats who prioritize white approval over their own base.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Fall of 2020: How Liberals Ceded Solidarity and Engineered Social Justice Solitude
    28 May 2025
    The 2020 uprisings could have sparked a multiracial working-class movement against systemic oppression, but liberal elites defanged its radical potential. By reducing Black liberation to performative…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us