A Delegation of Parliamentarians from Across the Americas Visits Haiti to Deepen Relations with Different Democratic Actors
Five parliamentarians from countries across the Americas will be in Port-au-Prince on December 8 to 11, to meet with political and civil society actors as part of the Mission d’observation électorale (MiOÉH) deployed by ParlAmericas in Haiti since September 2015.
The delegation’s main objective is to deepen relations between the Mission and Haitian democratic stakeholders. Members of the delegation will meet with parliamentarians from across the party spectrum elected in the August and October 2015 elections, and with representatives of civil society. The delegation will initiate dialogue on electoral best practices in the hemisphere; on political cooperation to promote legislative priorities within a democratic context; and on strategies to improve women’s participation in the electoral process, political parties and civil society.
The delegation is composed of Gina Godoy, Member of the National Assembly of Ecuador, President of the Group of Women Parliamentarians; Ligia Fallas, Member of the National Assembly of Costa Rica and Board Member of ParlAmericas; Máxima Apaza Millares, Senator in the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia; Carmen Omonte, Member of the Congress of Peru; and Luis Alberto Batres, Member of the National Assembly of El Salvador.
In addition to meeting with their parliamentary counterparts, the delegation will participate in two roundtables on challenges for gender integration in political parties and civil society organizations. The roundtables will be organized in the framework of MiOÉH observation activities of the electoral process.
According to Gina Godoy, head of the delegation, “the exchanges and meetings that the delegation will conduct provide a unique opportunity to reinforce consultations undertaken by the MiOÉH and by ParlAmericas relating to the role of women in the electoral process. These consultations will help to identify participatory barriers encountered by women in the political decision-making processes, and to articulate strategies which take into consideration Haiti’s social realities and the role that women can play at all levels in our countries.”
