Vodouyizan Protest an Amendment to the Constitution of Haiti

Abstract

In June 2012, many practitioners of religion in Haiti and diaspora were dismayed to learn that a landmark law protecting religious and civil liberties had been abrogated as part of a series of farreaching amendments to 1987 Haitian Constitution. The reason for abrogation of Article 297 was- and to a great extent remains-unclear, even as government officials sought to assure that repeal in no way targeted or compromised rights of Vodouyizan. Amidst wider controversies surrounding process of constitutional revision and its impact, advocacy groups led protest against elimination of this article. Their mobilization points both to socio-political force of Vodou sector in Haiti today and to sense of participants that long struggle for religious rights is ongoing in wake of January 2010 earthquake.The 1987 Constitution of Haiti was promulgated a year after overthrow of regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier, and Article 297, its penultimate provision, pointedly addressed legal legacy of dictatorship: All Laws, all Decree-Laws, all Decrees restricting fundamental rights and liberties of citizens ... are and remain abrogated.1 Georges Michel, who was involved in writing 1987 Constitution, noted recently that he and his fellow constituants inventoried at least forty laws then on books that fell into this category, and of these four were singled out for special mention in text of Article 297.2 Three of those four were notorious pieces of legislation from Duvalier years, but first law listed by Article 297 dated from an earlier era. This was 1935 decret-loi (decree-law) prohibiting rituals of religion as (superstitious practices). Supplanting earlier legislation that had criminalized le vaudoux as a form of sortilege or spellmaking, decree-law signed by Stenio Vincent a year after end of nineteen-year US military occupation banned the ceremonies, rites, dances, and meetings in course of which are practiced, in offering to so-called divinities, sacrifices of cattle or fowl. It also prohibited practices of divination and healing, glossed as exploiting public in making believe that, by occult means, it is possible either to change fortune of an individual, or to heal him/her of any illness, by processes unknown to medical science.3Francois Duvalier attempted to instrumentalize after coming to power in 1957, but neither he nor his son ever lifted technical criminalization of religion in Haiti's penal code. This did not stop Vodouyizan from being targeted for association with dictatorship in dechoukaj (uprooting) that immediately followed February 1986 toppling ofJean-Claude Duvalier's regime. One of most violent episodes of a longer history of scapegoating, this wave of attacks became impetus for further organizing on part of Vodouyizan community and founding of advocacy organizations such as Zantray and Bode Nasyonal.4 The longtime struggle for religious rights had its first legal vindication with Article 297 of 1987 Constitution highlighting law against pratiques superstitieuses as one of those abrogated for arbitrarily restricting fundamental rights and liberties of citizens. Article 30 of new Constitution further stated that, All religions and forms of worship are free. Everyone has right to profess her/his religion and form of worship, provided exercise of this right does not disturb public order and peace.5 Sixteen years later, in April 2003, then-President JeanBertrand Aristide issued an Arrete, or order, officially recognizing as a religion and authorizing manbo and oungan (female and male priests) who registered with state to conduct civilly-recognized ceremonies including baptisms, marriages, and funerals.6When Vodouyizan began mobilizing against abrogation of Article 297 in June 2012 their protests were part of a broader-based outcry focused not only on specific constitutional revisions, but also on irregularities in process through which amendments had come to be promulgated and published, with President Michel Martelly's authorization, in Haiti's official journal Le Moniteur. …