Things have been going extremely fast in the office lately. I do realize that I might not be having such an adventurous internship as many of you are having, in the sense I’m here in an office in good old Quebec City. Nevertheless, things are very interesting inside the office, and there are many projects I have been able to be involved in.

Just as I explained earlier on, I’m in charge of public relations and communications for Avocats sans frontières Canada. ASF Canada has been working in Haiti for the past four years, and they had already signed a project to work for the next couple of years, starting on January 2010. Unfortunately, after the earthquake, the original project, which involved the training of local lawyers and working on provisional incarceration, was no longer executable. The earthquake took down most of the facilities of justice in the country and many of the people responsible of the system of justice in the country.

ASF Canada then took the initiative to help Haiti in the reconstruction of justice. As for my part, my job has consisted this last week, mainly of communicating with the press about our involvement in Haiti, and booking some interviews with several TV reporters who are interested in learning what are the options for a possible intervention in Haiti for a juridical organization such as ours.

As of right now, the possibility for a project in Haiti is still in the working. Nevertheless, I have realized after talking to my colleagues, who recently came back from their recognition mission in Haiti, that there is an urgent need of helping in the reconstruction efforts in Haiti. When we talk about reconstruction, we have to think beyond the physical elements such as houses, hospitals, and school. Many of the important structures that will keep a peaceful environment in the country, such as the police, and legal entities like the Courthouses and prisons no longer exist. The reconstruction efforts in Haiti include a broader range of areas.