"The Council of the State University of Haiti (CUEH) acknowledges the circulation by the Steering Committee of the National Conference of the Preliminary Draft of the Constitutional Revision for its assessment by the community.

As an independent public institution committed to higher education and research, and provided for by the Constitution of the Republic, the State University of Haiti, through the University Council, intends to make its position known.

The CUEH recalls that the Agreement of April 3rd, 2024, which established the Presidential Transitional Council, as well as the Decree of July 17, 2024, establishing the creation, organization, and operation of the National Conference, define the process that should lead to a decision on the current Constitution. These texts also provide for the development of a new social project and the establishment of new relations between the State and society. Unfortunately, the failure to organize the National Conference, which should include the participation of various sectors of national life, prevents the CUEH from concluding that the directives of the two main instruments guiding the transition have been respected.

At the same time, although Articles 6 and 7 of the Decree of July 17, 2024, assign a coordinating role to the Steering Committee of the National Conference, the CUEH notes with concern that this body has improperly assumed the powers of a sovereign constituent assembly by submitting a Draft Constitution to be subject to a popular consultation by referendum. The CUEH also questions the early release of the said Draft Constitution, which should, technically, at least follow from the development of the new social project.

Nevertheless, the Council of the State University of Haiti remains strongly motivated by both the constitutional issue and the problem of insecurity and its multiple negative impacts on the population. It resolutely intends to make its contribution in this context of major national crisis, in accordance with the consensual decisions and normative instruments adopted to preserve the main foundations of the transition. At the same time, it remains viscerally committed to the legitimacy of the constituent power, without which any decision relating to a constitutional revision will remain fragile and subject to dispute."

For the Council of the State University of Haiti (CUEH):

Rector Dieuseul PREDELUS

President of the CUEH

HL/ HaitiLibre