April 11, 1952 – March 17, 2013
Attorney Privat Précil
Overview of
his professional life and achievements:
Attorney,
Journalist, and Sports and Music Enthusiast!
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – March 25, 2013 – Privat Précil was born in Boucan-Bélier, a rural area of
Côtes de Fer but moved to Petit Goave at a young age to
live with his mother and attend Catholic school. Following graduation, Mr. Précil entered the theological seminary of the Salesian
order in Cap Haitian in a class of twenty-three people including Jean-Bertrand Aristide
who later became president of Haiti. Close to the completion of his seminary
training, Mr. Précil left for Haiti’s State University, School of Law.
He worked as a Customs Inspector while he studied law from 1974 to 1978. Upon completing
law school Mr. Précil practiced law in Haiti in the
domain of land rights, and other specialties.
Putting his legal career on hold,
he moved to New York where he worked from 1981 through 1995 as a newspaper and radio journalist covering legal issues, community affairs,
culture and sports for the Haitian community. From 1987 to 1989 Mr. Précil studied political journalism through the Educatel-Cifor School of
Journalism in Belgium receiving his diploma. Mr. Précil was a staff writer
at Haiti Observateur for many years before creating his own newspaper
for a brief period.
Throughout Mr. Précil’s life he had a passion for soccer and became a FIFA
certified soccer referee and coach. He coached briefly for a New Jersey college.
In 1995 Mr. Précil moved back to Haiti and was appointed by Haiti’s Prime
Minister, Claudette Werleigh, to be the Co-director, and later the Acting Director, of Haiti’s newly
created National Office on Migration (ONM). From 1995 until 1997 Mr. Précil oversaw the resettlement of 80,000 Haitian refugees returning
from several countries after having fled Haiti during the 1991-1994 coup d’etat
period. Mr. Précil secured school scholarships for
hundreds of children of returning refugees at the time. In 1996 Mr. Précil traveled to San
Jose, Costa Rica for a one-week training seminar on the resettlement of refugee
populations sponsored by the International Organization of Migration (IOM).
From 1995 to present Mr. Précil had a private law practice specializing in civil affairs, electoral challenges, human rights,
real property law, and was based in the law offices of the late Minister
of Justice, Guy Malary. Mr. Précil was an active member of the Port-au-Prince Bar Association in good standing.
Starting in 1996 to present Mr. Précil served as the pro bono counsel to Alternative
Chance/Chans Altenativ, a Haiti-based
reintegration program for Criminal Deportees. Mr. Précil authored a May 1999 report for the Panos Institute
entitled Criminal Deportees and
Returned Teens, a Migration Phenomenon, a Social Problem, that continues
to be widely cited in academic and human rights reports and books. In 2006, Mr.
Précil was awarded recognition by Alternative Chance for
his continuous and courageous work on behalf of the human rights of criminal
deportees in Haiti.
In 2001, under President Rene
Preval, Mr. Précil worked as a translator in the Office of the
Foreign Press Liaison in Haiti’s National Palace. In 2001, under President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Mr. Précil served as legal counsel to Haiti’s Parliament drafting
laws on environment,
children’s rights, and other legislation. Mr. Précil was
the main drafter of a historic piece of legislation that was ratified by
Parliament in September 2001 prohibiting physical abuse, humiliation and
exploitation of children.
In 2002 Privat was appointed by
President Aristide as the Director General of Haiti’s Ministry of Justice,
where along with
administrative duties he also worked closely with the international community
to advance the legal process of several key, controversial matters. From 2002
through 2004, Mr. Précil attended several training seminars given by the
international community on judicial reform and in 2003 he traveled to Seoul,
South Korea where he took part in Anti-Corruption training sponsored by the UNDP
(PNUD).
From 2008 to 2011 Mr. Précil served as legal counsel to Haiti’s Ministry of
Education, and from 2006 to 2008 served as legal counsel to Haiti’s Ministry of
Sports and Youth.
In 2011, at the request of the
U.S. based law offices of Reed Smith, Mr. Précil conducted
legal research and wrote Viols et
reportages médiatiques and facilitated the Workshop for Haiti Media: Protocols on sexual gender-based
violence in Haiti.
Throughout his professional
career, Mr. Précil steadfastly and courageously advocated for the
rights of children, refugees, criminal deportees, women and was an expert on
criminal law, judicial reform and land rights. No matter his title, or field he was working in, Mr. Précil always stayed true to himself and worked at what
he believed in.
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