On the initiative of France Amérique Latine (FAL), a gathering of activists in solidarity with the people of Haiti and the Caribbean was held in Cotonou during the 2026 World Social Forum. Our organisations came to this Forum from different continents, including from Haiti itself, the diaspora and international solidarity movements.
We discussed the situation in this country, devastated by two centuries of plundering of its resources, ransoms demanded by France, neo-colonialism… and punished for having been the world’s first Black revolution. Stripped of its sovereignty, placed under the control of the CORE Group, used as a source of labour for the Dominican Republic, and subjected to a recent extractivist mining project, Haiti is confronted with gang violence, which makes security one of its top priorities.
Despite all these hardships, and with part of its population forced to migrate to different continents, the Haitian people survive thanks to their resilience, their fighting spirit, their peasantry, the solidarity of the diaspora and families, and also the resistance of Haitian women on the front line. In light of the tragedy endured by the Haitian people, the participants at this assembly have decided:
•To call for the establishment of an INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY PLATFORM FOR THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE HAITIAN PEOPLE.
• To commit to doing everything in their power to achieve this.
• To propose, furthermore, that the first initiative this International Platform might take would be to hold an INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR HAITI’S SOVEREIGNTY IN THE CARIBBEAN AND FOR THE RESTITUTION OF THE RANSOM BY FRANCE.
LONG LIVE THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM! LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY!
Cotonou, 7 August 2026
The Call in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese below.