[Peace-discuss] armed groups remain active in Haiti

[Ricky Baldwin]

[Received this from one of the main workers' movement
in Haiti.  It seems that, not surprisingly, the
population and civil society are in danger after the
US-supported coup there.  Doesn't bode well for
Venezuela.  -RB]
    
--- Yannick Etienne <batayouvriye at hotmail.com> wrote:
> From: "Yannick Etienne" <batayouvriye at hotmail.com>
> To: <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>>
> Subject: Fw: Amnesty International - Library - Haiti
> Armed groups still active Findings of A
> Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2004 13:07:46 -0500
> 
> Amnesty International - Library - Haiti: Armed
> groups still active Findings of Amnesty
> International DelegationGood reading!
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Max Blanchet 
> To: Undisclosed-Recipient:; 
> Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 6:41 PM
> Subject: Amnesty International - Library - Haiti
> Armed groups still active Findings of A
> 
> 
> 
> AI INDEX: AMR 36/030/2004     8 April 2004 
> AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
> 
> Media Briefing
> 
> AI Index: AMR 36/030/2004 (Public)
> News Service No: 085 
> 8 April 2004 
> 
> Haiti: Armed groups still active
> Findings of Amnesty International Delegation
> At the end of a 15-day mission to Haiti, Amnesty
> International is deeply concerned for the security
> of the civilian population. Despite the presence of
> the Multinational Interim Force (MIF), a large
> number of armed groups continue to be active
> throughout the country. These include both rebel
> forces and militias loyal to former President
> Aristide.
> 
> Amnesty International is particularly concerned for
> the safety of judges, prosecutors, criminal
> investigators, victims, witnesses and human rights
> defenders involved in prosecutions relating to past
> human rights abuses. Judge Napela Saintil, the chief
> judge in the trial of those responsible for the 1994
> Raboteau massacre, was severely beaten on 30 March
> by an armed man. The judge told Amnesty
> International delegates that his attacker had
> threatened him for the part he played in the
> conviction, in absentia, of Louis Jodel Chamblain,
> one of the participants in the massacre. 
> 
> The delegation interviewed Haitians from across the
> political and social spectrum. All expressed a
> profound sense of insecurity and fear for their own
> safety from one or the other of the armed groups
> currently at large. 
> 
> These include those who participated in the 1991
> coup d'état; the Chimères who remain loyal to former
> President Aristide; unofficial armed pro-Aristide
> gangs; non-political armed gangs; as well as former
> military authorities and former rural police chiefs,
> or chef de section,known to have been responsible
> for serious abuses in the past. Members of the
> abolished Haitian Armed Forces and former
> paramilitary leaders convicted of past human rights
> violations are emerging as new actors in Haiti's
> political scene and have taken control, especially
> in areas where state authority is weak or absent.
> 
> The interim government has yet to establish control
> over the country's legal institutions. When visiting
> the national penitentiary in Port au Prince, the
> Amnesty International delegates found that part of
> the prison was controlled by US marines. US
> officials have since acknowledged they are guarding
> some of the just under 40 detainees that Amnesty
> International was informed are being held in the
> prison. Among them is Jocelerme Privert, the former
> Minister of the Interior who has just been arrested.
> 
> 
> US officials were unable to provide Amnesty
> International with details about the prisoners or
> the legal context of their detention. The Haitian
> prisoners reportedly include persons allegedly
> involved in drug trafficking and, in one case,
> terrorism. Amnesty International called on the US
> authorities to immediately clarify the legal basis
> justifying their effective detention in US custody
> and the steps that have been taken to ensure that
> they have access to full legal safeguards. 
> 
> Amnesty International welcomes the assurances that
> it received from Léon Charles, the new Director
> General of Police, during its mission, that Haiti's
> new police force will adopt a neutral approach and
> will show impartiality in its actions. The
> organization believes that such an approach would be
> key to restoring confidence in the security forces'
> respect for the rule of law in Haiti.
> 
> Since coming to power, however, the interim
> government has swiftly moved to arrest members of
> former President Aristide's Lavalas Family Party
> suspected of acts of political violence or
> corruption, while failing to act against a number of
> known perpetrators of grave human rights violations.
> Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jean Pierre Baptiste
> ("Jean Tatoune"), for instance, remain free. As do
> others who were named in Amnesty International's
> most recent report, Haiti: perpetrators of past
> abuses threaten human rights and the
> re-establishment of the rule of law.
> 
> "By only arresting Lavalas supporters the government
> is sending the wrong message. Known perpetrators of
> serious human rights violations among the rebel
> forces must also be taken into custody," Amnesty
> International said. "The Haitian government must
> make the defence of human rights a central part of
> its political agenda. No one should be able to get
> away with committing human rights violations,
> including murder, without fear of arrest,
> prosecution or punishment."
> 
> Haiti's recurring political crises are rooted in
> long-term patterns of human rights violations
> committed with impunity. Amnesty International
> strongly believes that the Haitian Government must
> commit itself publicly and firmly to ending the
> cycle of impunity by ensuring that perpetrators of
> serious human rights violations from all factions
> are brought to justice.
> 
> Amnesty International has also received recent
> reports of killings and kidnappings of persons
> belonging to pro-Aristide grassroots organizations
> in poor neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince. Among
> those allegedly responsible were several escaped
> prisoners who had been jailed for rapes and other
> common crimes. These men have reportedly been
> working together with the Haitian police and MIF
> forces to identify people associated with the
> Lavalas regime.
> 
> The driver of a former Lavalas deputy was attacked
> on 3 April in Martissant and died the next day as a
> result. On 4 April, another man with Lavalas
> connections was shot dead outside the market in
> Martissant. After his killing the assailants went to
> his house to look for his wife, who is now in
> hiding, threatened to kill her and burned the house.
> In addition, two members of KOMIREP, a grassroots
> organization that included victims of the 1991 coup
> d'état, were kidnapped, one in Martissant and the
> other in Cité l'Eternel, in the street on Monday 4
> April. Their whereabouts are unknown.
> 
> One young woman told Amnesty International delegates
> that she is receiving threats from a police officer
> who has recently escaped from prison. He and at
> least four other men were accused of gang-raping the
> girl in November 2003. Two of the men were
> subsequently arrested, including the officer. Both
> escaped from prison during a mass jailbreak on 29
> February. The women's organization and the human
> rights organization that have been supporting her
> have also received threats. 
> 
> The crucial first step towards restoring the rule of
> law and ending impunity must be a nationwide
> disarmament that applies to all armed groups.
> Amnesty International calls on the new government to
> set up a national disarmament plan to ensure the
> security of all Haitians.
> 
> Amnesty International is dismayed that the
> Multinational Interim Force has not made a serious
> attempt to work with the Haitian National Police to
> establish such a disarmament programme. US Secretary
> of State Colin Powell and the French authorities,
> part of the US-led multinational forces, have talked
> about the need to disarm, but that has not been
> followed by the determined action that is required. 
> 
> "The international community must take disarmament
> seriously now and work closely with the Haitian
> National Police to that end", Amnesty International
> said. Security Council resolution 1529 gives them
> ample scope to do so. 
> 
> Amnesty International believes that the US-led
> multinational forces are in a unique and powerful
> position to contribute to the national disarmament
> effort before their scheduled departure at the end
> of May when a United Nations peacekeeping force is
> scheduled to take over.
> 
> Upholding the rule of law and human rights requires
> not only an effective police force but also a fully
> functioning judiciary. Rebuilding the judiciary at
> all levels was one of the key recommendations of the
> Haiti National Commission for Truth and Justice in
> 1996. 
> 
> "Amnesty International calls on the Haitian
> authorities to draw up a national plan of action to
> strengthen its rule of law institutions in close
> consultation with civil society and while building
> on the pertinent recommendations made in the past by
> Haitian bodies such as the National Commission."
> 
> "Reforming the justice system must be part of a
> larger plan to reduce poverty, repair Haiti's
> environment, and build-up its health, sanitation and
> education systems," the organization said.
> 
> Background
> As a result of a joint military and paramilitary
> operation that began on April 1994 in Raboteau, a
> heavily-populated shanty town along the coast at
> Gonaïves, an estimated 20 people lost their lives. 
> 
> Efforts to bring those responsible for the massacre
> to justice continued for several years. The trial
> opened in October 2000 and 16 people were convicted
> of taking part in the massacre. Twelve of these were
> condemned to life in prison with hard labour; the
> four others received shorter sentences of between
> four and ten years. 
> 
> Thirty-seven defendants, including General Raoul
> Cédras, head of the military government; Emmanuel
> Constant, founding leader of the paramilitary
> organization FRAPH; police chief Michel François;
> and Cédras' deputy Philippe Biamby were tried in
> absentia. They were all sentenced to life in prison
> with hard labour, and were fined one billion
> gourdes, roughly US$43million. However, they
> remained at large. 
> 
> In February 2004, armed government opponents
> attacked police stations, court houses in Gonaïves,
> the country's fourth largest town, forcing the
> police and local authorities to flee. As rebellion
> spread throughout the centre and north of Haiti,
> former police and army officers who had left Haiti
> returned. The rebel forces are led by men like Louis
> Jodel Chamblain and Jean Pierre Baptiste ('Jean
> Tatoune'), convicted of carrying out egregious
> violations under the facto military dictatorship of
> the early 1990s. 
> 
> On 29 February, as rebels threatened to advance on
> Port-au-Prince and forcibly remove Aristide, he left
> Haiti in disputed circumstances. A Multinational
> Interim Force composed by mainly US, Canadian and
> French troops arrived, and was mandated by the UN
> Security Council to help ensure law and order and
> protect human rights. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Public Document
> ****************************************
> For more information please call Amnesty
> International's press office in London, UK, on +44
> 20 7413 5566
> Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X
> 0DW. web: http://www.amnesty.org
> 
> For latest human rights news view
> http://news.amnesty.org 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 


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