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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
1 March 2004
Haiti: Lessons must be learned from past mistakes
Only by learning from the mistakes of the multinational intervention of 10
years ago can the international community effectively protect human rights
in Haiti today, Amnesty International said, calling on the UN Security
Council to heed five key human rights lessons from the 1994 multinational
intervention in Haiti and its aftermath as the Multinational Interim Force
is deployed.
The UN Security Council has mandated the force to assist Haitian security
forces "to establish and maintain public safety and law and order and
to promote and protect human rights". Significantly, the resolution
also states that "there will be individual accountability and no
impunity for violators." On the basis of these commitments, Amnesty
International urgently calls for the following:
1. that the Multinational Interim Force (MIF) commit to ensuring the
disarmament of both the rebel forces and the pro-Aristide militias. The
failure to disarm the disbanded Haitian military and paramilitary in 1994
has
been one of the root causes of ongoing political violence in Haiti.
2. that the MIF guarantee that notorious human rights offenders with
pending sentences for human rights convictions, such as rebel leaders
Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jean Pierre Baptiste ('Jean Tatoune') are taken
into custody and brought before the Haitian justice system.
3. that the international community ensure that under no circumstances are
those convicted of or implicated in serious human rights abuses given any
position of authority, whether in a transitional government or among
the
security forces, where they might commit additional violations.
4. that the MIF help ensure that those on all sides alleged to have
committed human rights abuses during the conflict are brought to justice.
Only in this way can the rule of law be fully upheld and the cycle of
political
violence broken.
5. that international civilian human rights monitors be deployed as a
matter of urgency, in addition to multinational military and police
personnel, to act as a deterrent to further abuses and to ensure that
accurate and detailed human rights information is provided to inform every
step of the international response to the unfolding situation in Haiti.
Background information
Currently, the USA, Canada and France have military personnel in
Haiti. In September 1995, current rebel leader Louis Jodel Chamblain
was among seven senior military and paramilitary leaders convicted in
absentia and sentenced to forced labour for life for involvement in the
September 1993 extrajudicial execution of Antoine Izméry, a well-known
pro-democracy activist, during a public mass at a Port-au-Prince church.
Chamblain had gone into exile to avoid prosecution. Chamblain was also
among those convicted in absentia and sentenced
to forced labour for life for participation in the 1994 Raboteau massacre.
Another of the rebel leaders, Jean Pierre Baptiste, alias "Jean
Tatoune", is also a former paramilitary leader who was also sentenced
to forced labour for life for participation in the 1994 Raboteau massacre.
He escaped from the Gonaďves prison, where he was serving his sentence,
during an August 2002 jailbreak.
Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jean Tatoune both belonged to the paramilitary
organisation FRAPH, formed by military authorities who were the de facto
leaders of the country following the 1991 coup against then-President
Aristide. FRAPH members were responsible for numerous human rights
violations before the 1994 restoration of democratic governance.
_____________________________________________
TransAfrica Forum Urges Congressional
Investigation into Aristide’s Ouster amid Claims that the U.S. Forced
the Haitian President to Leave
TransAfrica Forum President Bill Fletcher Jr. expressed grave concern that
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide reportedly was forced to leave
the country by the U.S. administration. He is calling for a Congressional
investigation into the circumstances that led to Aristide’s abrupt
departure from Haiti. TransAfrica Forum is one of the nation’s foremost
policy and advocacy organizations focusing on Africa and the Caribbean;
the organization issued the following statement today:
President Aristide’s departure from Haiti is a tragic statement on the
ability of sovereign nations to rule under constitutional democracy.
Whether the U.S. administration has forcibly removed Haiti’s president
is not clear, but the combination of a de facto U.S. blockade lasting
several years and other recent developments set in motion the crumbling of
Haiti’s constitutional democracy. These factors include U.S. backing of
sections of the civilian and armed opposition. While President
Aristide’s own serious errors may have contributed to the problem, the
Bush administration’s doctrine to follow its lead or be removed seems to
be at the core of the current crisis.
TransAfrica Forum remains opposed to the unconstitutional removal of
President Aristide from office. The Bush administration outlined in its
September 2002 National Security Strategy Doctrine, that it maintains its
right to remove opponents anywhere. Through its on-going assistance to
elements of the opposition, and its refusal to crackdown on right-wing
Haitian terrorists in the U.S. and cutoff sources of training and weaponry
for the armed opposition, the administration has undermined democratic
rule in Haiti.
Despite President Aristide’s significant concessions to the
International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Inter-American Development
Bank, the White House seemed unrelenting. The role played by Secretary of
State Colin Powell is particularly troubling. Secretary Powell could have
pressured Haiti’s civilian opposition to ensure a political compromise.
Instead, he leaned on President Aristide who had already demonstrated
willingness to compromise.
Secretary Powell also failed to convey to the military opposition that a
coup would be rejected by the U.S., and met with diplomatic, political and
economic isolation. Instead, the opposition was given no incentive to
compromise.
While President Aristide was reinstated by the United States in 1994
without the supports to ensure democracy would flourish, he made
significant errors that undermined his own efforts at transforming Haiti.
A full accounting of the situation in Haiti must address why President
Aristide lost important sections of his own base and why key political
allies turned against him. Something broke down in the organized
relationship between President Aristide and his supporters. While he
clearly retains impressive support in Haiti, Aristide’s own political
actions, human rights abuses, and alignment with gangs all undermined his
efforts to build Haitian democracy.
Democracy can only flourish when regular people wrestle control over their
lives and work to reshape their own conditions and futures.
Finally, this situation reminds people of conscience in the U.S. that
their actions or inactions directly impact U.S. policy. The failure of a
greater outcry and demand for support for Haitian democracy and
self-determination provided the conditions under which U.S. malevolent
intentions and activities could be realized.
In light of the current circumstances, TransAfrica Forum urges:
• President Aristide should be restored to power and be permitted to
fulfill the remainder of his term in office.
• The ouster of President Aristide, a de facto coup, should not be
condoned.
• An immediate Congressional investigation should commence to determine
the role that the U.S. played, directly and/or indirectly, in supporting
the civilian and military opposition movement.
• A multilateral force, not controlled by the U.S., should be deployed
to stabilize the situation and immediately disarm the military opposition.
• The Bush administration should commit to an emergency economic
development package to rebuild the Haitian infrastructure.
• Free and fair democratic elections should be permitted without the
interference of the U.S. or its allies.
• One standard of treatment for all refugees should be in place. Haitian
refugees should receive admission to the U.S. and be supported during this
period of crisis.
• Rescind President Bush's unprecedented directive to the U.S. Marines
to thwart all efforts of Haitian asylum seekers to reach our shores.
To contact Bill Fletcher, send email to:
bfletcher@transafricaforum.org
Questions or comments? Send email to:
mmunthali@transafricaforum.org
News tips, press releases? Send email to:
mmunthali@transafricaforum.org
Copyright 2003 by TransAfrica Forum
EXCLUSIVE BREAKING NEWS:
PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS 'I WAS KIDNAPPED'
'TELL THE WORLD IT IS A COUP'
Monday, March 1st, 2004
www.democracynow.org
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/01/1521216
Multiple sources that just spoke with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was
"kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic.
Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am
EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said.
He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been
threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the
diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave
Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and
Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US
that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security.
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson
also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and
confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide
"emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not
resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the
commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell
phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president.
Developing...
Transcript
of comments by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Transcript
of comments by Randall Robinson
Is
the US Arming Haitian Paramilitaries?
Posted:
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Haiti's Lawyer: US is Arming Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries
By Amy Goodman and Jeremy Scahill
The US lawyer representing the government of Haiti charged today that the
US government is directly involved in a military coup attempt against the
country's democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ira
Kurzban, the Miami-based attorney who has served as General Counsel to the
Haitian government since 1991, said that the paramilitaries fighting to
overthrow Aristide are being backed by Washington. more
ESC:
Act on Haiti now!
Posted:
Thursday, February 26, 2004
By
Sean Douglas, Newsday TT
AS Haiti falls to armed thugs, United States President George W Bush
glibly talks up a "political settlement" which fails to face
reality, commented Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) chairman, Khafra
Kambon. Kambon spoke to Newsday yesterday, after Bush in a televised
speech claimed he was seeking a political solution to the virtual civil
war which has almost reached the capital, Port-Au-Prince. He urged Caricom
to pressure the United Nations to immediately intervene militarily. Kambon
noted that the rebels were better equipped with weaponry and vehicles than
the Government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Moreso they were also
better trained being a mixture of former soldiers and thugs, led by
infamous characters. Kambon foresaw: "There is very little likelihood
that Aristide's supporters can hold out against the well-armed force
coming against them." more
US Double Game
in Haiti
by Tom Reeves;
February 16, 2004
Not quite a year ago, after returning from Haiti, I
wrote for Z-net, "the United States government is playing the
same game as in Iraq - pushing for "regime change" in Haiti.
Their strategy includes a massive disinformation campaign in U.S. media,
an embargo on desperately needed foreign aid to Haiti, and direct
support for violent elements, including former military officers and
Duvalierists, who openly seek the overthrow of President Aristide."
Events in Haiti today show how bloody the U.S. game has become.
Even as Colin Powell insists the U.S. does NOT seek "regime
change," the attempt to oust the legitimate elected government of
Jean Bertrand Aristide grows more violent by the day. During the past
week, at least 50 people have been slaughtered, and probably far more,
in Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city - most by those whom Powell and
pro-U.S. media call "rebels." The dead include three patients
waiting for treatment in a hospital. Many of the 14 police killed had
their bodies dragged naked through the street, ears cut off and other
body parts mutilated. Gonaives and several small towns remain in the
hands of a brutal gang of thugs, with direct ties to the U.S.-recognized
and Republican-financed "opposition" - the Convergence and the
Group of 184, whose spokesmen are sweat shop owners and former military
officers. This "opposition" seeks to distance itself from the
violence, yet continue to insist that the "uprising" is
justified. more
More Articles
Haiti's Descent
into Gang Warfare 02.24.04
Haiti
still enslaved for all its rebellion 02.24.04
Beloved
Haiti: A (Counter) Revolutionary Bicentennial 02.18.04
Haiti-A Call
For Global Action 01.07.04
Haiti-A Call
For Global Action - Part II 01.07.04
Media
vs. Reality in Haiti 02.13.04
Hands
off Haiti 02.17.04
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