Headlines

HAITI: Human Rights Delegation Echoes Growing Criticism of UN Mission

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Apr 8 2005 (IPS) - Argentine human rights activist and Nobel peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, speaking with IPS from Haiti, expressed alarm over the violence and crime besieging this devastated Caribbean nation, in addition to allegations – as yet unconfirmed – of U.N. peacekeeping forces involvement in acts of torture and rape.

Argentine human rights activist and Nobel peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, speaking with IPS from Haiti, expressed alarm over the violence and crime besieging this devastated Caribbean nation, in addition to allegations – as yet unconfirmed – of U.N. peacekeeping forces involvement in acts of torture and rape.

“The situation in Haiti is critical,” Pérez Esquivel reported from Port-au-Prince. “There has been a serious deterioration of state institutions, the government is more symbolic than real, and there are a wealth of problems like major shootouts between armed gangs of police officers, drug traffickers or common criminals in the streets,” he added.

Pérez Esquivel, founder and director of the Peace and Justice Service, a non-governmental group, is heading up an international fact-finding and solidarity mission to Haiti, made up of representatives of 15 organisations from the continental network Jubilee South/Americas.

They arrived in Haiti on Apr. 3 to gather information and testimony on the living conditions of the population, the human rights situation, and the performance of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which involves a large contingent of Latin American troops.

Pérez Esquivel reported that the civil society delegation he heads along with the president of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo-Founding Line, Nora Cortiñas, witnessed “a great many problems in the tax free zone, where workers are subjected to slave-labour conditions,” in addition to “continual human rights violations” throughout the country.

The activists have met with humanitarian and women’s organisations, as well as interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, who denied the existence of the reported crimes and violations. They also visited jails where there are currently “over 1,000 political prisoners being held without trial,” said Pérez Esquivel.

The delegates also took part in a meeting with the U.N. independent expert on human rights in Haiti, French magistrate Louis Joinet, who painted a bleak picture of the situation in Haiti, where the judicial system is practically powerless and politicians operate with “full impunity.”

The critical situation in Haiti raises serious doubts as to the elections scheduled for October and November of this year, said Pérez Esquivel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his struggle against human rights violations during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina.

“The government says they will take place, but so far there have been no discussions with social and political organisations. We do not know what will happen between now and October,” he said.

Haiti has been plunged into a state of chaos since Feb. 29, 2004, when constitutional President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown. Large areas of the country fell under the control of armed gangs of criminals and former soldiers from the army disbanded by Aristide.

MINUSTAH, headed by Chilean diplomat Juan Gabriel Valdez, has been responsible for keeping the peace in Haiti since June 2004, when it replaced the Multinational Interim Force (MIF) of U.S., French and Canadian troops sent in after Aristide’s fall. Brazil was placed in command of the mission’s peacekeeping troops.

The mission’s performance, however, has been the target of growing criticism in recent months, in the face of evidence that armed gangs still control large areas of the country, while violence continues unabated.

The MINUSTAH leadership denies the allegations, while calling on the United States, the European Union and multilateral financial agencies to come through with the funds they have pledged for reconstruction in Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere. This is the only way that peace can be achieved, they maintain.

Pérez Esquivel acknowledged that “Haiti is not Iraq,” but he stressed that the situation is critical and could get even worse if the United States and other donor countries do not send the resources they have promised and if the already dramatic levels of hunger, poverty and social exclusion become more acute.

Over a billion dollars has been pledged by donor countries to fund development projects, but very little of this money has actually reached Haiti.

Pérez Esquivel said he had received reports of rape, beatings and torture involving Argentine, Brazilian and other members of MINUSTAH, which is made up of 7,400 military troops and civilian police officers from 34 countries, including seven Latin American nations.

However, these accusations have not been confirmed, he noted, adding that the delegation was scheduled to meet with Brazilian General Augusto Heleno Pereira, commander of the U.N. troops.

Latin American participation in this mission has been a highly controversial issue.

Former priest and two-time president Aristide left the country on a U.S. plane that took him to the Central African Republic, and hours later, Haiti was occupied by a U.S.-led multinational force.

Aristide later maintained that he was abducted, after being toppled in a “modern coup d’état” sponsored by the United States and France.

MINUSTAH, which replaced the U.S.-led troops last June, came under heavy fire in a recent report titled “Keeping the Peace In Haiti?”, co-authored by the Harvard Law Student Advocates for Human Rights and the Brazilian non-governmental organisation Centro de Justiça Global (Global Justice Centre).

The report, released last month, says that the MINUSTAH forces have “effectively provided cover for the Haitian National Police (HNP) to wage a campaign of terror in Port-au-Prince’s slums” – where most residents are supporters of the deposed Aristide’s party, Lavalas – and have thus failed to fulfil their mandate to protect the civilian population and ensure the respect of human rights.

General Pereira has countered that the report is unfounded.

The fact-finding mission led by Pérez Esquivel, which included representatives of organisations based in Brazil, Uruguay, the United States and Canada, is scheduled to wrap up on Friday and issue statement on Haiti.

The activists also plan to prepare a report that they will present to the U.N. and the countries participating in the mission.