12364: HSG press release - Release the detained trade unionists NOW! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Haiti Support Group press release - 20 June 2002


Release detained trade unionists NOW!

The Haiti Support Group joins with Haitian grassroots and human rights
organisations in protesting in the strongest possible terms against the
continued detention of nine people who participated in the union rally at the
Guacimal plantation near St. Raphael on 27 May 2002. The rally was called by
the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers' Union (Syndicat des Ouvriers de Guacimal
Saint-Raphaël - SOGS) and was supported by trade unionists from Saint-Michel
de l'Attalaye and Cap-Haïtien

The nine people who were subject to arbitrary arrest and who, 23 days later,
are still imprisoned without charge, include six trade unionists, members of
a workers' organisation affiliated to the legally-registered, 'First of
May-Batay Ouvriye' union federation. The others detained are two drivers, and
one drivers' assistant, who were in vehicles bringing demonstrators to the
rally. Two of the nine are women who are being detained at the Fort National
women's prison. The seven men are being detained at the National
Penitentiary. (see below for the names of the prisoners.)

As a large number of grassroots organisations in Haiti* pointed out in a
press release dated 11 June, the nine have been imprisoned because they tried
to exercise their legal rights to assembly and association as guaranteed in
the 1987 Constitution, and because they demanded the minimum working
conditions and benefits as laid down in the country's Labour Code, and as
agreed by the Guacimal SA management and the peasant/workers at the time the
land was leased.

The Haiti Support Group joins with these grassroots organisations in
demanding:
·   An immediate end to all acts of intimidation that are contrary to letter
and the spirit of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly as
guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution and by international human rights and
labour law;
·   The intervention of the Minister of Justice to secure the immediate
release without conditions of the nine illegally detained people;
·   The arrest of those implicated in the murder of the two peasant/workers
on 27 May at Guacimal, St. Raphael;
·   Justice and compensation for the victims of the tragic events at Guacimal
on 27 May;
·   The creation of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the
peasant/workers' situation and, in particular, the bloody events of 27 May;
·   The creation of the conditions of security to permit the peasant/workers
to return to their place of work.


The names of the nine detained people are:
1.  Yvon LOUIS JEUNE, a driver from Cap-Haïtien
2.  Alix ROLAND, a drivers' assistant
3.  Destiné DÉCIUS, a driver from St Michel de l'Attalaye
4.  Tusson ALEXANDRE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
5.  Veruséus SÉNAT, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
6.  Dorvil JÉRÉMIE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
7.  Urbain GARÇON, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
8.  Mme Danbreville ÉDOUARD, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
9.  Mme Lucienne JEAN, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye


*These demands were originally made on 11 June 2002 by a group of grassroots
organisations that include the Platform to Advocate for Alternative
Development (PAPDA), Catholic Workers' Action, Haitian Women's Solidarity
(SOFA), the State Electricity Company Workers' Union (FESTRED'H), the Tèt
Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen peasant movement, the National Peasant Movement of
the Papaye Congress (MPNKP), and the Centre for Research and Action for
Development (CRAD).


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The Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for
justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
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