13822: (Arthur) Haiti: ICFTU condemns wave of anti-union repression (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

Brussels 26 November 2002 (ICFTU OnLine): In a letter sent to President
Aristide, the ICFTU expressed its concern at the serious deterioration of
human rights in Haiti, denouncing in particular the harassment and prolonged
detentions suffered by trade unionists in the education sector, such as Josué
Mérilien, General Coordinator of the Union Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti
(UNNOH), and Pepe Jean Ghetro, General Secretary of the Groupe d’Initiative
des enseignants de Lycée (GIEL).

Since criticising the authoritarian excesses of the government, particularly
concerning the education sector, Josué Mérilien has been constantly harassed
by the legal authorities, which have, inter alia, accused him of drug
trafficking, having placed a quantity of narcotics inside his vehicle. Pepe
Jean Ghetro has, for his part, been threatened by armed individuals close to
the government with being burnt alive at the secondary school where he
teaches in Cabaret, following his protests at the corporal punishment
inflicted on pupils. He has subsequently had to go into hiding as a result of
intensified death threats. And whilst this was taking place the police are
said to have opened fire against a demonstration by schoolchildren in
Petit-Goâve on 20 November, injuring eight of them. In view of these
violations and against the background of paralegal groups acting in impunity
to quell all dissident voices, the ICFTU is demanding that the president
personally ensure the physical safety of the trade unionists.

The ICFTU is also demanding the immediate release of two trade unionists from
the Syndicat des ouvriers de Guacimal Saint-Raphaël (SOGS), Jérémie Dorvil
and Urbain Garçon, who are still being held in the National Prison, though no
charge has so far been brought against them. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of
the serious incidents last May in the commune of Saint-Raphaël, which led to
the deaths of two trade unionists, have still not been sanctioned. The ICFTU
is particularly concerned that according to information supplied by the
Coalition Nationale pour les Droits des Haïtiens (NHCR – a civil rights
organisation), 82% of those in prison still await trial and are often
detained in inhuman conditions, in violation of the International Pact on
Civil and Political Rights, which Haiti has ratified.

Conscious of the difficulties currently faced by the Haitian economy and its
institutions, the ICFTU is insisting that President Aristide respect
fundamental human rights and keep the undertakings made by his country with
regard to core trade union rights.

http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991216847&Language=EN
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), was set up in
1949 and has 225 affiliated organisations in 148 countries and territories on
all five continents, with a membership of 157 million.

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See the Haiti Support Group web site:
www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

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