14776: Benodin: Democracy Unraveling: New USCR Report Details Political Violence in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:  Hiram Ruiz 347-3507
Evening: 494-7790

Democracy Unraveling:  New USCR Report Details Political Violence in Haiti

Washington, DC, February 5, 2003 Today, the U.S. Committee for Refugees
(USCR) issued a new report that documents the political violence and human
rights violations in Haiti that may prompt the flight of some of Haitians
who risk dangerous voyages to reach the United States, Bahamas, Dominican
Republic and other countries. The report is available at www.refugees.org.

The report, Democracy Unraveling:  Political Violence in Haiti 2002, finds
that Haiti has "continued its downward spiral of political devolution" since
the Multi-National Forces restored President Jean Bertrand Aristide to
office in 1994.  It says that in 2002, "Human rights violations were
pervasive, including more than 150 political murders, suspicious
disappearances or deaths, and quasi political gangland slayings."

Despite this profusion of violence and terror, many Haitians' asylum claims
are denied or they are denied meaningful access to asylum protection
altogether.  USCR's new report details hundreds of examples of human rights
violations in 2002 that USCR believes may "shed light on possible reasons
for [Haitians'] departures that may be relevant to claims for protection and
asylum. The report's author, Merrill Smith, is not hopeful about the
immediate future.  "The seemingly perpetual refugee 'crisis' is not a
phenomenon that
will cease any time soon," Smith says.  "The prospects for development of a
pluralistic democracy with respect for human rights in the foreseeable
future do not appear promising," he adds.

The U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) is a public information and advocacy
program of Immigration and Refugee Services of America (IRSA), a
nongovernmental, non-profit organization.  Since 1958, USCR has defended the
rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons
worldwide.

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