15098: Sanba: Re:15079: Arthur on US use of pepper spray in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: sanba@juno.com

INTERESTING TO KNOW that Senior officials in the ICRC, which champions legal rights for soldiers and civilians in wartime, warn that using these "riot control agents" (tear gas and pepper spray) would violate the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention.

The concern should be about the specification of war time. Why the use should be unlawful in war time, but not in riot time or crowd control time?

Then I would tell Arthur that I witnessed the Haitian Police using tear gas way back in 1957 in Cape Haitian. From October 1957 to 1986 it was not necessary because no one would even think of demonstrating. It was in use again after February 1986. The next time I saw police using pepper-spray was on the occasion of Patrick Dorismond's funeral in New York. I heard of such use also in Seattle or Washington.Therefore no surprise that it has been used in Haiti.

By the way I would like to see details not only on the date of the use, which is between 1994 and 1996, but also on the whereabouts and against whom. The why is irrelevant, even though it would inform more globally of the historical event.

In short it boils down to the use of tear gas and pepper spray: if it's unlawful in Iraq, at war, why not everywhere, any time?