15104: Caze: NCHR Press Release: Symposium to Address Haiti's Crisis (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Martine Caze <MCaze@nchr.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Merrie Archer
Director, Human Rights Programs
     954-462-8231; marcher@nchr.org


Symposium to Address Haiti's Crisis

New York, March 11, 2003 - On Thursday, March 13, the National Coalition for
Haitian Rights (NCHR) will join a number of distinguished panelists at a
workshop being hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC.
Entitled "Haiti: Ideas for Political and Economic Development," this
on-the-record discussion will examine the political, economic and social
gridlock that have gripped the country in recent years.  The one-day
conference will bring together prominent governmental, non-governmental and
private actors from the United States, Haiti and international institutions
to, ".(1) assess strategies for addressing Haiti's governance and
institutional problems and (2) explore several strategies for providing
humanitarian and development support to Haiti, during the current period of
unsettled politics."  In addition to NCHR's Executive Director, Dina Paul
Parks, other confirmed speakers include: Luigi Einaudi, Assistant Secretary
General of the OAS; Brian Dean Curran, US Ambassador to Haiti; Congressman
John Conyers; Gerard Johnson of the Inter-American Development Bank; and
Jean-Edouard Baker of the Association of Haitian Industries.

As most Haiti watchers are aware, the situation in Haiti has deteriorated
rapidly in recent months, with a sharp escalation in violence and human
rights abuses, including considerable intimidation and harassment of human
rights advocates, the press and members of the opposition; and a deepening
polarization of political factions.

The latest sign of Haiti's increasingly unstable political and economic
situation is the arrest this past weekend of a leading women's rights
activist, Carline Simon. Just days after she organized a demonstration
protesting the government's handling of the economic situation on the
occasion of International Woman's Day, both Simon and her husband were
arrested on charges of alleged illegal weapons possession. (The decline of
the gourde and the resulting rise in prices over everyday goods and
services, particularly gasoline and public transportation, has chiefly hit
the meager budgets of the lower and middle classes.)

"With the international community at a loss for how to proceed on these dual
fronts," said Paul Parks, "this type of venue allows for a broader
cross-section of stakeholders, including Haitian-Americans, to make
practical, realistic proposals that will help to break the impasse and bring
Haiti out of its morass."