16216: Parks: RE: 16211: Clotildec6: Time for NCHR to Get its Acts Together! (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dina Paul Parks <DPParks@nchr.org>

Dearest Clotilde,

Thank you for your comments on NCHR's press release today.  While you
clearly strongly disagreed with our sentiments, it is good to know that
people care about and are invested enough in NCHR's work to offer some
friendly criticism to ensure that we do our job well in pushing for change
in Haiti.

While we agree with you that the vast majority of the violence being
perpetrated in Haiti is at the hands of the government, as a human rights
organization advocating for the establishment of democracy, rule of law and
due process in Haiti, we cannot condone violence, particularly
politically-motivated violence, of any kind.   As an institution, we are
guided by the universal precepts of human rights protection and always have
an obligation to denounce violence, whatever its source or target.  In Haiti
particularly, after almost 200 years of bloodshed and misery, it would be
especially tragic to have the situation degenerate into something truly
unsalvageable.

Yours in the fight,

Dina Paul Parks