19156: Esser: RFK Center calls for Immediate U.N. Intervention in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Monika Kalra Varma, (202) 463-7575x 228

RFK CENTER CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE U.N. INTERVENTION IN HAITI 

UNITED NATIONS - 25 Feb. 2004 /MaximsNews.com/ -- Due to
the dire human rights situation in Haiti following the attacks on
civilians that began on February 5, 2004 , the Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial Center for Human Rights is calling upon all members of the
United Nations to create a multi-faceted peace-building mission to
Haiti immediately.

Citing the continued daily deaths from political violence and
poverty, the RFK Center for Human Rights is asking the international
community to deploy a peace-building mission that will help build a
durable peace in Haiti .

“The situation in Haiti is desperate,” said Todd Howland, the
Center’s Director.

“The current political process has stalled and armed rebels are
committing atrocities and disregarding the Haitian people’s human
rights. 

"A U.N. peace-building mission to Haiti provides a way to move forward."

The RFK Center for Human Rights is calling on members of the U.N. to
ask for a Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly to consider a
resolution to create the mission.

The proposed U.N. mission calls for a focus on all human rights,
including the right to health, water, and education.

The U.N. would be charged with building institutional capacities, in
partnership with the Haitian government, in order to alleviate
poverty and strengthen the national police force and judiciary system.

The concept of human rights would underscore the mission’s various
programs and clear bench-marks would be set to outline when the U.N.
could withdraw.  

For example, the Right to Health program may require that a 40
percent decrease in infant mortality be achieved before the mission
could leave Haiti .

Under the plan, an international police force would be dispatched
immediately to work with the Haitian police in order to bring a halt
to the rising violence and to create a sense of stability.

The RFK Center for Human Rights is working in partnership with its
2002 Human Rights Laureate, Loune Viaud, the Director of Strategic
Planning and Operations and the Drug Procurement Officer of Zanmi
Lasante, a socio medical complex in the Central Plateau of Haiti. 

Loune Viaud has been a human rights activist in Haiti for over 15 years.
.