19286: Blanchet: Fw: Haiti: Human rights caught between groups on collision course (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

AI Index:       AMR 36/010/2004    (Public)
News Service No:         045
26 February 2004

  Haiti: Human rights caught between groups on collision course


Haiti is headed towards violence and abuses on an unprecedented scale,
Amnesty International said today.

        Rebel leaders have announced their intention to attack the
capital, Port-au-Prince, this weekend and government supporters are
reportedly engaged in looting and thefts in advance of the rebel assault.

        The organization urgently called on both sides to step back from
their current paths, which have already led to numerous human rights
abuses by both rebel forces and government supporters, and which have set
them on a collision course in which more such abuses are inevitable.

        At the same time, Amnesty International is deeply concerned by
yesterday's statement by US President George Bush indicating that he has
instructed the US Coast Guard to intercept and turn back any potential
Haitian asylum seekers and warning Haitians not to try to reach the USA.

        "The US has an obligation under international law to ensure that
Haitians are able to
exercise their right to seek and enjoy asylum," the organization said.

        "Under international law the US is obliged not to reject
asylum-seekers at its frontiers.  Any move to intercept them and forcibly
return them to a country where they would face grave abuses of their human
rights would breach the most fundamental principle of international
refugee law, the principle of non-refoulement."

        Bush's statement came as the UN Security Council planned for a
meeting today to address the crisis in Haiti.  Countries such as France
and the Bahamas have called for an international peacekeeping force to
help ensure order in Haiti.  It is unclear whether they would want
deployment of such a force to be contingent on all sides first reaching
some kind of political settlement.

        "Any political settlement amongst the various Haitian actors must
be grounded in the rule of law, and ultimately in the Haitian
Constitution, for there to be a lasting solution to the current crisis, "
Amnesty International concluded.

Background Information
Rebel leaders include notorious figures such as Louis Jodel Chamblain and
Jean Tatoune, convicted of gross human rights violations committed a
decade ago. Their forces are reported to include a number of former
soldiers implicated in human rights abuses in the Central Plateau region
of Haiti over the last year.
        After taking control of the country's second city, Cap Haïtien,
over the weekend, rebel forces reportedly rounded up suspected government
supporters. The fate of many of those taken into rebel custody remains
unknown, leading to fears of potential human rights abuses ranging from
unlawful detention to arbitrary or summary executions.

        For their part, government supporters, including the police force
and unofficial armed gangs in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere have been
accused of increasing numbers of abuses against perceived opposition
supporters and members of the general public as tensions rise.

        On Tuesday, leaders of opposition political parties rejected a
settlement proposed by the international community to help resolve the
political stand-off. The government had agreed to the settlement.




Public Document
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