21368: Hess: Re: 21360: McCalla: RE: 21318: Esser: The American Learning Zone (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: DougRHess@aol.com

While I have much respect for the hard and dangerous work of the staff of
NCHR, I think that it is only fair to note that much of the reporting that comes
out of the NCHR on Haitian-International relations is most useful to
conservative forces in the US and to the not-always-so-democratic opposition. Consider
this line: "After declaring his readiness to die in office to save democracy,
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide decided to save himself ..." Come on. Haiti
might be better off with or without Aristide, but is that kind of sarcastic
reporting helpful?

I hope NCHR continues to take a hard line on Haitian's who abuse human
rights, but I also wish it would get its eyes a bit more open to the need to condemn
just as harshly US and international policy towards Haiti. Human rights in
Haiti do not deteriorate in a vacuum. NCHR must know that people who wish to use
it's reports for ill ends have in the past. With statements like this one:
http://www.nchr.org/hrp/nchr2-22-04.htm it is no wonder. Where is the mention of
what will come if Aristide fell? Why welcome it? Why only mention the abuses
of pro-JBA gangs? Granted, I didn't take the time to look over the entire
website, but this is what caught my eyes and my recollection from the early 1990s,
too.

Doug Hess
Ph.D. Student,
School of Public Policy & Administration,
George Washington University

Home address:
2114 N St., NW Apt. 23
Washington, DC 20037
202-955-5869
(cell 202-276-4807)