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21576: erzilidanto: CPM-Letter/PRESS RELEASE-For official CARICOM investigation request (fwd)
From: Erzilidanto@aol.com
Date: April 27, 2004
Subject: PRESS RELEASE/HAITI - demand for an U.N. investigation.
From: Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
(See, http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/concerns.html
or the Haitiaction.net )
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Action: Circulate
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Subject: FW: CPM- LETTER RE HAITI / PRESS RELEASE
CLEMENT PAYNE MOVEMENT
Clement Payne Cultural Centre
Crumpton Street
Bridgetown, Barbados
Tel: 437-8216 / 435-2334
23 April 2004
Mr. Edwin Carrington
Secretary-General
CARICOM
C/o The Barbados Pavilion
Hastings
Christ Church
Barbados
Dear Mr. Carrington
Re: HAITI
I write to you as the representative of a coalition of some 11 people’s
organizations from the Caribbean nations of Haiti, St. Lucia, Trinidad and
Tobago, Guyana, Antigua, and Barbados, which met in Barbados on the 20th of
March 2004 and developed a Caribbean people’s analysis and statement on the
situation in Haiti.
The central component of our analysis and statement consisted of an
expression of approval of and admiration for the position taken by CARICOM
in issuing a call for an investigation under the auspices of the United
Nation into the circumstances surrounding President Aristide’s
unconstitutional ouster from office, and a request that CARICOM take
immediate and effectual steps to actualize its “call” by piloting an
appropriate resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations.
We are now extremely concerned however, that CARICOM appears to be guilty of
undue delay in making any concrete effort to officially place this matter
before the U.N. General Assembly or indeed before any other relevant organ
or officer of the United Nations.
Our concern has been heightened in recent days by the following reported
developments:-
(1) U.N Secretary –General Kofi Annan has declared that he is
unable to act on the matter of a probe into Aristide’s ouster unless he has
a formal request to do so either from the Security Council or CARICOM;
(2) UN spokesman Farhan Haq has informed the IPS news agency
that – “We have read news reports that CARICOM wants a U.N investigation,
but unless we receive an official request …….. from CARICOM …….. we cannot
act on it,” and
(3) Reginald Dumas, the U.N special adviser on Haiti was
quoted as saying that he is surprised at CARICOM’s delay.
Now, we are only too well aware that the governments of CARICOM have been
subjected to enormous pressure and evil threats by the governments of the
U.S.A and France in order to intimidate our governments into backing off
from their just and reasonable demand for an U.N. investigation.
We therefore wish, through your good offices, to say to all of our CARICOM
Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Heads of Government that the people of the
Caribbean are watching them intently and expect them to rise to the occasion
and to demonstrate the strength, courage, integrity and vision that is now
more than ever required of the leaders of small, black, Third World nations
facing an aggressive threat of re-colonisation and disregard of their
independence and sovereignty by the government of the U.S.A and other
imperialist European forces.
Should CARICOM back down from its call for a UN investigation it will be
sending a dangerous signal of weakness to those forces intent on dominating
our region, and will expose our regional organization to worldwide ridicule
and loss of face. In addition CARICOM will be perpetrating a colossal
betrayal of the people of Haiti and the Caribbean that will be recorded in
our history as an episode of infamy and disgrace.
We therefore call upon the Foreign Ministers of CARICOM currently meeting in
Barbados to use this meeting to decide upon a precise and urgent deadline
for the submission of an official CARICOM resolution and demand to the
General Assembly of the U.N and to Secretary General Kofi Annan, and to urge
our Heads of Government to accept and adhere to such a deadline.
We look forward to hearing a public official announcement on this matter by
CARICOM as a matter of urgency.
Yours faithfully
David A. Comissiong
President
cc. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St.
Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
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CLEMENT PAYNE MOVEMENT
Clement Payne Cultural Centre
Crumpton Street
Bridgetown, Barbados
Tel: 437-8216 / 435-2334
PRESS RELEASE
Caribbean Civil Society Intervention On Haiti Issue
A coalition of Caribbean Civil Society organisations intervened at the
meeting of CARICOM’s “Council For Foreign And Community Relations” (COFCOR)
in Bridgetown, Barbados on Friday 23rd April 2004, in order to demand that
CARICOM stand firm on its call for a United Nations investigation into
President Aristide’s ouster, and that the council of CARICOM Foreign
Ministers decide upon a “precise and urgent” date for the submission of a
CARICOM resolution to the United Nations General Assembly mandating such an
investigation.
A three person delegation led by Mr. David Comissiong, President of the
Clement Payne Movement of Barbados and representing eleven (11)
non-governmental organisations from the Caribbean nations of Haiti, Trinidad
and Tobago, St.Lucia, Guyana, Antigua, and Barbados presented letters to
Caricom Secretary –General Edwin Carrington and to all of the CARICOM
Foreign Ministers who were present at the COFCOR meeting at the Barbados
Pavilion on the outskirts of Bridgetown.
Attached hereto is a copy of the said letter.
The organisations represented by Mr. Comissiong and his colleagues Mr. David
Denny and Mrs. Thelma Gill Barnett are listed as follows: -
1. Clement Payne Movement (Barbados)
2. Emancipation Support Committee (Trinidad & Tobago)
3. Pan-Caribbean Congress (Antigua, St. Vincent, Barbados,
St. Lucia)
4. Veye-Yo (Haitian Diaspora)
5. Women of Color in the “Global Women’s Strike”
6. DAWN Caribbean
7. Organization For National Empowerment (St. Lucia).
8. African Cultural and Development Association (Guyana)
9. Israel Lovell Foundation (Barbados)
10. Federation des Organisations des Femmes de Petion-Ville
(Haiti)
11. Centre de Reintegration Economique et Sociale des Femmes
Haitiennes (Haiti)
Edmund Douglas
Public Relations Officer
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