23284: Esser: Haiti human rights office attacked (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

San Francisco Bay View
http://www.sfbayview.com

Haiti human rights office attacked

September 23, 2004

Port au Prince, Haiti - One week after the Haiti Information Project
published a story about Ronald St. Jean’s books criticizing NCHR for
acting as “modern day inquisitors” and “police, judge and jury” in
Haiti, three heavily armed men invaded St. Jean’s offices at the
Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Haitian People
(CDPH).

At 1:00 Saturday morning, the three perpetrators jumped over the
barrier of the building and broke down the doors, demanding of the
night watchman, “Where do you keep your arms depot?” The three men,
wearing olive khaki military uniforms and brandishing large automatic
weapons, proceeded to ransack the offices, breaking open desks and
file cabinets while scattering papers and literature on the floor.

The rumors hitting the street immediately after the article was
published on the website of the Haiti Action Committee,
www.haitiaction.net, was that CDPH was storing arms for Lavalas,
specifically M-60s, at their offices located on John Brown Avenue.
While the source of the rumors cannot be directly attributed to NCHR,
it would not be the first time this estimable organization has spread
disinformation.

The modus operandi in these situations is that a rumor is spread,
NCHR then takes to the airwaves saying it has evidence to
substantiate the rumor, the police make arrests, then the matter is
forgotten and NCHR’s “evidence” is never presented, while the
detainees rot away in prison. Such is the case with the recent
arrests of 19 people from the labor union Center for Haitian Workers
(CTH) along with members of the St. Jean Bosco religious community on
charges of involvement in the attack against a university facility on
Dec. 5, 2003.

NCHR made the same claim against Annette Auguste, one of Haiti’s most
popular singers, known to millions in Haiti and the U.S. as Sò Anne.
Despite a judge’s order to release her for lack of evidence, NCHR’s
false allegation has resulted in her continued imprisonment.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and Interior Minister Jocelyn Privert
continue to be imprisoned on charges of performing “genocide” in La
Scierie. On Aug. 24, 2004, Agence de Presse Haitian (AHP) wrote, “The
former Prime Minister, who turned himself in to the police following
accusations made by NCHR that he was involved in an alleged massacre
at La Scierie, spoke out against the conduct of the interim
government, which has revealed itself to be actively and viscerally
anti-Lavalas in its plans, its rhetoric and its practices.” Neptune
refused to meet with NCHR after his incarceration, calling them
“partisan” and “unreliable.”

NCHR, which presents itself to the world as a legitimate defender of
human rights, apparently has no qualms when it comes to playing an
overt political role for the U.S.-installed Latortue government as
long as it serves the purpose of justifying the incarceration of
Lavalas leaders and militants. It has been clear for some time now
that NCHR’s evidence and documentation have now been replaced with
accusations in the media and rumors on the street.

When it came time for NCHR to make good on its claims of
documentation of the alleged massacre in La Scierie, its excuse was
the equivalent of a young child claiming his dog ate his homework.
NCHR’s Pierre Esperance claimed the evidence could not be found
because “wild dogs devoured the bodies.”

Most recently, NCHR has found itself in a quandary with the acquittal
of Jodel Chamblain for the execution-style murder of Lavalas
supporter and benefactor Antoine Izmery. One observer put it this
way: “It’s the height of hypocrisy for NCHR to play a role in
justifying the persecution of the Lavalas political party and then to
cry foul when Izmery’s murderer is exonerated. While it is proper for
any human rights organization to condemn the sham trial of Chamblain,
the plain truth is that if Izmery were alive today NCHR would have
already made sure he was thrown in prison.

“The contradiction for NCHR is that they have to keep face as
credible when it involves high profile and well-known human rights
violators like Chamblain. It suits the image they want to present to
the outside world and plays well for their financial supporters, who
would probably abandon them if they knew the partial and destructive
role they are playing in Haiti today. The truth is reconciliation is
not on the agenda of NCHR.”

The point at the heart of Ronald St. Jean’s books is that partisan
political attacks have taken a more defining role in NCHR’s work in
Haiti than the hard and painstaking tasks of impartial documentation
and investigation required of human rights organizations throughout
the world. Through countless examples, St. Jean unmasks the divisive
political role NCHR is playing in Haiti.

After reading his work it is clear that if NCHR wishes to maintain
its reputation as a credible human rights organization, it should
immediately distance itself from the rumor mill of Haitian politics
and strongly condemn the attack against CDPH, the detainment of
Annette Auguste, Yvon Neptune, Jocelyn Privert and countless others
who have fallen victim to the current political climate - a
destructive political climate that NCHR has unfortunately contributed
to.

Sadly, there is little danger of this and it is for this reason many
individuals and organizations working in Haiti wonder who will be
next and when it will be their turn to face arrest based upon claims
made by NCHR. This alone should speak volumes.

In Ronald St. Jean’s excellent books, “Une operation de manipulation
et d’intimidation” and “Exiger de la NCHR Toute La Verité,” NCHR is
described as a “demagogic organization” openly leading the campaign
of political repression and reprisals that is reality in Haiti today.

For more information and to get involved in defending the rights of
Haitians, who fought their way out of slavery by defeating the
greatest powers of Europe to found the world’s first Black republic,
visit www.haitiaction.
net.
.