25858: Hermantin(News)Report: U.N., government doing little on violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Jul. 28, 2005

Miami Herald

HAITI
Report: U.N., government doing little on violence
Amnesty International says that U.N. peacekeepers and the Haitian government 
have done little to disarm violent groups and stop human rights violations.
BY JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@herald.com

U.N. peacekeepers and the Haitian government have done little to disarm a 
population awash in guns, root out armed militants and stop widespread human 
rights violations by police, including summary executions, Amnesty 
International says.

In a report to be released today, the human rights organization paints a 
picture of official complacency that has allowed Haiti to sink ever deeper into 
violence, impunity and despair.

Amnesty International called on U.N. troops to immediately begin the forced 
disarmament program they promised following Sept. 15 -- their official deadline 
for groups to voluntarily hand over their weapons.

''Haitians remain mired in a human rights crisis despite the presence of a U.N. 
peacekeeping force,'' wrote Amnesty researcher Gerardo Ducos. ''In fact, little 
tangible progress has been made to protect human rights '' since the ouster of 
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide early last year.

The report is one more volley in a barrage of human-rights reports decrying the 
violence that dogs Haiti and criticizing the peacekeepers and an interim 
government that seems unable to rein it in.

ELECTIONS CLOSE

Many observers, including Amnesty, fear that elections scheduled for later this 
year could cause even more turmoil as various groups and their armed supporters 
struggle for power.

The 38-page Amnesty report, titled ''Haiti, Disarmament Delayed, Justice 
Denied,'' lays out a detailed case that police are continuing a pattern of 
human rights violations that began under Aristide, and that the U.N. troops 
that often accompany them are not doing enough to stop the abuse.

''The support that [peacekeepers] may have with the Haitian population fades 
away with every abuse reportedly committed with impunity by the national 
police,'' wrote Amnesty.

EXECUTIONS

In one case, the human rights group alleged, police raided a home in the Fort 
National neighborhood of Port-au-Prince on Oct. 26., ordered 13 people to lie 
on the ground and executed all of them.

While Amnesty lays direct blame for the violence in Haiti to a range of 
perpetrators -- members of the now disbanded armed forces, pro-Aristide gangs, 
rebels that overthrew Aristide, police, common criminals -- it says the 
inability of the interim government to control the country allows the bloodshed 
to flourish.

Ducos also called two detainees -- Gerard Jean Juste, a pro-Aristide priest 
arrested last week; and former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, arrested last year 
-- little more than ``political prisoners.''

Other people -- particularly leaders of pro-Aristide gangs -- are killed in 
police shootouts.

''Nobody even knows who does what,'' said Ducos. ``That's the problem. You can 
never answer for your crimes because you get a bullet between your eyes.''