29096: Vander-Zaag: (reply) RE: 29094: Desmangles (news) Shocking news about Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Ray Vander Zaag  rvanderzaag@cmu.ca
Reply to 29094.

The Wayne State U study is certainly a welcome and important piece of research into the levels of insecurity and violence in Port-au-Prince during the LaTorture administration.

While the study itself, as reported in The Lancet, is relatively objective, subsequent reporting on the article raises suspicions about the author's political intent and objectivity.  (A link to the actual article is http://narcosphere.narconews.com/userfiles/261/Haiti_article.pdf)

One specific example from the interview with one the authors posted on the Democracy Now website will suffice.  While Athena Kolbe in the Democracy Now interview claims that their study found that UN solderis were also responsible for 'killings', table 2 in the article clearly shows that no foreign soldiers were identified by survey respondents as being responsible for killings.  This raises interesting questions about the motivations and interpretation of the study.

As is increasingly recognized, even science itself is rarely objective, but always selective in the problems it asks and in the ways it frames its research.

Applying a critical perspective (not simply for political reasons, but to see if the research withstands critical review), a number of questions can be asked of the study itself.  Some of these questions go beyond the narrow, social science objectives of the research, but need to be asked, given how this research is being used politically by Aristide supporters.

1.  Why did the researchers not ask questions regarding similar acts of violence during the period BEFORE the departure of President Aristide.  This would have provided very interesting and necessary comparative data.  All recognize that Haiti has been a place of increasing violence, with high levels of human rights abuses, for a number of years.  Much of the debate is not around WHETHER there was violence, but how/if levels of violence increased or decreased.  Why did the study not attempt to answer this question?

2.  It would also be important to know the level of turnover within the PNH ranks after Feb 2004.  If the majority of officers where already members before Feb 2004, the research simply provides 'scientific' evidence of the relatively well-established fact of high on-going levels of corruption/ill-discipline within the PNH, both before and after Feb 2004.  It does not necessarily provide support for the conclusion that these violations were the result of the active direction of the interim administration.  The fact that the PNH melted away in the face of armed opposition to President Aristide in early 2004 (rather than defend constitutonal/presidential authority) was already clear indication that it was an ill-disciplined, self-motivated and poorly administered security service.

3. Alongside the murders attributed to members of the National Police, it would be interesting to provide data on the number of PNH who were killed during this time and before Feb 2004.  This, I think, would provide a more contextual picture of the apparent 'civil war' that was going on between the different factions during these times.

4.  Within the article itself, there is an admission that victims' identification of the perpetrations of the violations may be unreliable, due to fear of repercussions or hopes of further a political cause by blaming groups they oppose.

5.  Overall, the research significantly absolves the UN forces of involvement in HR violations.  Without downplaying the seriousness of violations such as death threats and threats of physical or sexual violence, as already mentioned above, none of the most serious violations (murder or sexual assault) where attributted to them.  And only a very small percentage of physical assaults were attributed to the UN.  Yet the summary includes reference to the UN forces as being 'frequently identified'.  Further, a number of UN soldiers where themselves murdered during this time period.

6.  Given the 'criminals' were the group responsible for largest number of every category of violation during this period, it is clear that the greatest need of the population of Port-au-Prince was greatly improved police services.  The inability/unwillingness of the PNH to do this after (and presumably before) Feb 2004 provides support for the 'stated' objectives  of the UN mission in Haiti (installing a functioning state which can provide basic public securitiy as one of its first and basic responsibilities.)  So the research can also be read as proving the need for international intervention, albiet a more larger and more effective one, in establishing a basic functioning state.  The training and management of a competent public security function has been a intractible problem since 1994, about much has been written.

Ray Vander Zaag
Assistant Professor of International Development Studies
Canadian Mennonite University
Winnipeg, MB   Canada