#575:Liverpool City Council passes FRAPH/FADH documents motion (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Charles Arthur - Haiti Support Group <haitisupport@gn.apc.org>

The motion pasted below was passed by the Liverpool City Council Community
Equality and Values Select 
Committee on 16 September. The motion, proposed by Kiron Reid (Liberal
Democrat councillor, Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee) was passed
with unanimous support. Therefore, support for the return of the Fraph/Fadh
documents is now the policy of Liverpool City Council. (The Council is run
by the Liberal Democrat Party. The motion was supported by the opposition
Labour Party.)


MOTION TO THE COUNCIL

Human Rights in Haiti.

This City Council notes that Liverpool is a port with a long history of trade 
with the Caribbean. Liverpool is also a city with a long history of support
by 
many of its citizens for individual liberty and of helping people in distress.

Liverpool City Council notes that the Caribbean island of Haiti was subject
to a -

military coup in 1991 which overthrew the democratically elected government
of 
President Jean Bertrand Aristide. 3,000 people were murdered under the
military 
dictatorship. The key groups responsible were the Armed Forces of Haiti
(FADH) 
and the paramilitary Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of 
Haiti (FRAPH). Democratic rule was restored in 1994 by an American lead
United 
Nations intervention force. The USA forces systematically confiscated FADH
and 
FRAPH documents which are important evidence of human rights violations under 
the coup regime. The former chief of FRAPH, Emmanuel Constant, now lives
freely 
in New York City.

Under the law of Haiti, international law, and United States law, the U.S.
has 
no legal right to have taken the documents or to keep them now. Liverpool
City 
Council calls upon the Government of the United States of America to return
all 
FADH/FRAPH documents taken from Haiti.

The Chief Executive is requested to send a copy of this motion to

The President of the United States of America
The President of Haiti
The Haiti Support Group.

Proposed by:
Cllr. Kiron Reid
Cllr. Chris Newby


 
 
Haiti Support Group    (haitisupport@gn.apc.org)