#761: Justice For Haiti (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Avokahaiti@aol.com

                            October 20, 1999
Hello Everyone:

    First of all, welcome to everyone new to the Campaign for the Return of 
the FRAPH/FADH Documents.  The Campaign, launched by Haitian grassroots 
organizations, with supporters in over 30 countries, demands the return of 
approximately 160,000 pages of documents (including "trophy photos" of human 
rights victims with their torturers, as well as video and audiocassettes) 
removed from Haitian military and paramilitary offices by U.S. troops in 
1994.  These documents are the legal property of Haiti under national and 
international law.  They are important for Haitians to establish the truth 
about the 1991-94 military dictatorship, and to prepare cases against those 
responsible for the regime's human rights violations.

DEMONSTRATION AT UN IN NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 4

    We have a big day planned for November 4, when the U.N. Human Rights 
Commission Special Expert on Haiti, Adama Dieng delivers his report to the 
U.N. General Assembly in New York.  We expect Mr. Dieng, as he has at 
previous General Assembly and Human Rights Commission sessions, to propose a 
resolution calling for the Documents' return.  We expect the U.S. delegation, 
as previously, to impede the delegates from voting on this resolution.  The 
Campaign will encourage a vote on the resolution by distributing materials 
about the documents to the delegates, and by holding a demonstration.  In 
addition, several organizations have promised to issue press releases 
encouraging a vote to return the documents.

    The demonstration will be organized by the Center for Constitutional 
Rights.  Please come if you can, and bring your family, friends and 
colleagues.  We will post more details soon, or you can call Ron Daniels of 
CCR at 212-614-6464.

    If you cannot be in New York on the 4th, you can make an important 
contribution by lobbying your government.  Because no one, not even the U.S. 
Government, seriously questions Haiti's right to the Documents, just a few 
persuasive individuals or organizations can convince a government to support 
the Documents' return.  Please contact your government (including the U.S.) 
by phone, fax or letter, and: 1) tell it that you believe the return of the 
FRAPH/FADH Documents is important for establishing justice in Haiti, and 2) 
ask it to support Adama Dieng's resolution, by assuring that it gets to the 
General Assembly for a vote, then voting for it.  At the end of this update 
we have contact information for some foreign ministries, and we will provide 
others on request.

    Your support for the November 4 mobilization is important because public 
pressure is the only weapon we have.  Although the U.S. government admits 
that the Documents are important to justice in Haiti, and does not seriously 
contest its legal obligation to return them (and has even said several times 
over the last five years that it will return them), no court can make it do 
so.  But recent campaigns for the release of U.S. documents regarding 
Guatemala and Chile show that public pressure can overcome the reluctance to 
release sensitive documents.  

    Your support would be especially effective right now.  Our recent updates 
have shown how the Campaign is building momentum, and it appears that our 
pressure is being felt.  The recent outcry for the Documents in Haiti 
provoked a rare public response from Ambassador Timothy Carney in September.  
Earlier that month, a U.S. Congressional Delegation announced that the State 
Department has re-opened talks on the issue.  The U.N. General Assembly is an 
ideal forum for us because it will have heavy media coverage, especially by 
U.S. media, and a resolution from it will show how widespread the support is.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

    As for our momentum: the last month has been one of the most successful 
yet.  The bi-partisan U.S. Congressional Delegation declared in its report 
that it "firmly believes that all of these materials should be returned 
immediately," and that the U.S. claims that they should be redacted "are 
simply without merit. The documents should be returned in their original 
form."

    In Haiti, everyone commemorating the September 30 coup d'etat anniversary 
demanded the documents, including Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste in a fiery sermon at 
the open air mass on the Champ de Mars, Fondasyon 30 Septanm, at a protest of 
hundreds in front of the U.S. Embassy, many of the tens of thousands who 
converged on the Champ de Mars later in the day, and MICIVIH, the U.N. Human 
Rights Mission in Haiti.  These demands were covered widely in the Haitian 
newspapers, radio and television, and in wire stories in the U.S.  Ambassador 
Carney, in response, offered "98%" of the documents.  As Haiti Progres 
pointed out, 2% of 160,000 leaves 3,200, far short of the "all" recommended 
by the Congressional delegation and offered by Madeleine Albright 17 months 
ago. 

    In Europe, The City Council of Liverpool, England passed a resolution 
"call[ing] upon the Government of the United States of America to return all 
FADH/FRAPH documents taken from Haiti."  Copies of the resolution and the 
unofficial French translation are available on the website or by email. 
Thomas Noirfalisse wrote a good article about the Documents and the Campaign 
in the September-October edition of "Le Monde des Droits de l'Homme" (7ieme 
annee, n. 45, pp. 20-24).  The article, in French, is on the website.

    A September 16 Reuters story on the anniversary of the U.S. intervention 
in Haiti noted that Haitians are "furious about Washington's refusal to hand 
over a mountain of evidence that US troops seized" from military and 
paramilitary facilities, and quoted Alex Dupuy of Wesleyan University to the 
effect that "[t]he documents would reveal a great deal about the US 
collaboration with FRAPH, and expose those activities- which in my view would 
bring light to the way the US was implicated in what was going on in Haiti".

    Please continue to circulate the Petition demanding the Documents' 
return.  Copies in Creole, French, English, Spanish and Dutch, are available, 
from either the website, or at the addresses below.  If you would like the 
French version of this letter, let us know (same if you would like your name 
off the list).  

    For more information on the Campaign, contact the website, 
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~advocacy or: in Europe:  Haiti Support 
Group, London, phone/fax: 44-181-201-9878, email: haitisupport@gn.apc.org; in 
Haiti: Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, 168 Avenue John Brown, 
Port-au-Prince, phone: 509-245-8550, fax 509-245-0371, email: 
avokahaiti@aol.com; Everywhere else: Haiti Advocacy: 1309 Independence Ave. 
SE, DC 20003, phone 202-544-9084, fax: 202-547-2952, email: 
advocacy@bellatlantic.net.  This is update #13.

   Kenbe fem,  Brian Concannon Jr.
____________________________________________________________

Argentina
Ministerio de Relaciones Extranjeros
Reconquista 1088
1003 Buenos Aires, Republica Argentina
Telephone: 011 54 1 311 0071
Facsimile: 011 54 1 311 4730

Australia
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Queen Victoria Terrace
Bag Eight
Canberra ACT 2600, Commonwealth of Australia
Telephone: 011 61 2 9261 9111
Facsimile: 011 61 2 9261 3111

Belgium
Ministere Royale des Affairs Etrangeres
2, rue des Quatre Bras
B-1000 Brussels, Royaume du Belgique
Telephone: 011 32 2 516 8211
Facsimile: 011 32 2 511 6385

Burkina Faso
Ministere des Affairs Etrangeres
03 Boite Postale 7.038
Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso
Telephone: 011 226 324-974 / -733 to -737
Facsimile: 011 226 308-792

Cambodia
Ministere Royale des Affairs Etrangeres
313 Karl Marx Quay
Rue 240er
Khan Daum Penh
Phnom Penh, Royaume du Cambodge
Telephone: 011 855 23 426-164
Facsimile: 011 855 23 426-144

Cameroon
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Yaounde, Republic of Cameroon
Telephone & Facsimile: 011 237 220-133

Canada
Department of External Affairs
125 Sussex Drive
The Lester Pearson Building
Ottawa ON K1A 0G2, Canada
Telephone: 1 613 996 9134
Facsimile: 1 613 952 3904




Chile
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Morande 441
Casilla 91 Correio 21
Santiago de Chile, Republica del Chile
Telephone: 011 56 2 698 2501
Facsimile: 011 56 2 699 4202

Colombia
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Carrera 10 #5/51
Palacio San Carlos
Bogata, Republica de Colombia
Telephone: 011 57 1 282 7811
Facsimile: 011 57 1 341 6777

Denmark
Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Asiatisk Place 2
DK-1448 Kobenhavn 2, Koningrijk Danmark
Telephone: 011 45 3392 0000
Facsimile: 011 45 3154 0533

Dominican Republic
Secretaria de Estado de Relaciones Exteriores
Avenida Independencia
Santo Domingo, Republica Dominicana
Telephone: 1 809 535 6280
Facsimile: 1-809 535 5752
E-Mail:  lpolanco@serex.gov.do

Ecuador
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Avenida 10 de Agosto y Carrion
Quito, Republica del Ecuador
Telephone: 011 593 2 230-100
Facsimile: 011 593 2 564-873

El Salvador
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Alameda Doctor Manuel Enrique Aranjo
Km 6 Carreterra a San Tecla
San Salvador, Republica El Salvador
Telephone: 011 503 243 3805
Facsimile: 011 503 243 3710

Finland
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Postbus 176
FIN-00161 Helsinki, Suomen Tasavalta
Telephone: 011 358 90 134-151
Facsimile: 011 358 90 1341 5849

France
Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres
37, Quai d'Arsay
F-75700 Paris Cedex, Republique Francaise
Telephone: 011 33 1 4317 5353
Facsimile: 011 33 1 4317 5203

Germany
Bundesminister fuer Auswaertig
Adenauralle 99-103
D-53113 Bonn, Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Telephone: 011 49 228 170
Facsimile: 011 49 228 173-402

Guatemala
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Palacio Nacional
Zona Uno
Guatemala, Republica de Guatemala
Telephone: 011 502 2 232 1212
Facsimile: 011 502 2 251 6745

Haiti
Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres
Boulevard Harry S Truman
Cite de l'Exposition
Port Au Prince, Republique d'Haiti
Telephone: 011 509 231-668 or 228-482
Facsimile: 011 509 238-912 or 235-261

Honduras
Ministerio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Avenida La Paz
Edificio Atala
Tegucigalpa, Republica del Honduras
Telephone: 011 504 314-209
Facsimile: 011 504 310-097

Indonesia
Minister of Foreign Affairs
6, Jalan Taman Pejamben
Jakarta 10640, Republik Indonesia
Telephone & Facsimile: 011 62 21 371-508

Ireland
Department of Foreign Affairs
Eighty Saint Steven's Green
Dublin 02, Eire
Telephone: 011 353 1 478 0822
Facsimile: 011 353 1 478 1484


Italy
Ministero degli Affairi Esteri
Piazzale della Farnesina 1
I-00194 Roma, Republicca Italianna
Telephone: 011 39 6 3691 3261
Facsimile: 011 39 6 323 6210

Kenya
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Post Office Box 30551
Nairobi, Jumhuri ya Kenya
Telephone: 011 254 2 334-433
Facsimile: 011 254 2 337-867

Mali
Ministere des Affairs Etrangeres
Koulouba
Bamako, Republique du Mali
Telephone: 011 223 225-226
Facsimile: 011 223 225-634

Mexico
Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores
Avenida Ricardo Flores Magon #1
Colonia Nonoalco Tlateloxco
06995 Mexico DF, Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Telephone:  011 52 5 782 3660 / 3765
Fax:  011 52 5 782 3626

Netherlands
Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Postbus 20061
NL-2500 EB S'Graveenhage, Koningrijk der Nederlanden
Telephone: 011 31 70 348 6331
Facsimile: 011 31 70 348 5559

Niger
Ministere des Relations Exterieures
Boite Postale 395
Niamey, Republique du Niger
Telephone: 011 227 722-112 / -465 / -907
Facsimile: 011 227 735-231

Norway
Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Postbus 8114 Dep
N-0032 Oslo, Kongariket Norge
Telephone: 011 47 2224 3600
Facsimile: 011 47 2224 9580



Paraguay
Minsiterio de las Relaciones Extranjeros
O'Leary 222 y Presidente Franco
Asuncion, Republica del Paraguay
Telephone: 011 595 21 494-593
Facsimile: 011 595 21 493-910

Philippines
Department of Foreign Affairs
2330 Roxas Boulevard
Pasay City
Manila, Republik n'g Pilipinas
Telephone: 011 63 2 834 4000
Facsimile: 011 63 2 832 0683

Poland
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Al Szuchas #23
PL-00-580 Warsawa, Rzeczsopospolita Polska
Telephone: 011 48 22 623 9000
Facsimile: 011 48 22 625 7652

Senegal
Ministere des Affairs Etrangeres
Boite Postale 4.044
Dakar, Republique du Senegal
Telephone: 011 221 823 4284 / 2081 / 7380
Facsimile: 011 221 823 8488

South Africa
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Private Bag X152
Pretoria 0001, Republic of South Africa
Telephone: 011 27 12 351 0005
Facsimile: 011 27 12 351 0253

Spain
Ministerio Real de las Relaciones Extranjeros
Plaza de la Provincia 1
E-28071 Madrid, Reino de Espana
Telephone: 011 34 1 366 4800
Facsimile: 011 34 1 366 7098

Sweden (Konungariket Sverige)
Royal Minister of Foreign Affairs
Postbox 16121
S-10323 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone: 011 46 8 786 6000
Facsimile: 011 46 8 723 1176



Switzerland
Bundesminister fuer Auswaertig
Bundeshaus West
CH-3003 Bern, Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft
Telephone: 011 41 31 322 2111
Facsimile: 011 41 31 322 3237

Syria
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Shariya Ishbilya
Abu Rummana
Damascas, Syrian Arab Republic
Telephone: 011 963 11 333 1200 / 1201
Facsimile: 011 963 11 331 0134 or 332 0686

Togo
Ministere des Affairs Etrangeres et Cooperation
Boite Postale 900
Lome, Republique Togolaise
Telephone: 011 228 212-911 to -913
Facsimile: 011 228 213-974

United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland
Department of Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AL, United Kingdom
Telephone: 011 44 171 270 1500
Facsimile: 011 44 171 829 2417 or 270 2833

United States of America
Department of State
2201 Northwest C Street
Washington, DC 20520-0001
Telephone: 1 202 647 6575
Facsimile: 1 202 647 6047

Venezuela
Ministerio del las Relaciones Extranjeros
Torre MRE
Conde a Carmelitas
Caracas 1010, Republica de Venezuela
Telephone: 011 58 2 819-151
Facsimile: 011 58 2 861 1336