a928: Haitian human rights group criticizes handling of gang violence(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Haitian human rights group criticizes handling of gang
violence
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 25, 2002



Text of report by Haitian Metropole radio on 25
February

[Announcer] Human rights organizations denounce the
Lavalas regime's management of the Cite Soleil
dossier. Human rights activists stress that it is the
duty of the current authorities to protect the civil
population. Pierre Lesperance of the National
Coalition for Haitian Rights [NCHR] speaks as follows:

[Lesperance - recording, in Creole] We in the NCHR are
very worried by the fact that armed groups continue to
make victims in Cite Soleil. It is not normal for the
police that are there to protect lives and property to
remain idle and not make any effort to disarm the
gangs. It is true that the government [presidential
press service] said that there is a destabilization
movement that is taking place and that it will start
in Cite Soleil. It is not clear at all for us, because
the executive sits with the armed groups and dialogues
with them. That means that it has identified the
culprits. In this case I think that they could find a
way to disarm them. We really have not managed to
understand the attitude of the executive power and the
police. We are taking the opportunity to say that the
Cite Soleil situation is related to impunity and the
way that the Lavalas government is managing the issue
of impunity in the country, and the way it is
encouraging impunity in the country. For, after the
fights they always go and give compensation, money to
the victims, but they never really encourage the
police, help the police, and give them the means to
disarm the gangs and submit them to the judicial
authorities. [End of recording]

Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French
1145 gmt 25 Feb 02

/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.


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