#4545: SENATE RESOLUTION OF THE U.S. (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: jacqueline murray <jlataillade@yahoo.com>
> 
> 
> Calendar No. 657
> 
> 106th CONGRESS
> 
> 2d Session
> 
> S. CON. RES. 126
> Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should support
> free
> and fair elections and respect for democracy in Haiti.
> 
> 
> IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
> 
> June 30, 2000
> Mr. HELMS, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, reported the
> following original concurrent resolution; which was placed on the
> calendar
> 
> 
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
> Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should support
> free
> and fair elections and respect for democracy in Haiti.
> 
> Whereas the legacy of fiat and abuse of the Duvalier dictatorship led
> the framers of the 1987 Haitian constitution to provide for clear
> separation of powers;
> 
> Whereas the 1987 Haitian constitution permanently vests all
> legislative
> authority in an independent National Assembly;
> 
> Whereas national and local elections were held in Haiti on May 21,
> 2000,
> which were intended to restore the independent legislature which was
> dismissed by Haiti's President, Rene Preval Garcia, in January 1999;
> 
> Whereas the Haitian people are to be congratulated for patiently and
> peacefully voting in large numbers on May 21, 2000, despite an
> unfavorable electoral environment;
> 
> Whereas the legitimacy of the May 21, 2000, elections has been
> compromised by organizational flaws, political murders, the
> involvement
> of the Haitian National Police in the arrest and intimidation of
> opposition figures,
> manipulation of the independent Provisional Electoral Council by the
> Government of Haiti and the ruling Fanmi Lavalas party, and the
> publication of fraudulent results;
> 
> Whereas the Provisional Electoral Council has been compromised by
> Fanmi
> Lavalas partisans operating within the Council and inappropriate
> pressure and threats made against members of the Council from the
> highest levels of the Haitian government to induce the Council to
> issue
> fraudulent results;
> 
> Whereas Leon Manus, President of the Provisional Electoral Council,
> was
> forced to flee Haiti in fear for his life and in a statement released
> June 21, 2000 noted that the opposition had made `legitimate'
> challenges
> to the
> credibility of the electoral process and that the Council `was often
> plagued with traps and attacks' and fought `slanders and threats'
> that
> came `most often from state actors' and received `from the highest
> level
> of the government, unequivocal messages on the consequences that
> would
> follow if [he] refused to publish supposed final results';
> 
> Whereas the Provisional Electoral Council is no longer viewed as
> credible or independent by a broad spectrum of political parties and
> civil society groups in Haiti;
> 
> Whereas Haitian organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce,
> political parties, the Association of Haitian Industrialists, the
> Roman
> Catholic Bishops Conference, and the Protestant Federation have
> strongly
> protested the publication of election results that do not correspond
> to
> the provisions of Haiti's electoral law and generally accepted norms
> and
> which have also been contested by the president of the Provisional
> Electoral Council;
> 
> Whereas the international community, including the United States,
> Canada, France, the United Nations, and the Organization of American
> States, has condemned attempts to manipulate the May 21, 2000,
> electoral
> process in
> Haiti; and
> 
> Whereas the absence of free and fair elections and the resultant
> failure
> to constitute a duly elected legislative Body in Haiti constitutes a
> major setback for the Haitian people's aspirations for peace and
> democracy, could result in instability in Haiti, and directly
> jeopardizes United States anti-narcotics objectives in Haiti and the
> region: Now, therefore, be it
> 
> Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring),
> That
> Congress--
> 
> (1) condemns the electoral fraud being perpetrated against the
> Haitian
> people and the continuing interruption of democratic institutions in
> Haiti;
> 
> (2) calls on the Government of Haiti forthwith to end its
> manipulation
> of the electoral process and take immediate steps to reverse the
> fraudulent results announced by the remaining members of the
> Provisional
> Electoral
> Council;
> 
> (3) calls on the Government of Haiti to immediately engage in a
> thorough
> and verifiable process involving the National Observation Council
> (CNO),
> all concerned Haitian political parties, as well as private sector
> and
> other civil society organizations, to review all reported
> irregularities
> and allegations of fraud and authenticate the true results of the
> election so that a legitimate, democratically-elected National
> Assembly
> and local councils can be seated;
> 
> (4) urges the Organization of American States (OAS) to consider joint
> actions by its members states to bring about a return to democracy in
> Haiti; and
> 
> (5) calls on the President of the United States to--
> 
> (A) terminate United States assistance to the discredited Provisional
> Electoral Council;
> 
> (B) review and modify as appropriate United States political,
> economic,
> and law enforcement relations with Haiti, if Haitian authorities
> persist
> in their current path; and
> 
> (C) work with other democracies in the Western Hemisphere and
> elsewhere
> toward a restoration of democracy in Haiti.
> 
> SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this
> concurrent resolution to the President.
> Calendar No. 657
> 
> 
> 106th CONGRESS
> 
> 2d Session
> 
> S. CON. RES. 126
> 
> CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
> Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should support
> free
> and fair elections and respect for democracy in Haiti.
> 
> 
> 
> 


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