Statement before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation in Haiti

Distinguished Members of the Commission:

On behalf of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, we would like to thank you for the opportunity to once again appear before the Commission to speak on human rights issues related to Haiti. NCHR is a non-profit non-governmental human rights organization with offices in New York and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Since 1982, the organization has fought for the rights of Haitian refugees in the US, an end to the Duvalier and subsequent military dictatorships, and the development of a democratic society in Haiti since the return of constitutional government in 1995. NCHR has monitored the development of, and issued periodic reports on the new Haitian National Police and reform in the justice and prison sectors as well as providing human rights training workshops to community groups in Haiti. We have also been active in bringing attention to and seeking solutions for abuses suffered by Haitian immigrant populations in the Dominican Republic.

Although Haitian citizens continue to face human rights problems arising from police abuse, widespread insecurity, a non-functioning judiciary and severe economic conditions, we appear before you today to call attention to the grave political crisis now paralyzing the country and to emphasize the threat it poses to the even-modest gains in the establishment of democratic institutions and practices in Haiti since the UN/OAS intervention in 1994. While seeking to avoid alarmist scenarios and advocating negotiation and compromise as the routes to a resolution of the present conflict, we believe that it is critical to understand that this turn of events—triggered by President Preval’s decision to effectively close the parliament and dismiss elected mayors on January 11—is not simply one more conflict caused by good-faith disagreements over policy issues such as privatization, but one of a series of steps taken by President Preval toward the centralization of political power in the executive branch with the intention of minimizing opposition from parliament and local elected officials and assemblies. We believe that the existing administration is governing illegally, outside both the letter and the spirit of constitutional norms. It is essentially a de facto government—and we use that term advisedly, fully aware of its meaning in recent Haitian history.

Just this week, after watching with ever-growing impatience for any progress in resolving the crisis, the National Coalition for Haitian Rights issued a press release calling for an immediate return to constitutional order in Haiti and for international donors to take dramatic steps to reduce assistance to the Haitian government until such order is restored. We also like to request this Commission to send an emergency delegation to Haiti to investigate and issue a public report of its findings and recommendations. While we are under no illusions that the current government of Haiti or the political actors involved in the current struggle will respond to expressions of international concern—efforts by the United States, other concerned governments and the United Nations to help have been rebuffed or completely ignored (even a preparatory delegation sent by this body for its regularly-scheduled review mission to Haiti was ignored)—we do believe that it is time for the international community to be clear about the direction of events in Haiti and clearly condemn this move away from democracy.

The implications for the continuation of this dispute for human rights in Haiti are serious. While we do no contemplate a return to the kind of repression and violence of recent authoritarian governments, we do see the clear possibility of formal, but empty elections; the Haitian National Police controlled by one political faction and used to repress opposition; a corrupt and inept judiciary used principally for political purposes; prisons housing suspected political opponents closed to public scrutiny; aid cutoffs further straining the capacity of citizens of the poorest country in the hemisphere to avoid hunger, even starvation; more violence in horribly poor rural areas; and a new flood of immigrants to the Dominican Republic, exacerbating what is an already terrible and now explosive political situation for Haitian and Dominican-Haitian populations living there.

We believe that the government of Haiti cannot now assure protection of several of the fundamental rights set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights—the right to a fair trial by a competent tribunal; the right to judicial protection against acts that violate fundamental rights; the right to humane treatment, including the right not to be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment.

The feared deterioration of the human rights situation on the ground has already begun. After two years of rocky, but relatively steady improvements, the Haitian National Police appears to be becoming more abusive toward citizens on the streets and when arresting and interrogating suspects, and the ever-increasing presence of the drug trade is raising allegations of police corruption to alarming levels. Prison conditions are terrible and continuing to deteriorate and reports of beatings and other mistreatment are on the rise. Judicial reform initiatives have halted after years of making little progress in reforming a highly debilitated court system—largely as the result of a lack of interest and support on the part of the Haitian government. Thus, not even remotely fair or remotely swift justice are available in Haiti today.

We hope that the Commission will take note of the seriousness of the present situation in Haiti and the shadow it casts over the protection of the human rights enumerated in the American Convention. We also hope that the Commission will take affirmative steps to view this as a human rights crisis, send an emergency delegation to Haiti, and takes measures which call upon the Haitian government to meet its obligations under the American Convention with all due speed.

Background

NCHR’s call for a clear and firm international response to the Haitian crisis comes almost two months after President Rene Preval refused to recognize the mandates of the elected Parliament, mayors and other local officials, effectively closing the legislature, firing elected local officials and appointing his own representatives in their place. These actions have led the President to establish a de facto regime in which most political power is in the hands of the executive, a government lacking constitutional legitimacy and operating outside the rule of law. Repeated promises by the President and his designated Prime Minister to form a broadly-representative government and electoral commission to guide the country to fair elections over the last month have not materialized, and concern is mounting that the President’s actions are deliberately aimed at leading Haiti toward a one-party state. As an independent, non-partisan human rights organization dedicated to the establishment of democratic politics and respect for human rights in Haiti, NCHR believes it is time for serious measures to halt the move away from democratic principles.

President Preval’s decision on January 11, 1999 to declare that the Parliament’s legal term of office had ended was the culmination of a two-year political crisis during which the legislators and the president could not agree on a prime minister, leaving the country without a functioning government during a period of increasing economic and social disintegration. NCHR has taken no position on the ongoing political power struggle between Fami Lavalas (President Preval and former president Aristide) and the opposition, headed by OPL, other than to (1) note that neither group has acquitted itself well throughout the two-year crisis and (2) call for all political groups to reach a compromise that would permit the government to address the horrendous economic and social problems facing the country within the constitutional framework. NCHR has also decried the irresponsible failure of the government to address key institutional reforms, particularly the rebuilding of the judicial system, during the last two years. Millions of dollars in international assistance for reform efforts crucial for the establishment of the rule of law and protection of human rights have been lost, and related improvements to other key government agencies–most importantly, the Haitian National Police–are seriously threatened.

However difficult the effort to reach an agreement among Haiti’s contending political forces, democratic procedures must be respected. President Preval’s actions on January 11 constituted a blow to Haiti’s fragile efforts to build a new democratic culture. While the question of the constitutional ability of the existing parliament to extend its mandate for an additional year may be unclear, a democratic solution requires an agreement between President Preval and the Parliament to change the electoral law to extend the Parliament’s term for an additional year. Although the Constitution calls for a four-year term for members of Parliament, the mandate of the existing institution was reduced to three years by an electoral law to restore the election timetable to that contemplated by the Constitution (the timetable had been interrupted by the 1991-1994 coup). Amending that law to extend the parliament for an additional year would not do violence to the Constitution and would maintain the legislative opposition that serves as a critical check on the abuse of power by the executive in democratic systems. Whatever the status of the Parliament, President Preval had no constitutional authority to end the terms of independently elected mayors and local councils and then replace those officials with unelected civil servants under the control of the executive. Eliminating the opposition–as President Preval has effectively done in Parliament and with local officials–is an extra-constitutional way to deal with deep political disagreements and threatens the integrity of already-fragile democratic institutions.

Jocelyn McCalla, Executive Director
Patrick Gavigan, Human Rights Program Director