A Response from POHDH

PRESS RELEASE

Port-au-Prince, October 30, 2001

(Translated from French / Traduit du français)

The Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) wishes to inform the national and international communities of the existence of a list containing the names of fifteen (15) human rights defenders to be assassinated, namely:  Pierre Esperance, treasurer of POHDH, and Director of NCHR; Vilès Alizar, Program Director of NCHR; Serge Bordenave, Secretary General of POHDH; and Jean Simon Saint Hubert, Executive Secretary of POHDH.  These threats are the result of denunciations made by POHDH and NCHR concerning the politicization of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the situation of increasingly  grave human rights violations in Haiti.

The Platform takes these threats very seriously given the fact that in March 1999, its treasurer, Mr. Pierre Esperance, was the victim of an assassination attempt that was forewarned in tracks that were distributed within the very walls of the organization.  Some of its employees have been forced into hiding.

POHDH recalls that, for sometime now, human rights defenders have been the objects of threats for having denounced President Aristide's declaration of "zero tolerance", a virtual order for summary executions. Paul Raymond and René Civil, both close to LaFanmi Lavalas, called on the government to apply the formula of "zero tolerance" against human rights activists, and certain parliamentarians insinuated that these activists have their own groups of thugs.

POHDH denounces this situation, which is reminiscent of the Duvalier dictatorships and military governments.  The Platform reminds the constituted authorities that the Haitian peoples' resistance to an attempted coup d'état on December 16, 1990, was not an agreement to commit political murders, but a desire to see the implementation of real democracy and the scrupulous respect for human rights.  By all accounts, the assassination of human rights defenders is not a solution to the multiple problems that this country faces, but rather a simple attempt to destroy the thermometer that indicates the degree of the human rights situation in Haiti.

In light of this fact, POHDH urges the government to apply the principles of the Declaration of Paris, by which it is obligated to assure the protection of human rights activists.

Serge Bordenave

General Secretary

POHDH