|
|
|
HAITI
INTRODUCTION
1. The
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has continued to monitor
closely the human rights situation in Haiti.
It has found that since February 1992, when the latest follow-up
report was presented, the situation in that country has deteriorated
even further. Many people
have been unlawfully detained, executed without benefit of trial,
abused and tortured by members of the Armed Forces, the Police and
civilian collaborators.
2. This
report covers the period from February 1992 to February 1993.
What follows is a description of developments in the Haitian
political situation, the agreements reached by the parties and the
resolutions and measures adopted by the Organization of American
States to find a political solution to the Haitian crisis.
Also described are the various complaints of human rights
violations that the Commission has received from the victims
themselves, from human rights groups active both within and outside
the country and from other reliable sources.
These have enabled the Commission to corroborate the facts from
its headquarters in Washington, given the de facto government's
refusal to cooperate with the Commission.
3. The
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has repeatedly asked the de
facto government of Haiti to allow the Commission to conduct a
visit to observe the human rights situation in situ.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights informed the
government of its decision to make two visits: the first was to be an
exploratory visit, scheduled for December 13 through 15, 1992, while
the second, the actual on-site visit, was to take place from January
11 through 15, 1993. The de
facto government did not grant the requested permission. Quite the contrary, on December 8, the IACHR received a
communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Haiti reporting
that notification of the dates for those visits would be forthcoming
within a matter of days, but it was not until one month later that the
de facto authorities replied that "in a good-will gesture,
the Haitian government had agreed to the presence of an OAS Civilian
Mission on Haitian territory, one of whose functions was precisely to
evaluate the human rights situation in the country.
It did not, therefore, believe that the visit by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, scheduled for January 15,
1993, was necessary."
4. In a
press communique dated January 8, 1993,[1]
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights again expressed its
interest in visiting Haiti to investigate, in situ, the very
grave human rights violations. However,
given the de facto government's refusal to cooperate with the
Commission, it called upon all nongovernmental human rights
organizations, particularly those working in Haiti, victims and their
relatives, and anyone whose individual guarantees had been violated as a
result of the political conflict, to forward their petitions for the
Commission to act upon them.
[ Table of Contents | Previous | Next ]
|
