New York,
February 22, 2003
Statement
of Jocelyn McCalla, Executive Director
National Coalition for Haitian Rights
If
democracy is to succeed in
Haiti, the US and its allies
must invest substantially in the development of neutral
police forces and courts.
President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide’s autocratic rule is nearly over. Rebels have taken
control of several towns in the Artibonite and the Central
Plateau regions. In Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second
largest city, police officers fearing a rebel assault have
all but given up policing. Reports indicate that elsewhere
in the south and the Grande Anse, police units have
abandoned their posts.
Increasingly pressed to
intervene in Haiti, the US, France, Canada and
Caribbean allies have put before President Aristide and the
democratic opposition a plan to resolve the political
impasse. This plan allegedly gives the opposition greater
control of government while preserving Aristide’s presidency
for a full term. The plan excludes talks with the rebels, a
marriage-of-convenience alliance of former Aristide thugs
and paramilitary officers, who have vowed to lay down their
weapons only when Aristide resigns.
Whether Aristide leaves
now or later, internationally-brokered agreements to resolve
the political conflicts must be backed immediately by
substantial investment in the development of neutral police
forces and courts. They must in turn be shielded from
political interference, led by trained and competent
individuals, free to initiate or pursue investigations into
corruption and human rights abuses, and prosecute these
matters to satisfactory conclusions no matter who is
involved. Without such an investment, Haiti won’t
have much of a democracy.
During President
Aristide’s second term of office, the judicial system has
experienced little improvement. The administration of
justice is today peopled with judges owing their postings to
cronyism and political affiliation more than training,
knowledge and experience with law-enforcement.
The Haitian National
Police has also lost much credibility and authority.
Weakened by corruption, presidential interference and
politicization, its ranks have swelled since 2001 with the
incorporation of units called “special brigades” that
operate outside of the law. As documented in a report
released in August 2003 by
NCHR-Haiti, the Haiti affiliate of the National
Coalition for Haitian Rights, these brigades function in
much the same manner as the infamous
attachés of past
military rule and the
tontons macoutes of the Duvalier era. They have
been involved in rape, robberies, extrajudicial executions,
kidnappings, drug-trafficking and political persecution.
They have hard carte blanche to support the party in power
since the President launched a zero-tolerance policy in
2001. The chimères,
pro-Aristide street toughs, operating with the
President’s blessings, function in much the same way and
enjoy much impunity. Aristide has publicly associated with
their leaders at formal gatherings in the presidential
palace, casting them as grassroots popular support. In
Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, these gangs have sidelined the
police and taken over patrolling the streets, determined to
suppress protest rallies and marches by any means available:
rocks, bottles, bullets, machetes, death and destruction.
Reversing Haiti’s
descent into despotism will require much more than
admonitions from the US and its allies. In addition to the
firm commitment of all the protagonists in the political
conflict to end the violence and submit to the rule of law,
steady, international and meaningful peace-building support
will be the crucial factor in ensuring peace, stability and
reconciliation.
## END ##
For further information,
contact:
Jocelyn McCalla
National Coalition for Haitian Rights
275 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10001
W: (212) 337-0005; Fax: (212) 741-8749
jmccalla@nchr.org
