The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR - Haiti) notes that the first year of the return to power of President Jean Bertrand Aristide was characterized by a complete deterioration of the general human rights situation.

I. Public Liberties Threatened

The struggle for the freedoms of association and expression have been the most difficult since the fall of the Duvaliers, having undergone a rough ordeal during this past year; in short, civil and political rights of the Haitian people have not been respected.

Anti-governmental demonstrations across the country, unarmed and passive, were interrupted with violence by government supporters, most notably in Hinche, Pétion-ville, Archacaie, Cap Haïtien, Les Cayes, Estère, Saint-Marc, Gonaïves, Plaisance, Port-de-Paix, Belle–Anse, Grand Gosier, etc.

In all of these cases, supporters of the current ruling party seem to benefit from the complicity of the National Police, who have not shown any proof of impartiality.

A. Freedom of Expression Disregarded

Since the return of constitutional order in 1994, the freedom of expression has never been as threatened as it is now.  Death threats are regularly and publicly uttered against members of the independent press by leaders of so-called popular organizations and elected Lavalas officials.  Nearly 20 journalists were forced to seek refuge in other countries, among them : 

Donald Jean, Arthur Welbert, Carlo St Ristil, Gaston Janvier, Abel Descollines, Remy Jean Joseph, Dominique Beauplan, Jonathan Joseph, Techeller Dimanche, Mayard Jean Marie, Rose Franceline Léonard, Gary Bélizaire, Yves Clausel Alexis, Pharès Duverné, Robert Philomé, Pierre Richard Midi, Marc Sony Jean Baptiste, Ernst Océan, Gladys Joseph, Pierre Nazaire Beaulière.

Some radio stations were forced to close their doors and/or temporarily suspend their programs following threats: vision 2000, caraïbes fm, echo 2000, Radio tele contact Petit Goâve, rotation fm Belladère, vwa peyizan papay,  signal fm, etc.

The height of these threats was reached on December 3, 2001 with the assassination of Brignold Lindor in Petit-Goâve, three days after death threats had been uttered against him by the assistant mayor of the town, Mr. Dumay Bony.

B.  Obstacles to Justice

Political pressure exercised by the Lavalas government on the judicial branch, the refusal of the police to do their job, the evident lack of cooperation within the judicial powers, the disrespect displayed by the Parquets vis-à-vis the decisions of the court, the systematic refusal of the Senate, composed exclusively of members of a single political party, and the Chamber of Deputies to bring parliamentarians implicated in criminal acts before the courts, have been the principal obstacles to justice:

• The Parquet of Port-au-Prince refused to comply with at least three decisions made by the courts (Prosper avril, Guy François, Mario Andrésol)
• The investigation of the assassination of Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint was not carried to term as a result of obstacles on the road of the Investigating Judge by the executive power.  After the end of his term, the Investigating Judge was forced to leave the country for reasons of personal security when he should have been benefiting from the support of the State.  Even after the closure of the investigation, as is done in all countries for judges called to take specific responsibility in dangerous cases such as this.
• The refusal on the part of the police to execute certain warrants: Ronald Kadav, Paul Raymond, Richard Salomon, René Civil, Dumay Bony, among others.
• The assassins of Brignol Lindor have yet to be arrested.
• The Deputy of Port Salut, Jean Robert Placide, implicated in a case of armed robbery (zenglendo) has never been invited to explain himself before justice.
• Deputy Jocelyn Saint Louis has yet to be called by the Chamber of Deputies to stand before the court; Saint Louis had been denounced by public outcry as the principal person responsible for the assassination of the Mayor of St. Raphael, Sernand Severe, killed by seventeen bullets in his back.
• In Gonaïves, Amio Métayer, Lavalas militant, denounced by public outcry for having been responsible for the death of a security agent protecting the leader of MOCHRENA, December 17, 2001, and for having opened fire on a carnival band on Sunday, January 20, 2002, killing two and injuring several, has never been questioned.
• Mayor Dongo Joseph of Hinche, who was arrested for having assaulted a judge while he was working, was arbitrarily released following the intervention of the Minister of the Interior, Mr. Henry Claude Menard. He has never been judged and/or sentenced according to the law.
• Deputy Jean Candio, responsible for the events that took place in Pliche, has never appeared before the courts.
• The massacre in Fort Mercredi, June 14, 2001, left 11 dead, 17 missing, 19 injured, as well as 135 houses destroyed or damaged.
  
  The individuals suspected to be responsible for the massacre, Lavalas militants, respond to the names: Félix Bienaimé, Dieu Puissant, Fritz, Sason, Makandal, Ti Mario, Labon, Tison, Sonson, Chèrenfant, 6 Biskuit, Yvon, Dieumé, Ti Gérard, Michaëlle Toussaint, Guy Love, Topshit, Framto.  They have still not been invited to explain themselves in the courts.
  
• Ronald Kadav, Lavalas militant, given the name of the new Haitian Bos Pent, denounced by the population as being a professional killer, accused of killing, among others, Fritzner Jean (alias Bobo) Monday, September 10, 2001 in front of parliament, continues to benefit from the protection of impunity.
• The events of La Saline on November 1, 2001 resulted in numerous victims.  None of the individuals responsible for the violence have been arrested. On the contrary, Franco Camille (brother of Ronald Kadav), one of the individuals responsible for the massacre, was the one who prepared the visit of the President of the Republic to La Saline in response to this incident.
• On Saturday, September 8, 2001, Ronald Francis was arrested, handcuffed and violently beaten by police officer Dominique Jean Moïse, who continues to enjoy the benefits of impunity.
• Senator Prince Pierre Sonson, denounced by his colleague Dany Toussaint as being involved in burning down the house of Gérard Pierre Charles during the events of December 17, 2001.  Up until the present, he has not been the object of any judicial investigation.
• The Senate exceeded its constitutional powers in setting up a court to analyze the investigation of the heinous crime of April 3, 2000, to address criticisms relating to the investigating judge, to demand that he share the investigation file with the Senate for the evident goal of convincing it, a priori, of the culpability of the Senator in question, before formally pronouncing its decision on whether or not to lift or not lift the parliamentary immunity of suspect, Senator Dany Toussaint.

  Furthermore, the commission charged with studying the case and request was ironically presided over by the first acting chief of the party in power, Senator Yvon Neptune, who had previously made insulting remarks against the Investigating Judge.

  The Senate of the Republic, by its vote, put in question the rule of conduct which has existed for centuries and is universally accepted today. The Senate is forgetting that «each power is independent of the other two in its attributions that it exercises separately and that not one among them can, under any motive, delegate its attributions in all or in part, neither in exceeding its limits that are fixed by the Constitution and by the law»   (see articles 60 and 60-1 of the Constitution).

  The Senate should have communicated to the public the constitutional and/or legal dispositions regarding this case, the authorization to make an injunction to an investigating judge to require him to communicate his investigation file before making an announcement on a request to lift parliamentary immunity.   The Senate should have admitted that it was misled by the special commission charged to study the request of lifting the parliamentary immunity of Senator Dany Toussaint, and retaken the vote.

• The refusal of the National Police to disarm gangs spreading terror across the country which contribute considerably to the anarchy already reigning in the slum of Cité Soleil.

C. Operation Zero Tolerance

During a visit to the General Direction of the Haitian National Police (PNH), on June 28, 2001, the President launched «Operation Zero Tolerance». This call for zero tolerance has given considerable support to expeditious justice. Since then, numerous people have been lynched in broad daylight. The most horrific case is that of Panel Renelus, alias Tipanel, who was lynched in the police station of Léogâne. Public action has not been taken against those responsible for this death, or against the complicit police officers.

D. The Situation of Human Rights Defenders

The situation of human rights defenders was seriously affected, as they were the objects of threats and acts of intimidation. A list of names of human rights activists to silence circulated at the level of the Haitian National Police during the month of October 2001 after a report had been published by NCHR concerning the politicization of the PNH. 

II. Regarding the Economic, Social, and Cultural Plan

In the speech delivered on the occasion of his inauguration on February 7, 2001, President Aristide made the following promises to the nation:  the creation of nearly 500,000 jobs, the reduction of the unemployment rate from 60% to 40%, the increase in alimentary self-sufficiency of 30%, the generation of an additional 348 MW of electric energy, and the following increase of the population's access to potable water,

• the rural population from 16% to 70%
• the urban population from 44% to 80%.

After one year, the results are:

An inflation rate of 10%.

• The considerable increase in the cost of living as a result of the devaluation of the gourde to the American dollar, which has gone from 50% in 1991 to 450% in 2001. 
• Unemployment was in full swing.  The the flight of human resources was accentuated and amplified.
• Previous contracts between l'Electricité d'Haïti and other suppliers of electrical energy were not permitted to improve the distribution of electricity. The transactions carried out proved to be a complete waste.
• An increase in foreign food dependency
• International aid that remains blocked renders difficult any improvement in the lives of the population. The negotiations between the Lavalas and the Opposition (Democratic Convergence), for the purpose of reaching an indispensable political accord necessary for the release of aid, have been half-hearted, leaving their chances for success next to none. The government is overwhelmed with the immense responsibility it has to respond to the popular demands to materialize its electoral promises and numerous engagements.

Today Haiti is poorer than before, ranked in 134th place out of a total of 162 countries, according to the United Nations Development Program report on human development, published July 10, 2001.  The FAO places Haiti on a list of thirty-three (33) countries confronted with food supply issues of «exceptional urgency» (see FAO food supply and destitution, no. June 3, 2001).

Corruption

President Aristide had promised to restore the order and the authority of the State.  He was also committed to combating corruption with utmost rigor:

«De l'ordre, nous en avons besoin! de la discipline certainement! de l'autorité de l'état, absolument!  Sitirans pou koription, zero, sitirans pou vol pou abi, pou grabji, zero.  Kanta pou machin leta, gaz leta, lajan leta sitirans lan se zero bare» declared the Chief of State.  This engagement is no longer respected, in witnessing the numerous scandals that have marked the first year of power and the total absence of the President to engage in the fight to curb this plague.  The following cases serve as examples:

1. The purchase of the Villa de Bush Ashton for an exorbitant price, according to public opinion, when the state had already disposed of a house purchased by the government of Jacques Édouard Alexis to serve as the residence for all Prime Ministers. Up until today, the country still does not know whether or not the decision to buy this house was made with the advice of the ministers, if the transaction was truly permitted as a form of self-enrichment to the detriment of the people, or if the President gave his approval for the transaction. Light needs to shine on these obscure facts.
2. A scandal involving the redirection of $700,000 US to the airport and implicating police officers Raphaël Janvier and Schiller Louidor, certain deputies and influential senators, very close to the President of the Republic. No suspects have been questioned and no one knows whether or not the money has been recovered. The investigation perhaps began with honesty, has since been replaced by arrogance.
3. The immigration scandal where Minister Henry Claude Menard was implicated in the direct collection of contributable taxes. Prime Minister Jean Marie Polynice CHERESTRAL who had also spoken of the abuse of authority denounced this same incident. Once again, justice was respectively pushed aside.  
4. The rice scandal implicating the Fondation Aristide pour la Démocratie (registered as a non-profit foundation, run by Aristide), the «Coopérative pou nou tout» created by the dignitaries of the regime, especially for the occasion to transform the Senate of the Republic into a commercial center, and the senators into common rice merchants. This affair, according to information reported by the press, resulted in the loss of 117,000,000 gourdes to the public treasury.  No one knows the source of the funds destined to purchase this low quality rice, nor the names of the members of the Administrative Council of the Cooperative, nor the connection between these people and the President, in order for them to be authorized to act in the name of his Foundation and of his government. It is also paradoxical that those who appeared to explain the justification the transaction to the public were not the leaders of the Coopérative pou nou tout, or of the fondation aristide pour la démocratie but rather the spokesperson of the ruling party, Mr. Jonas Petit, and a Deputy Roudy Herriveaux.  
5. The Direction GénéraI des Impots (DGI) scandal of mismanaged funds implicated senior civil servants within this institution.  The redirected funds have been returned without any formal procedure.
6. A number of deputies denounced members of the Bureau de la Chambre Basse for having redirected more than two million gourdes from this state institution. Neither the Administrative Court (la Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux Administratif), nor the correctional courts have been involved. The question was resolved in secret.
7. According to the declarations made by Michel Soukar on radio caraïbes fm, Saturday, December 8, 2001, during the program Ranmase, the President of the Republic himself was to be implicated in a certain number of obscure transactions.  The country has not benefited from any notes of clarification or rectification from the presidency concerning these allegations.
8. Lavalas mayors are among those accused of mismanagement and theft. Among them is the case of the mayor of Port-au-Prince, the assistant mayor of Mirebalais, Mr. Denis Régis, accused of rape; the mayor of Ennery accused of stealing a cow; the mayor of Croix des Bouquets, Mr. Jean Claude Pierre Louis, accused of redirection of funds; assistant mayor of Lachapelle, accused of stealing an irrigation pump meant for the population, and similar cases involving the mayors of Miragoâne, Lascahobas, Petit-Goâve, Delmas, Plaine du Nord, and Hinche accused of mismanagement. 

In all of these cases, regular procedure for investigation was not followed. 

III. In the Area of the Environment

The right to enjoy a clean environment is not only a duty of the state but a right that every citizen has. It is not a question of regulating citizens but rather about educating them and leading them, no longer by rules but by encouragement.

The government did not put in place one political initiative concerning the environment in the past year.  One can come to this conclusion by observing the garbage that is strewn throughout the streets in the metropolitan zone.

The intensification of desertification by the archaic cutting of trees for the usage of charcoal is another serious preoccupation.

The National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) invites the Lavalas government to work towards a wiser and sounder political agenda, towards a culture of tolerance, and to resolutely engage itself in the search for a solution to negotiate the political crisis so that the remaining years of Aristide's term can be different from the first.