Days after former Haitian dictator
Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti, a leading Haitian human
rights lawyer blasted the Canadian government’s role in what he criticized as a
climate of “impunity” in Haiti.
In a Montreal press conference on January 21, Mario
Joseph—who the New York Times has referred to as “Haiti’s most prominent human
rights lawyer”—spoke about the legal case for the prosecution of Jean-Claude
Duvalier for crimes against humanity.
Joseph is the manager of the Port-au-Prince-based Bureau des
Avocats Internationaux (BAI), which, along with the Institute for Justice and
Democracy In Haiti, has compiled extensive evidence of Duvalier’s
abuses--available at http://ijdh.org/
In 2000, Joseph spearheaded the prosecution of Haiti’s
Raboteau Massacre trial, which was one of the most significant human rights
cases anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And at today’s press conference, he
announced that the BAI is ready to accept testimony from victims of Duvalier’s
regime—including those living in Quebec and Canada—who he urged to come forward
as witnesses to Duvalier's abuses.
Joseph stated that he wants to see a “rupture from impunity”
in Haiti. Part of the underlying problem, according to Joseph, has been the
role of the international community, including the Canadian government, which
has been heavily involved in recent years in Haiti’s justice system.
He criticized Canada and other governments for helping bring
about the current political crisis in Haiti, by backing an election before
Haiti’s electoral list had been revised to account for the deaths of more than
two thousand people following the January 12, 2010 earthquake. In the context
of President Rene Preval’s hand-selected electoral council’s decision to bar twelve
political parties from participation in the election, and the cholera epidemic,
Joseph and many other human rights advocates had called for the November 28,
2010 Haitian elections to be put off.
“Canada understands democratic values, but why would it
support a government that does not respect the constitution?” he stated.
He also cited Canada, the U.S., and France’s role in a 2004
coup d’etat against a democratically elected Haitian government that had made
some progress in prosecutions of human rights offenders as a contributing
factor in the present climate of impunity in Haiti.
Fifty human rights groups from around the world yesterday
joined BAI’s calls for justice for Duvalier’s victims, issuing a joint
statement urging the Haitian government to investigate and prosecute “Baby Doc”
(pasted below, and also available at: http://www.madre.org/index/press-room-4/news/coalition-of-organizations-call-on-haiti-to-prosecute-jean-claude-duvalier-567.html
)
The press conference was organized by the Montreal-Haiti
Solidarity Committee, a group founded after the January 12, 2010 earthquake in
Haiti to build solidarity with the Haitian grassroots organizations who are
pushing for more inclusive, accountable and democratic recovery efforts.
Joint Action/Statement on prosecuting Jean-Claude Duvalier
January 20, 2011
As organizations concerned with human rights in Haiti, we
call on the Government of Haiti to immediately take steps to investigate and
prosecute Jean-Claude Duvalier for human rights violations committed during his
1971-86 rule of Haiti. Scores of
human rights investigations, legal cases, victim testimonies, and in-depth
reports provide ample evidence to commence formal proceedings against
Jean-Claude Duvalier. While the primary responsibility to investigate and
prosecute Duvalier rests squarely with the Government of Haiti, we call on the
international community to provide all needed assistance to enable Haiti to
fully and promptly investigate and prosecute him. Given the fragile state of Haiti’s infrastructure following
the January 12, 2010 earthquake and the current cholera and electoral crises,
significant international assistance may be needed.
During Jean-Claude Duvalier’s regime, systematic killings,
“disappearances,” torture, and other ill-treatment were widespread. These crimes were often carried out by
the infamous paramilitary force known as the Tontons Macoutes (or officially as
the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale), as well as special units of the
armed forces of Haiti and local authorities empowered with brutal force. The crimes left many thousands dead,
wounded, or in exile and amounted to crimes against humanity. Under international law, Haiti is
obligated to investigate and prosecute such acts, which are not subject to
otherwise relevant statutes of limitation.
Jean-Claude Duvalier’s arrival in Port-au-Prince on January
16 provides the Government of Haiti an unprecedented opportunity to right the
wrongs of the past through the rule of law. By thoroughly investigating and effectively prosecuting
these crimes, the Government of Haiti would finally end the impunity that
Duvalier has enjoyed since he fled into exile in France in 1986. It would also provide well-deserved
hope to those who have waited decades for their persecutors to be brought to
justice. And–at a crucial moment
in the country’s political process—it will demonstrate that while the
constitution may be paper, it can be mightier than the bayonet.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 21, 2011
Signatories’ List
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of
Law
Meg Satterthwaite
Partners in Health
Dr. Paul Farmer
Center for Constitutional Rights
Bill Quigley
Allan K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale
Law School
James Silk
Human Rights Clinic University of Miami School of Law
Caroline Bettinger-López
Asociación Nacional de Centros (ANC)
Francisco Soberón Garrido
International Human Rights Law Clinic and Human Rights
Program, University of Virginia School of Law
Deena R. Hurwitz
Human Rights Litigation and International Advocacy Clinic,
University of Minnesota Law School
Jennifer M. Green
International Action Ties
Mark Snyder
Friends of the Earth – Amigos de la Tierra
Gustavo Castro Soto
Comisión de Derechos Humanos (COMISEDH)
Miguel Huerta Barrón
Immigration Clinic, William S. Boyd School of Law,
University of Nevada
Fatma E. Marouf
Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham
Las School
Martin S. Flaherty
Other Worlds
Beverly Bell
Lamp for Haiti Foundation
Thomas M. Griffin
Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, University of
Cincinnati College of Law
Bert Lockwood
Refugio del Rio Grande, Inc.
Lisa S. Brodyaga
Immigrant Rights Project, University of Tulsa College of Law
Elizabeth McCormick
Immigration Law Clinic, University of California Davis
School of Law
Holly Cooper
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC)
Marco Antonio Velázquez Navarrete
Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos
(AMAP)
Marco Antonio Velázquez Navarrete
Center for Justice& Accountability
Kathy Roberts
UnityAyiti
Brennan Bollman
Canada Haiti Action Network/Reseau de solidarite
Canada-Haiti
Roger Annis
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of
California Hastings College of the Law
Karen Musalo
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Brian Concannon
Haitian National Coalition for the Environment (KNAA)
Isaac Cherestal
Haiti Dream Keeper Archives
Michelle Karshan
Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of
Law
Lori A. Nessel
Beyond Borders
David Diggs
Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye
Etant Dupain
Let Haiti Live
Melinda Miles
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Haiti
Alexis Erkert Depp
Physicians for Haiti
Rishi Rattan
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
Jeanne Mirer
MADRE
Diana Duarte
United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)
Robin Alexander
Instituto Peruano de Educacion en Derechos Humas y la Paz
(IPDEDEHP)
Pablo Zavala
St. Boniface Haiti Foundation
Linda Canniff
Montreal-Haiti Solidarity Committee
Darren Ell
School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch)
Nico Udu-Gama
UCF Haitian Sutdies Project
Kevin Meehan
All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC)
Bob Brown
Paloma Institute
Guy R. Knudsen
Global Exchange
Tom Miller
Green Cities Fund, Inc.
Tom Miller
Institute of Redress & Recovery at Santa Clara
University
Beth Van Schaack
Alliance for Global Justice
Chuck Kaufman
Central American Legal Assistance
Anne Pilsbury
Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA)
Diana Bohn
St Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America
Marilyn Lorenz
The National Lawyers Guild Internaitonal committee
Charlotte Kates
Konpay
Amy Fotta
National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association
Rudy Arredondo
Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce on Latin America and the
Caribbean (KITLAC)
Stephen Bartlett
Essex Transitional Justice Network, University of Essex
Diana Morales-Lourido
National Lawyers Guild Task Force on the Americas
Judy Somberg
American Association of Jurists (AAJ)
Vanessa Ramos
###
