Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State

4. Haiti's Tenuous Human Rights Climate

Since the armed insurgency of February 2004 that removed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office, the human rights situation in Haiti has been in a state of crisis.At present, the country is politically polarized, and lawlessness and violence have become common, despite the renewed presence of international forces in the country. The human rights watchdog Amnesty International (ai) recently found that “politically motivated arbitrary detentions , ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians, rape, death threats and intimidation are routine and are perpetrated with impunity.”Those carrying out these abuses include“armed gangs with or without political ties to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, rogue police officers, former rebels, demobilized members of the former Haitian Armed Forces (fadh),” and members of organized criminal gangs.1 This chapter offers a brief survey of the human rights situation in Haiti from the emergence of Duvalierism in 1957 to the insurgency of February 2004. It is based on reports produced by international human rights organizations and the United Nations. They reveal that the protection of human rights has not come easily to Haiti. Nor has the international community, in its dealings with Haiti, traditionally placed a high premium on rights. Should these trends continue once the immediate crisis has been resolved, the promotion of justice and a political and social climate favourable to international human rights norms will be difficult and likely to encounter considerable setbacks before the realization of any tangible improvements. Even so, a state’s 51 Haiti’s Tenuous Human Rights Climate ANDREW S. THOMPSON 4 04_thompson.qxd 2006/04/11 10:59 AM Page 51 commitment to the human rights of its citizens is an important indicator of its overall health and stability. Foregoing this commitment in Haiti today would likely prove counterproductive, and could one day come to be seen as a lost opportunity for a new beginning. Human Rights Abuses under the Duvaliers, 1957–1986 The Duvalier regimes were particularly destructive for Haiti. First elected in 1957, Dr. Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his infamous henchmen, the tonton macoutes, ruled with tremendous cruelty. Consolidating his grip on the country, he declared himself to be “President-for-life” in 1964. He ruled for another seven years, eventually relinquishing his hold on 21 April 1971 as death took him peacefully in his sleep. Systemic human rights abuses continued under his successor, his nineteen-year old son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier. Despite initial efforts to disband the macoutes, Baby Doc’s presidency was not unlike that of his father. Political opponents—journalists, human rights activists, trade unionists, and clergy—were regularly the targets of government reprisals.2 Often they were charged with violating Haiti’s Anti-Communist Law of 28 April 1969, a broad law that gave the government the authority to imprison, and even execute, anyone whom it considered to be a threat to national security.3 These arrests, along with the subsequent trials , often violated international norms concerning both due process and the humane treatment of prisoners. Defendants were frequently denied access to a lawyer until a few days before they were scheduled to appear in court and rarely were there any witnesses to testify against them. Jurors often did not understand French, the language of the court, and some even had“connections to [government] security forces.”4 Moreover, torture and ill-treatment in Haitian prisons were common practices, as were extra-judicial executions.5 These abuses helped to prompt a steady exodus from the country. Prior to the late-1970s, the question of what to do about the boat people who fled the regime had not warranted much international attention; however, this began to change in 1980, as more and more boatloads began to arrive off the coasts of Florida. Responding to growing domestic pressure, the Carter Administration issued Executive Order 12244. The order permitted US authorities to establish a $100 million housing program at Fort Allen in Puerto Rico. Although the base offered temporary sanctuary,protecting Haitians from a dictatorial government was not high on the list of priorities for US officials, and little effort was made to distinguish those who qualified as Convention refugees under the terms of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol from those who were fleeing Haiti’s oppressive poverty. 52 | ANDREW S. THOMPSON 04_thompson.qxd 2006/04/11 10:59 AM Page 52 Environmental, economic, and social instability...