AHP News - September 6, 2005 - English translation (Unofficial)
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Justice and Peace of
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In a message made public on the occasion of its 11th general assembly which was held from August 31 to September 4, 2005, with the theme of "there can be no peace without justice and truth", the Commission asserted that Haitian society is confronting a grave crisis of confidence.
Polarization and division have attained intolerable levels, repression has grown to disturbing proportions, numerous citizens live in fear and are obliged to abandon their homes to avoid becoming victims, remarked Justice and Peace, condemning the exclusion directed against the poor.
At the political level, the Commission condemned the arbitrary and illegal arrests, the prolonged preventive detentions, the impunity, and injustice, insisting that it is wrong and unacceptable that courts annul trial decisions and release individuals who are close to the current government.
One of the heads of the FRAPH paramilitary organization, Louis Jodel Chamblin, found guilty in absentia of abuses committed during the 1991 coup d'état was set free last month.
Justice and Peace also deplored the fact that the governmental authorities have not sought the resources necessary to put an end to certain conflicts, preferring instead, said the Commission, to utilize violence as was recently the case in Martissant and Grand' Ravine.
Several dozens of people have recently been the victims of vigilante "justice" in the districts mentioned above by individuals armed with machetes.
According to the head of MINUSTAH, Juan Gabriel Valdès, police officers and "attachés" (police auxiliaries) participated in these killings. However none of them have been arrested thus far, according to the families of the victims.
In its message, the Justice and Peace Commission of Port-au-Prince asked the interim authorities to adopt measures that conform with the law, that they create conditions that will allow the residents of populist districts to live in dignity.
"The police interventions in the populist districts must be measured and they must in all cases be identifiable" (without wearing hoods), Justice and Peace recommends. The Commission also deplored the exaggerated rise in prices of basic necessities, the depreciation of the gourde and the ceaseless increases in school expenses.
How does one hold fair elections in this current situation, asked the Commission. Voter registration offices should be installed in the remote parts of the country as well as the populist districts.