From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 13 Dec 92 07:59 PST
Subject: HAITI: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700867:000:4820
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Dec 13 07:59:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: HAITI: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE

/* Written 12:27 am  Dec 13, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: HAITI: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS DENOUNCE INCREASE IN REPRESSION


port-au-prince, dec 10 (ips) -- over 1,800 people have been
illegally executed in haiti between october 1991 and november
1992, according to human rights groups and other non-governmental
organizations (ngos) in the caribbean country.

and in recent days there has been an upsurge in repression and
violence against civilians, spokespersons for the ''haitian
platform for the defence of human rights'' and the ''private
development organizations'' committee (inter-opd) said.

the two organizations group nine human rights groups and some 30
ngos respectively.

they presented a report on abuses committed during the 13-month
period at a press conference here thursday, attended by the
coordinator of the civilian mission of the organization of
american states (oas) in haiti, colin grandison, and diplomats
from canada and france.

''almost all the crimes committed in the past few days have been
politically motivated,'' paul dejean, spokesperson for the
'platform' said.

presenting the balance-sheet of violations committed by the
military, rural police and armed civilians which, he cautioned,
was not exhaustive, inter-opd's bernard etheart said that that
1,867 illegal executions had been documented up to november, but
that the real figure might be closer to 3,000.

a recent case was that of a young man, jean sony philogene, who
was wounded when he and six others were rounded up and shot by a
group of armed men about 20 kilometres north of the capital on the
morning of dec. 6.

philogene's companions died. left for dead, he was rescued by a
truck driver and taken to the 'canape vert' hospital in
port-au-prince, where two bullets were extracted from his thigh.

hours later, five armed men burst into the ward where he had been
placed and shot him dead before his horrified grandmother,
according to jean craan, the hospital's administrator.

like philogene, about 89 percent of the people known to have been
executed were killed in and around the capital, according to the
report.

there were also 5,096 known cases of illegal arrests, including
people abducted by armed civilian commandos which, etheart said,
are directly linked to the military.

the periods with the largest number of illegal arrests were
october-november 1991 (1,146 documented cases) and may 1992 (914
cases). (more)
----

about 34 percent of the arrests were made in and around the
capital and 16.3 percent in the artibonite region, in central
haiti.

moreover, detainees have often been victims of extortion.  about
75 percent of those who have been released had to pay for their
freedom. in the rural areas, the average sum is 250 dollars per
person. in town, the ransom is usually higher.

some 2,171 people are known to have sustained injuries of various
types, whether gunshot wounds (mainly in the first few weeks after
the sep. 30 military coup) or lesions inflicted during beatings.

at least 30 victims of torture have died, either during detention
or immediately after their release.

inter-opd and the platform also documented 2,482 cases of illegal
house searches, body searches accompanied by violence and
destruction of property.

young people have been the main targets of repression, the report
said: 45 percent of the victims were under 25 years of age,
including 15 percent who were under 15.

but the repression also has other, less visible aspects.

many people still suffer from the psychic effects of beatings,
while, at night, hundreds of families from poor neighbourhoods
sleep in the bushes on the hills that surround the capital and
other major towns to escape house searches by armed civilians.

families have also been separated, and thousands have had to leave
their homes permanently.

in the first weeks after the coup, 300,000 people fled
port-au-prince for the rural areas.

but soon after, hundreds of thousands, including many who had
originally fled the capital, flocked to port-au-prince after
repression increased in the countryside, the report stated.

thousands more have attempted to seek refuge out of haiti,
including about 50,000 who attempted, most of them unsuccessfully,
to reach the united states by sea.

many of those who have since returned home found their house
emptied of everything of value.

jobless, without possessions, they often have few alternatives but
to try to eke out a living as informal traders or depend on
handouts from humanitarian organizations. (end/ips/ic-kb/92)
----