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ICFTU ONLINE...

Haiti: ICFTU welcomes release of union prisoners but expresses concern for their safety

1/3/2004

Brussels, 1 March 2004 (ICFTU OnLine): The release from prison in Port-au-Prince on 29th February of ten trade union activists held for over one month was warmly applauded today by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The freeing of the prisoners (9 men, detained at the National Penitentiary and 1 woman, held in the women’s’ prison, Fort National) came in the wake of the abrupt departure of Haiti’s former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier on Sunday.

The detainees had been arrested during an illegal raid by Haiti’s Police Nationale on the headquarters of the umbrella trade union group “Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne” (CSH) on 24 January 2004. They had been charged with “criminal conspiracy ” and “plotting against the internal security of the State ”; a charge carrying a sentence of imprisonment with forced labour for life.

An international trade union delegation, led by the ICFTU and its Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT), had forcefully rejected these charges after visiting the prisoners in jail in Port-au-Prince, less than a fortnight ago, and meeting with their lawyers, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Haiti representative. The 12-strong delegation, comprising trade union leaders from the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Africa, as well as representatives of Global Union Federations in the teaching (EI) and services (UNI) sectors, had made representations about their situation to the Minister of Justice. It had also met with the diplomatic corps in the Haitian capital, many national trade union organisations, the “Group of 184” democratic opposition platform and various other groups.

While welcoming the release of the 10 union detainees, the ICFTU is still preoccupied with their safety, a concern already put forward by the mission which had visited the island from 15 to 18 February. As confirmed yesterday by ICFTU-ORIT sources in Port-au-Prince, several Haitian labour leaders and activists still remain in hiding, while others went underground last night, fearing reprisals from Aristide’s ill-famed “Chimères” and other criminal elements.

In a letter sent this morning to the Acting President of Haiti, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder demanded “clear and firm security guarantees for Haiti’s trade union and human rights’ activists and their relatives, as well as respect for labour and human rights in the future”. “We will pass on a similar demand to the governments of all countries involved in the UN security operation charged with re-establishing law and order in Haiti”, he said in Brussels today.

Ryder added the ICFTU would now also call on the international community, including regional bodies CARICOM and the Organisation of American States, to “provide meaningful re-construction and development assistance, with adequate safeguards against corruption and other abuses which have marred these efforts in the past. Helping Haitians to build democracy must be a priority for the international community.” The ICFTU said this recommendation was at the heart of its delegation’s mission report, which it has now decided to make publicly available, following the 10 union prisoners’ release yesterday.

The ICFTU represents over 150 million workers in 233 affiliated organisations in 152 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224 0206 or +32 476 621 018.

> An international trade union delegation, led by the ICFTU and its
> Regional Inter-American Organisation (ICFTU-ORIT), had forcefully
> rejected these charges after visiting the prisoners in jail in Port-au-Prince,
> less than a fortnight ago, and meeting with their lawyers, as well as the
> International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Haiti representative.

Is a state with only a police and without an army, which is facing the
threat of a coup d'etat by people armed with M-16's, M-60s, rocket-propelled hand grenades etc
(http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&ItemID=5045)
justified in people planning such a coup d'etat?

Since when can you decide that people are innocent without hearing
the arguments of the prosecution? Presumption of innocence, sure,
but these people have been freed with no hint of any legal process.

And since when has the ICRC decided on people's innocence or
guilt? I thought they only made sure people were in good medical
condition, not tortured etc, without intervening politically.

OK, so now we know that Aristide is not a true anarchist. He
got rid of the army but he's still let people allegedly committing crimes
be imprisoned. That doesn't make him undemocratic. A democracy
is not yet as advanced a society as an anarchy.