"Six months after the abrupt and violence-laced departure of constitutionally elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and over three months after the deployment of U.N. peacekeeping units which were hailed as an instrument for order and stability in this long-troubled Caribbean island, Haiti remains poised on the edge of chaos."

On September 7, 2004, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a statement expressing concern "over several key areas in which the basic rights and freedoms of Haitians remain weak and imperiled."

In this regard, on September 16, 2004, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, during a Radio interview, said that human rights criticism was making his relations with donor countries difficult. Later that day police officers raided the offices of the Confederation of Haitian Workers labor union and arrested nine union members, all without a warrant...

On October 2, 2004 the police raided a radio station and arrested two Senators and a former Deputy from the Fanmi Lavalas party who had criticized the Interim Government during a radio program, again without a warrant...

On October 13, 2004, Haitian police forcibly entered the Sainte Claire Catholic Church in Port-au-Prince and arrested the Pastor, Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, without a warrant. Fr. Jean-Juste is an activist for peace, justice and the rights of immigrants in Haiti and the U.S.

The critical human rights situation in Haiti has also been the concern of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, who has made public a letter saying that human rights conditions are now worse then they have been in years. "Journalists, human rights workers, teachers, church workers, and labor unions are being threatened regularly and are clearly at risk...."

In order to do so, you may e-mail us at Editor Radio Nizkor.

Más información sobre derechos humanos en el sitio web del Equipo Nizkor