[News] 2nd Report of the Haiti Accompaniment Project

[News at freedomarchives.org]

The Haiti Accompaniment Project
1 December 2004

We are much relieved to learn of the release of Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste on 
November 29, (one of the few prisoners released by the interim government 
in the nine months since February 29).  Jean-Juste was arrested under 
questionable circumstances, never formally charged and held in illegal 
detention for nearly seven weeks.  The interim government finally honored a 
court order for his release after a sustained, international campaign in 
support of Rev. Jean-Juste.



Dozens of prisoners have received similar court orders for release, yet 
they still languish in their cells (-- in some cases after four months or 
more of inaction).  The interim government now holds an estimated 700 
political prisoners in Haiti’s prisons – all of them arrested since the end 
of February.



The Haiti Accompaniment Project secured unparalleled access to Haiti’s 
prisons, where we met hundreds of prisoners, three dozen of whom we 
interviewed formally.  We are pleased to release the Second Report of the 
Haiti Accompaniment Project, which documents the human rights conditions in 
Haiti’s prisons -- including the use of arbitrary arrests, the absence of 
due process and the fact of prolonged, illegal detention in Haiti during 
the period from February to July 2004.



The human rights situation in Haiti has grown much worse since the time of 
our investigation, with an upsurge in violence by interim authorities, and 
ever more arrests.  Each day, individuals are targeted for arrest and 
people are swept off the streets.   The prisoner population continues to 
climb as the interim authorities scramble to open new detention centers to 
hold their prisoners.



As International Human Rights Day approaches this December 10, we applaud 
the work of the many human rights organizations who have worked tirelessly 
for justice in Haiti.  We support the call by UN General Secretary Kofi 
Annan for Haiti to release these political prisoners.  We hope this report 
will serve to shed further light on this central instrument of political 
repression in Haiti since February 29th.

For more information, please contact us via 
<mailto:lesliefleming at mindspring.com>lesliefleming at mindspring.com.


The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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