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Campaign against violence against women President Rene Preval pledged full support to the commission, the first of its kind in Haiti. "The state must make providing justice a priority," Preval said at a ceremony to introduce the commission. "I think the journalists, working together with justice officials, can help reinforce justice in the country." Delva said the body's first task will be to revisit the murder of Haiti's most famous journalist, Jean Dominique, who was gunned down along with a bodyguard outside his radio station on April 3, 2000. Dominique's life was chronicled in the 2003 documentary "The Agronomist," directed by American filmmaker Jonathan Demme. The probe into his killing has been plagued by delays, missing case files and the resignation of two investigating judges who received death threats. Three early suspects have been killed, including one under mysterious circumstances in police custody. Dominique's widow, Michele Montas said revisiting his case offers hope after years of frustration. "He was a symbol that gave a voice to the voiceless, and that voice was silenced," said Montas, who once fled the country because of death threats and now serves as spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "So we're asking for justice for him and everyone else."
Association of Caribbean Media Workers call for CARICOM action on media rights in Haiti - The Voice, 13 February 2007Delva interview in LatinAmerica Press, October 2006SOS Journalistes' Guy Delva interview in The Guardian newspaper, 12 June 2006
SOS Journalistes relaunches debate on impunity - 31 March 2006From Le Nouvelliste translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support GroupThe executive committee of S.O.S Journalists informs media professionals and the public in general that on Monday, April 3, 2006, it will organize a debate for radio and television broadcast on the topic: "The Media, Justice, and Impunity" at 4pm at Télémax.During this debate, which coincides with the sixth anniversary of the assassination of the journalist Jean Léopold Dominique, journalists and media specialists will debate and respond to questions from the public. The debate will be broadcast by dozens of media, including Mélodie FM, Radio Metropole, Signal FM, Radio Caraibes FM, Radio-Télé Ginen, Radio Solidarité, Tropic FM, Canal 11, and Radio Soleil d'Haiti in New York. This sad anniversary will be also the occasion for journalists and media directors to address the problems which block fredom of the press in Haiti and to analyze the fact that the assassins of journalists continue to profit from 100% impunity. Several initiatives - aiming to reinforce media unity, to develop the profession and to consolidate the sector - will be announced at the time of this debate. S.O.S Journalistes is a media organization bringing together journalists and media workers of all tendencies.
SOS Journalistes launched - 17 November 2005From Le Nouvelliste translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support GroupJournalists and media workers on Thursday launched a new press organization, S.O.S Journalistes, with the mission to protect and defend freedom of the press, to organize its members and to carry out projects likely to improve the socio-economic conditions of media professionals at all levels.S.O.S Journalistes is headed by a committee of three members: Joseph Guyler C Delva (Reuters), Secretary-general; Yves Paul Léandre (Melody FM), Deputy Secretary-general, and Louis Gary Cyprien (Le Nouvelliste), Administrative Secretary. Joseph Guyler C Delva, who has given up his responsibilities with Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH), declared that the new organization will cooperate closely with the AJH. "S.O.S Journalists plans to work with all the organizations, including the AJH, the ANMH and the AMIH*", he said. "What we hope is that there will be unity among all the members of the sector. We must put aside everything that divides us and embrace everything that we have in common", declared Guyler C Delva, who announced the designation of a new committee of transition at the head of the AJH. It is composed of Pierre Jean-Paul (Radio Ibo), Carl Dieudonné (Télémax) and Eddy Jackson Alexis (Radio Mégastar). A preliminary meeting is envisaged in the next few days to officially unveil the transition committee. This committee will have the role of organizing a general assembly to elect a permanent committee at the head of the organization within a time period not exceeding 3 months. Delva let it be known that he remains available to answer all the transition committee's requests if it would need his support. "We made enormous sacrifices to re-start the AJH which did appreciable work, in particular in the defense of freedom of the press over these last few years," said Guyler C Delva. "There is no question of the AJH dying, he added. The former secretary-general of the AJH indicated that the new organization, S.O.S Journalistes, proposes to organize permanent forums and debates on freedom of the press, and on the rights and responsibilities of journalists and media workers in general in terms of citizenship and human rights.
* The ANMH is the Haitian National Media Association.
New independent media association denounces attacks on journalists by Presidential guards - 4 October 2005COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE -- ASSOCIATION DES MEDIAS INDEPENDANTS D'HAITI - AMIH
The AMIH (Haitian Independent Media Association) forcefully denounces the acts of brutality committed against members of the national press by security guards from the National Palace on 3 October 2005 on the occasion of the re-opening of the Courts by Boniface Alexandre, interim President of the Republic.The main victims were Guyler C. Delva, secretary-general of the Association des Journalistes Haïtiens (AJH) and local correspondent for the Reuters agency, and Méroné Jean Wilkens of Radio Métropole. The AMIH hopes that sanctions will immediately be taken against the guards at fault, and that the victims will be compensated without compromising any legal action that the latter may wish to pursue. For the Association des Médias Indépendants d'Haïti
Marcus Garcia, Mélodie FM Haiti Support Group concerned about proposals that threaten to limit media freedom - 8 August 2005 IPI World Press Freedom Review of 2004 in Haiti Second Megastar radio journalist attacked - Reporters without Borders, 21 February 2005 Radio Megastar's owner tells BBC of beating Concerns about police raid on Radio Megastar - Haiti Support Group press release, 17 February 2005 IPI left fearful after criticism of Reuters' Haitian correspondent, 26 January 2005 Interim Prime Minister's comments endanger Haitian journalist - Haiti Support Group press release, 26 January 2005 UNESCO denounces yet one more journalist’s murder, this time in Haiti IAPA condemns murder of journalist and asks for safeguards, 21 January 2005 BackgroundHaiti is a dangerous place to be a journalist. For decades, the press has been at times stifled, at other times divided; and at all times, journalists and news organizations from every point on the political spectrum have faced threats and violence. During the Duvalier period, attempts at establishing an independent press were crushed; when Aristide returned from exile in 1994, many journalists believed that a new era of independent reporting would be possible. While there was something of an explosion of journalism, it was intensely politicized. Newspapers and radio and TV stations affiliated themselves with political parties, and were accordingly targeted by gangs from each side. Radio journalists were most at risk -- since more than half of Haiti's population is illiterate, radio is the primary medium, with some 250 stations broadcasting in Haiti. Studios and transmitters were destroyed, and journalists were beaten and killed. Since Aristide went into exile again in 2004, Reporters Without Borders has noted that press freedoms have improved, though other analysts have qualified this by adding that those media sympathetic to Aristide and the Lavalas Family party have become targets. In sections of the country controlled by illegal armed groups, there is no media coverage to speak of, and where there are media outlets, self-censorship is common. In this volatile environment, the simple fact that the press continues to report on Haiti is a testament to its dedication and endurance. The Association of Haitian Journalists, headed by Guyler Delva, a former Voice of America correspondent, has played a prominent role in highlighting human rights abuses against journalists and financing legal actions against those responsible. In August 2005, it called for a day without news broadcasts to protest a communiqué issued by the current government calling for sanctions against media. A dozen media organizations stopped broadcasts. (source: Unfinished Country - PBS Wide Angle)* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Campaign against violence against womenSolidarity and resilience sprout en masse after Haitian rapes - Anne Sosin, 8 November 2006Rape victims march for justice in Haitian capital - Associated Press, 1 September, 2006 Declaration of the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV) - 1 September 2006 Haitian Women's Solidarity (SOFA) reports on sexual violence in 2006 (AlterPresse)4 August 2006 - More than 330 women and girls between the ages of 6 and 67 in four of the country's departmentshave been the victims of rape, harrassment and parental irresponsibility between January and June 2006. These people have been received in the 'Douvanjou' centres - centres providing safe havens and medical, legal and psychological support to women victims of violence - set up by the women's organisation, Solidarité des Femmes Haïtiennes (SOFA), in the West, Artibonite, South-East and the Grand’Anse.In the West department, mostly in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Martissant, SOFA has registered 212 victims. Thirty seven were treated in the Artibonite, 36 in the South-East, and 45 in the Grand’Anse. The organisation notes that the recent resumption of violence in Martissant means that information concerning the month of June cannot be collected. In an open letter sent to various parts of the government, including the president and the parliament, SOFA states that women and girls are "Victims of all sorts of abuses relating to the situation of political and structural violence targetting women in Haitian society". SOFA salutes the courage of these victims, and calls on the State to curb this systematic violence.
International Women's Day Declaration by the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV) - 8 March, 2006 Gender-based violence, in particular rape of women by gang members, was reported increasingly frequently in impoverished neighbourhoods of the capital.Long overdue reforms to the Criminal Code to address flaws in the criminalization of gender-based violence, including rape, were finally introduced in October by a Presidential decree. Under the amended Criminal Code rape was defined as a criminal offence – previously it was considered a moral offence – punishable by up to 10 years’ forced labour. However, the majority of rapes were not reported to the authorities for fear of reprisal or because of lack of confidence in the authorities and the justice system. The interim government failed to combat the culture of tolerance of violence against women and to provide assistance for victims of sexual violence.
‘Gen Espwa’ – There is Hope - Komisyon Fanm Viktim pou Viktim (KOFAVIV), December 2005
Increased violence cripples the country’s backbone: women - The Haitian Times, 9 March 2005 According to the complainants, among whom are some victims, the women who were raped don’t make public denunciations even though they were humiliated, because they are afraid that their aggressors might come back for them later. They denounced the behavior of human rights organisations and women's organisations that were so active during the 1991 coup d'état and under that Aristide government, but who now don’t care about the rapes and all kinds of abuse that residents of poor districts, especially women, have been victim of since February 29, 2004 (date of Aristide’s departure). Nevertheless, the situation has never been so alarming regarding rapes of women and girls under 18, the victims pointed out. Several families were forced to leave their homes in Cité de Dieu and in Bel-Air due to pressure they declared they were victim of from masked men who already executed several citizens in these districts, those women said. They are the same men, they said, who killed journalist Abdias Jean on January 14th in Cité de Dieu after he had witnessed their crimes. The group of victim women invites the State authorities - if they are not accomplices - to assume their responsibilities to stop the deteriorating situation.
La pratique du viol s’amplifie - Communiqué de presse de l’organisation Kay Fanm, 23 décembre 2004 Many women were raped or gang-raped by members of armed gangs, demobilized soldiers and police officers. Several women told AI that they were too afraid of the police to report the crimes. Some women who had been raped during the military rule in 1991-1994 were in hiding after the perpetrators of such abuses were back in public life and freely circulating in the streets.
Walking on Fire: Haitian Women’s Stories of Survival and Resistance The base salary of 432 gourdes weekly (US$10.16 or US$1.45 daily) is to be adjusted to 900 gourdes (US$21.17 or US$3.03 daily) with, additionally, an agreement to raise salaries by 45% over a period of three years (20% first, then 15% and 10%), all this taking into account rates of inflation and currency devaluation as specifically stipulated in the national labor legislation's Article 137. Although the question of wages was the crux of the negotiations, many other issues relating to union recognition; labor rights; working conditions; health, hygiene and security; pregnancy and sexual harassment, were also settled. Batay Ouvriye will be releasing more information on this important success shortly. In the meantime, we salute once again the Codevi workers' struggles, as well as all of those in solidarity who contributed to the resolution of this workplace conflict. The Haiti Support Group adds: The Haiti Support Group has made the struggle for workers' rights at the Ouanaminthe Free Trade Zone a special focus of our work over the last two years. This great news about the collective bargaining agreement and the wage increases follows the victory earlier this year when over 150 workers sacked for belonging to the Socowa union were reinstated and the Socowa union won full recognition from the management. We want to thank all of you who have responded to our calls for solidarity, whether this consisted of sending emails to the main contractor, Levi Strauss & Co., demonstrating outside the Levi's store in Regent Street, London, or contributing to our Socowa solidarity fund. We want to send special thanks and recognition to the Battersea and Wandsworth trade union council for the important financial support it has provided to Socowa; to the No Sweat organisation for raising donations to support Batay Ouvriye; and to the LabourStart campaigning web site for the thousands of emails sent in response to Socowa's appeals for international solidarity.
The US Solidarity Centre's Haiti programme in support of SOKOWA This welcome news follows hot on the heels of the report that the first FTZ union, the Sendika Ouvriye Codevi Wanament (Sokowa), had registered with the authorities on 14 February. The Sokowa union is affiliated with the fourteen other labour unions and workers committees that had come together in 2001 as L'Intersyndicale Premier Mai-Batay Ouvriye (The May 1st - Workers' Fight Union Federation). The founding of the Sokowa union owed much to the work of organisers from the May 1st - Workers' Fight Union Federation, located in the near-by city of Cap-Haitien. They travelled to Ouanaminthe to make contact with some of the workers at the FTZ who wanted to start a union. With help from the BWTUC, the Sokowa union will now establish an office in Ouanaminthe, employ an organiser, and continue the task of unionising a FTZ workforce which is expected to grow to number 20,000 in the years ahead.
Protest against abuse of workers' rights at La Couronne Brewery–Coca-Cola Haiti - May 2006 Mr. Raymond JAAR CEO Brasserie de La Couronne S.A. Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Haïti P.O. Box 1477, Port-au-Prince, Haïti Dear Mr. Jaar, We have been informed of your company’s serious abuses of workers’ rights at the brewery in Cap-Haitien, and are particularly concerned to hear that you are paying some workers an illegal 50 gourdes per day salary. In addition, we understand that - contrary to Haitian law - there are no holidays at La Couronne Brewery–Coca-Cola Haiti, that the provision for 15 days sickness leave is not respected, that overtime hours are not paid, and that workers are fired without valid reason. We are asking you to urgently adopt the necessary measures to rectify the situation at the La Couronne Brewery–Coca-Cola Haiti. The workers’ base salary needs to be correctly adjusted. Mr Philomé Cémérant, a union leader sacked at the end of 2005 for no good reason, should be rehired without delay and with back-pay. A constructive dialogue betwen the company's management and the workers' union must be started immediately. In the hope that you will adopt these measures in the spirit of social advancement in Haiti,
Yours sincerely, Haiti's labour movement in renaissanceInternational Union Rights - quarterly magazine of The International Centre for Trade Union Rights - June 2003, Volume 10, Number 2Written by Charles Arthur Haiti's labour movement is experiencing a rebirth as small, independent unions, supported by committed labour activists, are springing up in the north of the country, in and around the second city, Cap-Haïtien. The inspiration for these new, combative unions has been provided by a spirited - and significantly - successful struggle for improved pay and conditions waged by workers at an orange tree plantation owned by the French liqueur company, Marnier-Lapostolle. In 1999, workers at the plantation just outside Cap-Haïtien organised themselves into a union to demand protective clothing and an increase in a daily wage that was equivalent to less than one US dollar. When the Haitian management refused to discuss a realistic settlement, international campaigners bombarded the main office of the French parent company with emails and letters of protest. In August 2000, Marnier-Lapostolle, fearing for the public image of their prestige brand, the Grand Marnier liqueur, authorised a 25% wage increase and improved working conditions. The success of the Marnier-Lapostolle workers' union prompted workers at other small establishments in the region to organise themselves into unions. Perhaps the best known - as a consequence of their protracted and violent dispute with the Rémy Cointreau company and its Haitian contractor - are the Guacimal company workers' unions at Madeline and St.Raphael (see International Union Rights - Volume 9, Number 4). Other unions also took root at the main Cap-Haïtien bakery, and at the city's World Food Programme depot, and existing but weak unions, such as those at the Novella coffee processing plant and the Beck Hotel, redoubled their efforts to build effective organisations. This wave of unionising is remarkable for occurring in a most unsympathetic context. Haiti's first union movement developed in the 1940s and 1950s, but these unions were totally eradicated during the 29-year Duvalier father and son dictatorship. Worker and community organising resumed when that dictatorship fell in 1986, but was cut short again when the Haitian Army took control and imposed a brutally repressive regime between 1991-94. Not only were dynamic union organisers killed or forced into exile, but the formal economy - and thus the workforce - was decimated by the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations. Since the return of constitutional government in late 1994, the economic situation has barely improved, and in a country of some eight million people, there are still only around 100,000 regular, paid jobs. Not only are there a relatively small number of workers that could potentially be organised, but extremely low standards of education and high levels of illiteracy also act as strong barriers to organising efforts. Although the country's constitution guarantees basic workers' rights, in practice there are a whole series of labour legislation requirements that need to be satisfied before a union can win legal recognition. Much of the credit for the development of the new unions in this unpromising situation goes to the Batay Ouvriye workers' organisation which has provided essential assistance and advice to workers trying to form their own unions. Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) is an organisation formed in 1994 by a group of committed activists. It cut its teeth in the garment assembly plant zones in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in the mid-1990s, helping workers organise themselves in factories where t-shirts and pyjamas were assembled on behalf of massive US companies such as Walt Disney. The rug was pulled from under the feet of these fledgling unions in 1997 when Disney's main sub-contractor redirected its assembly contracts to cheaper sweatshops in east Asia. Batay Ouvriye's efforts in Haiti's North Department have been more successful, and thanks to the legal advice, literacy classes, and constant encouragement that it has provided, in August 2001 a number of the new unions got together and successfully registered with the national authorities as the First of May-Batay Ouvriye Union Federation. However, although achieving legal recognition is a step forward, some new unions have found out to their cost that this means little to the more reactionary of employers. The powerful Zephir family, which has interests in the coffee and orange peel export businesses, consistently refuses to negotiate with unionised workers. In late 2001, in one of the worst cases, all the members of the newly formed union at the Desgleraux plantation, near the village of Quartier Morin, were dismissed by the owner, Nonce Zephir, even though it had been awarded provisional recognition by the Ministry of Social Affairs. More recently, in April 2003, when workers at a Cap-Haïtien brewery gathered to demand an increase in their daily wage - the equivalent of 85 US cents - the director called in the riot police who beat up and arrested two workers. The two were released from jail a week later without having been charged with any offence. The brewery is owned by the Madsen family, one of Haiti's richest families that also has extensive import-export business interests. While the new unions in the North consolidate their strength and prepare for new struggles with recalcitrant managers, in the neighbouring North-east Department a new focus for union organising has developed near the town of Ouanaminthe. Here, just across the border from the Dominican Republic, the Haitian government has leased an extensive area of land to the Dominican textile assembly company, Grupo M, which is building factories to take advantage of Haiti's low wages. See the campaign in support of union rights in the new free zone at Maribahoux, Ouanaminthe * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Campaign for the cancellation of Haiti's debt Haiti's debt to international financial institutions and foreign governments has grown from US$302 million in 1980 to US$1.134 billion today. About 40% of this debt stems from loans to the brutal Duvalier dictators who invested precious little of it in the country. This is known as 'odious debt' because it was used to oppress the people, and, according to international law, this debt need not be repaid. The other part of the debt has been run up in recent years as Haiti has been lent money to carry out structural adjustment policies that rather than helping economic development are in fact damaging it. More on Haiti's debtDespite the fact that the debt has provided next to no benefit to the majority of Haitian people, they are now suffering from the obligation the current government has to repay it. The servicing of this debt is estimated at more than US$ 4 million a month - much more than the Haitian government can spend on public services such as health care.See "Haiti in life and debt struggle" - The Guardian, 17 June 2000 According to the Word Bank, Haiti is classed as a severely indebted low income country. Its debt to exports ratio is around 300% - a ratio considered unsustainable by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In spite of meeting these criteria, the World Bank and the IMF have not included Haiti in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative for debt relief to the countries who suffer most under the burden of debt. Haiti and the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Relief Initiative - The World Bankreturn to top of page * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WHAT YOU CAN DO: CLICK HERE FOR SUBSCRIPTION DETAILSreturn to top of page |