HAITI: UN Troops Accused of Human Rights Abuses

http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4905

Americas Program Commentary

UN Troops Accused of Human Rights Violations in Haiti

Maria Luisa Mendonça | January 21, 2008

Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)

americas.irc-online.org

The UN Security Council decided in October 2007 to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) through Oct. 15, 2008. The Brazilian Government is responsible for coordinating the MINUSTAH forces that include approximately 9,000 troops. Yet there is very little discussion in Brazil about the country's role in the occupation of Haiti, and especially, about the accusations leveled against the UN troops for their participation in human rights violations.

One of the cases documented by Haitian human rights organizations was that of the massacre that took place on Dec. 22, 2006 in the Cite Soleil area of Port-au-Prince, following a protest by some 10,000 people who demanded the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the withdrawal of foreign military forces. According to reports by local residents and video footage recorded by the Haiti Information Project, the UN forces attacked the community and killed about 30 people, including women and children.

In response to the criticism by human rights organizations that denounced those killings, MINUSTAH justified its actions by claiming that it was combating gangs in Cite Soleil. However, the images shot by Haiti Information Project show that UN troops shot unarmed civilians from helicopters. Inter Press Service, which covered the conditions in the area immediately following the attack, reported finding high-caliber bullet holes in many homes. HIP director Kevin Pina accused MINUSTAH of participating together with the Haitian National Police in summary executions and arbitrary arrests. He concluded, "In this context, it is hard to continue seeing the UN mission as an independent and neutral force in the country."

Camille Chalmers, a Haiti University professor and member of the Haitian Platform for Social Movement Integration, explained in an interview with journalist Claudia Korol of the Adital Agency: "MINUSTAH tried to build legitimacy by saying that it is fighting criminals. But many people realize that the only things that can truly reduce the lack of safety are public policies and social services. Unfortunately, what we have is a violent military apparatus."

Another violent military operation occurred in July 2005, when an estimated 22,000 bullet holes were found after an operation by MINUSTAH in Cite Soleil. Reports by HIP cited accounts by residents that the wounded and dead were found inside their own homes. These accounts charge that soldiers shot at people indiscriminately, which had devastating effects in a neighborhood where housing conditions are extremely precarious.

These accounts also charged that MINUSTAH did not allow the Red Cross to enter the area—a violation of the Geneva Convention. U.S. Government confidential documents, obtained by human rights organizations through the Freedom of Information Act, show that the American Embassy knew that the UN troops planned an attack on Cite Soleil. Local community organizations believe that the goal of the military was to prevent a demonstration commemorating ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's birthday, which was on July 15.

A report by Project Censored estimates that more than 1,000 members of Lavalas, a loose organization that groups supporters of Aristide, were arrested and about 8,000 people killed during the "interim government" that ran the country from 2004 to 2006, following the coup against Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004.

Camille Chalmers characterizes this action as an "intervention led by the governments of the United States and France." He further explains that "solidarity with the people of Haiti means helping to rebuild the country and find answers to the most pressing social problems, and the military presence does not help. The goals of security and human rights have not been met. On the contrary, we believe that the presence of MINUSTAH constitutes a violation of the Haitian people's right to self determination."

On Feb. 2, 2007 UN troops conducted another operation in Cite Soleil that resulted in the deaths of two young women who were sleeping in their homes. On Feb. 7, various demonstrations took place in the country, and on Feb. 9 there was another military attack, which was denounced by local organizations such as the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

On Oct. 30, 2007, the kidnapping of Dr. Maryse Narcisse, who is a member of the national leadership of Lavalas and worked with health and education social programs in Haiti, was made public. Another member of Lavalas, the psychologist and human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, disappeared on Aug. 12. Local organizations accuse the UN troops of generating public instability and attacking those who defend democracy and human rights.

The Brazilian Bar Association (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, OAB) led an observation mission to Haiti in late June 2007 and concluded that MINUSTAH plays a "violent" and "repressive" role that cannot be characterized as a "humanitarian action." Anderson Bussinger Carvalho, the lawyer responsible for the report, called for the withdrawal of Brazilian troops from Haiti. "I have concluded that the presence of Brazilian troops is not humanitarian. It is a strictly military mission. Haiti has a history of military occupations and Brazil ends up playing a role in this history," said Carvalho in an interview with the newspaper A Folha de São Paulo (Sept. 4, 2007).

The role played by Latin American countries in Haiti today is similar to the one played by the multilateral forces that stayed in the Dominican Republic following the invasion by the United States in 1965. The Dominican Republic suffered under a long military dictatorship that lasted until 1961 when longtime dictator Rafael Trujillo died.

In 1962 Juan Bosch was elected president but was deposed by a military coup after seven months in power. In April 1965, a series of widespread demonstrations demanded the return of ex-president Juan Bosch. It was during that time that U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered a military invasion of the Dominican Republic by 20,000 marines. A few weeks after the invasion, the Organization of American States sent in the Inter-American Peace Force of 1,129 soldiers. During that period, while Brazil was under a military dictatorship, the role of Brazilian troops in the Dominican Republic was similar to the one they play in Haiti today.

According to the North American writer Norman Solomon, writing in his book War Made Easy: "In retrospect, the 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic foreshadowed a series of U.S. military actions in the Western hemisphere and beyond. Covert intervention by the CIA in Latin America was as constant as the seasons, the overwhelming arrival of so many U.S. troops in the small country was a kind of political and media prototype for a pair of lightning strike invasions in the 1980s—Grenada and Panama—as well as, in more complicated ways, the relatively limited military interventions in Haiti during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. In each case, the man living in the White House found ways to set the media agenda for public approval to affirm the kind of desire expressed by Lyndon Johnson to Assistant Secretary of State Mann: 'We're going to have to really set up that government down there and run it and stabilize it some way or other.'"

The experience of Brazilian troops in Haiti was described by soldier Tailon Ruppenthal in his book A Brazilian Soldier in Haiti (Globo Publishing). He was 20 years old in 2004 when he took part in the UN mission for six months. "Even today, more than two years since I got back to Brazil and left the Army, I can't forget what I saw there. Once when I was on foot patrol, I saw something far away that looked like a pig that that had been completely burnt. As I got closer, I started to shake and almost lost control before a horrifying sight: it wasn't a pig, but a child around three years old," recounts Ruppenthal in his book.

"A soldier must have courage above all. But the collective depression starts to spread, and after a few months even getting out of bed is hard. You remember that you will cross paths with all those people who are starving but there's nothing you can do," writes Ruppental.

In another part of the book Ruppenthal describes what happened during a visit from then UN Secretary Koffi Annan: "The shooting was petrifying. There were bullets flying everywhere. You couldn't tell from where in the slum the bullets were coming and so the soldiers started to shoot blindly, setting off the biggest barrage of bullets that I experienced in the peace mission. The whole situation was out of control, and within one or two minutes bullets were flying from every direction."

When Ruppenthal returned to Brazil his behavior changed. "I was very aggressive and started to drink a lot. My mom noticed how much I had changed, and we found a doctor who diagnosed post-traumatic syndrome. I would need to receive psychological help. We approached the Army, but they refused to help me, claiming that they examined me upon my return and found nothing wrong with me." And he sums up, "And I just would like to remind everyone that we are losing the real war: against poverty ... Only the fight against poverty will bring peace. When will they see that?"

Unfortunately, Ruppenthal's opinion and the many criticisms of the negative role the UN troops play in Haiti are not taken into account by the Brazilian government. The Brazilian government's policy in relation to Haiti serves to legitimize a coup d'etat and strengthen U.S. interests in the region.

Maria Luisa Mendonça is a journalist and coordinates the Network on Social Justice and Human Rights in Brazil.

Six weeks after the February 2004 coup d’etat, I was in Port-au-Prince as part of a US delegation investigating the US government’s role in the coup. The UN “peacekeepers” would not arrive for another two months and the country was under the control of the multi-national interim force – US, France, Canada and Chile which were on the ground in Haiti even before the coup unfolded. The slaughter in the streets was just starting to ramp up and we met many people who were on the run.

I am delighted that a Brazilian human rights representative wrote this article because the UN force in Haiti is under the control of Brazil. I want to note in particular that the July 2005 UN massacre in Cite Soleil was the worst of all. It involved between 300-400 UN soldiers and included over twenty armored personnel carriers and helicopters. Those of us doing Haiti advocacy work have written articles, made presentations, and documentary films trying to get the word out. Finally, the work of journalists who have been trying to expose this story were honored by Project Censored last year for their writing and filmmaking about the coup in Haiti and its aftermath.

The information provided in this article is accurate. If interested in knowing more about the July 2005 UN massacre in Cite Soleil or the full-court press by the international community and media to de-stabilize Haiti (which appears to be the model the US is using to de-stabilize Venezuela), please go to the Haiti Info page on my blog: Haiti-Cuba-Venezuela Analysis at: http://hcvanalysis.wordpress.com/haiti-background/
There you will find some articles I wrote during 2005 about the horror that unfolded. Also, you can see a clip of a documentary by a friend of mine who was one of the people who received a Project Censored award, Kevin Pina. The film is called “Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits.”

Have not had any time in the current time to do the reading I need to do, will be studying these posts closely, and looking up the links, etc.

Haiti is so tragic, and _Bush devastated them, with absolutely no one around to bring help or comfort to those suffering people. We have fascists who have infested this board who support this barbarity toward people in this hemisphere, and you have undoubtedly seen them already. I hope they burn in hell.

_Bush did obliterate so many defenseless beings in Haiti, and the main-stream media supported his vicious, murderous savagery 100%, just as they do with Venezuela, and just as they did in all the other countries previous fascist U.S. Presidents destabilized, seized, and brought forward new Presidents and juntas, even heavily financing their own news media, like El Mercurio in Chile, as documented, to mold public perception before, during, and long after the destruction of Allende, and the grotesque arrival and reign of Pinochet.

Americans do often learn about these events decades after the fact, and when they do, they realize they've been told lies from the first by their own government. The decent ones in our country simply want our leaders to turn away from this filthy, murderous way of doing business. The fascists among us intend to preserve it at all human cost, other than their own, of course. They all spiritually worship this lurid, shabby, clumsy, greedy grabbing, and stealing from others, controling the lives of others, butting into what is never their business, and many of them have found ways to materially profit from it.

Looking forward to getting to that quiet space from which I can look through all your writing here. Thanks for taking the time to post it.