INTERNATIONAL ALERT FOR THE RELIEF OF THE HAITIAN PEOPLE

Haitian live matters - La vie des Haïtiens compte - Lavi Aysyen gen valè

INTERNATIONAL ALERT FOR THE RELIEF OF THE HAITIAN PEOPLE

For many decades, the descent into hell has been continuing for the Haitian people, a people already sternly hit by natural disasters. Throughout the tenure of the last successive governments, the foundations of fundamental human rights the situation have steadily deteriorated: insecurity, precarity, loss of freedom, denial of basic rights. Yet, these rights are formally recognized in the 1987 amended Constitution, which says : «Art. 19: The State has the imperative obligation to guarantee the right to life, health, respect for the human person, of all citizens without distinction, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.»

Regularly, but without success, the Haitian human rights organizations challenge the Haitian authorities and international bodies to address these serious and repeated violations of the rule of law, violations that affect the whole population and which currently reach unbearable levels. State violence, arbitrary rule, denial of justice and impunity are parts of the everyday life of an unarmed and destitute population who suffer from poverty, fear and lack of opportunities. Assassinations, organized massacres, villainous kidnappings, brutal police repression, criminal activities by quasi-official gangs, intimidation of the judiciary, of  independent journalists and human rights defenders, all these  facts  are duly documented and  attest to the gravity of the situation of a population held hostage by its own leaders.

On the institutional level, the legislative elections were not held, so that the Head of State governs by decrees, a gateway to the arbitrary. The economy is dying, inflation is out of control, unemployment is widespread while the precarious living conditions are further accentuated by corruption which loots the  scarce available resources, including the international aid. Haitians, too, have to cope with the impact of COVID19 and periodic natural disasters that hit the country.

Such a sad reality is unfolding in full view of the “international community”. Some people used to praise the resilience of the Haitian people. However, this population is at the limit of its capacity to resist  and yet at this very same time,  the complacency of that international community, in the face of this tragedy,  is close to complicity  if not synonymous with interference…

The organizations and personalities who launch this petition call on the international community to wake-up and urgently do everything possible to help the Haitian people  to recover their dignity, justice, self-determination, and to contribute, decisely, to the process of change that will make it possible to meet the basic needs of the Haitian people.

We invite the addressees of this petition - institutions and personalities -, to formulate and quickly share any initiative likely to put an end to the serious attacks on democracy and human rights currently underway in Haiti. Such initiatives must be carried out in close consultation with the sectors of civil society, as well as with the Haitian diaspora, who are in favor of such changes, and are respectful of the sovereignty of the country and of the legitimate aspirations of the Haitian people.

We invite the Haitians, and all people of goodwill around the world, to sign and have this petition signed, and thereby show their support for the legitimate cause of a suffering people.

Plate-Forme Haïti de Suisse    Contact the author of the petition