Amnesty International’s mis­sion is to under­take research and action focused on pre­vent­ing and end­ing grave abuses of the

rights to phys­i­cal and men­tal integrity, free­dom of con­science and expres­sion, and free­dom from dis­crim­i­na­tion, within the

con­text of its work to pro­mote all human rights.

24 Octo­ber 2007

(f)

Other mem­bers of the (Savanette

Human Rights Committee)

vic­tim to seek jus­tice. Amnesty Inter­na­tional believes they, and

other mem­bers of the orga­ni­za­tion they work for, are in grave

dan­ger.

Droits Humains de Savanette (Savanette Human Rights

Com­mit­tee), based in Savanette, near the bor­der with the

Domini­can Repub­lic. They have been work­ing on behalf of a

26-year-old dis­abled woman who was raped on 8 September:

they were the first to help her to con­tact the local judicial

author­i­ties, which led to the alleged rapist being arrested,

though he was released shortly after­wards. They and other

mem­bers of the Human Rights Com­mit­tee, as well as another

NGO work­ing in the area, the

Sup­port Group for Refugees and Repa­tri­ated Persons,

GARR) inter­vened, and the police arrested the man again on 5

Octo­ber.

The police moved him to Mire­bal­ais, where there is a cour­t­house. Since then, fam­ily and friends of the alleged rapist

rapist was released after the Pros­e­cu­tor ruled that there was no longer a crim­i­nal case for him to answer. He has

report­edly returned to Savanette.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Savanette Human Rights Com­mit­tee is part of a net­work of 37 Hait­ian and Domini­can orga­ni­za­tions working

for the pro­mo­tion and defense of human rights in the bor­der area, where there is a min­i­mal police pres­ence and

effec­tively no rule of law.

The work of human rights defend­ers and activists in Haiti is dif­fi­cult due to the wide­spread impunity, apa­thy and

cor­rup­tion within the judi­cial sys­tem. In Sep­tem­ber 2006, human rights defender Esterne Bruner, who had been

try­ing to get the author­i­ties to take action against gang mem­bers in Port-au-Prince, was shot dead. No one is known

to have been detained or charged in rela­tion to his murder.

Impunity is espe­cially preva­lent in cases of vio­lence against women in Haiti. The num­ber of rapes reported has been

increas­ing, par­tic­u­larly in the bor­der area, but the num­ber of pros­e­cu­tions has remained insignif­i­cant. Vic­tims of

sex­ual abuse have lit­tle access to jus­tice, crimes are not ade­quately inves­ti­gated and the per­pe­tra­tors are not brought

to jus­tice. In rural areas of Haiti, where there is no effec­tive rule of law, rapes, par­tic­u­larly of minors, are commonly

set­tled out of court, with the victim’s fam­ily accept­ing pay­ment from the alleged per­pe­tra­tor to drop charges.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:

Droits Humains de Savanette;

Petit­phat, with those respon­si­ble brought to justice;

- urg­ing the author­i­ties to ensure that they receive pro­tec­tion, in accor­dance with their wishes;

- remind­ing the author­i­ties that human rights defend­ers have a right to carry out their activ­i­ties with­out any

restric­tions or fear of reprisals, as set out in the UN Dec­la­ra­tion on the Right and Respon­si­bil­ity of Individuals,

Groups and Organs of Soci­ety to Pro­mote and Pro­tect Uni­ver­sally Rec­og­nized Human Rights and Fundamental

Free­doms.

APPEALS TO:

Min­is­ter of Jus­tice and Pub­lic Security

19 Avenue Charles Sumner,

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)

Min­is­ter

Gen­eral Direc­tor of the Haiti National Police

Mario Andresol

12 rue Oscar Pacot,

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (W.I.)

COPIES TO:

Human rights organization

comgarr@garr-haiti.org

Ambas­sador H.E. Ray­mond A. Joseph

Embassy of the Repub­lic of Haiti

2311 Mass­a­chu­setts Ave.NW.

Wash­ing­ton DC 20008

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending

appeals after 5 Decem­ber 2007.