Haiti Support Group
20 June 2002
Release detained trade unionists NOW!
The Haiti Support Group joins with Haitian grassroots and human rights organisations in protesting in the strongest possible terms against the continued detention of nine people who participated in the union rally at the Guacimal plantation near St. Raphael on 27 May 2002. The rally was called by the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers' Union (Syndicat des Ouvriers de Guacimal Saint-Raphaël - SOGS) and was supported by trade unionists from Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye and Cap-Haïtien
The nine people who were subject to arbitrary arrest and who, 23 days later, are still imprisoned without charge, include six trade unionists, members of a workers' organisation affiliated to the legally-registered, 'First of May-Batay Ouvriye' union federation. The others detained are two drivers, and one drivers' assistant, who were in vehicles bringing demonstrators to the rally. Two of the nine are women who are being detained at the Fort National women's prison. The seven men are being detained at the National Penitentiary. (see below for the names of the prisoners.)
As a large number of grassroots organisations in Haiti* pointed out in a press release dated 11 June, the nine have been imprisoned because they tried to exercise their legal rights to assembly and association as guaranteed in the 1987 Constitution, and because they demanded the minimum working conditions and benefits as laid down in the country's Labour Code, and as agreed by the Guacimal SA management and the peasant/workers at the time the land was leased.
The Haiti Support Group joins with these grassroots organisations in demanding:
- An immediate end to all acts of intimidation that are contrary to letter and the spirit of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly as guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution and by international human rights and labour law;
- The intervention of the Minister of Justice to secure the immediate release without conditions of the nine illegally detained people;
- The arrest of those implicated in the murder of the two peasant/workers on 27 May at Guacimal, St. Raphael;
- Justice and compensation for the victims of the tragic events at Guacimal on 27 May;
- The creation of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the peasant/workers' situation and, in particular, the bloody events of 27 May;
- The creation of the conditions of security to permit the peasant/workers to return to their place of work.
The names of the nine detained people are:
1. Yvon LOUIS JEUNE, a driver from Cap-Haïtien
2. Alix ROLAND, a drivers' assistant
3. Destiné DÉCIUS, a driver from St Michel de l'Attalaye
4. Tusson ALEXANDRE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
5. Veruséus SÉNAT, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
6. Dorvil JÉRÉMIE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
7. Urbain GARÇON, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
8. Mme Danbreville ÉDOUARD, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
9. Mme Lucienne JEAN, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
*These demands were originally made on 11 June 2002 by a group of grassroots organisations that include the Platform to Advocate for Alternative Development (PAPDA), Catholic Workers' Action, Haitian Women's Solidarity (SOFA), the State Electricity Company Workers' Union (FESTRED'H), the Tèt Kole Ti Peyizan Ayisyen peasant movement, the National Peasant Movement of the Papaye Congress (MPNKP), and the Centre for Research and Action for Development (CRAD).
