Cdn. ex-officers head to Haiti for election

[Judi Lynn]

Mon. Oct. 17 2005 1:58 PM ET

Cdn. ex-officers head to Haiti for election
Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Retired police officers heading to Haiti have been given a formal farewell in Ottawa.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll wished the 25 officers well on Parliament Hill.

The police officers are heading out on a mission to help keep the peace during Haitian elections.

They will back up a contingent of about 100 Canadian police and military peacekeepers already has in Haiti.
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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051017/haiti_policeofficers_100517/20051017?hub=Canada

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'Electoral Cleansing' in Haiti Violates Human Rights and Democracy
by Brian Concannon Jr.
October 17, 2005

Americas Program, International Relations Center
Haiti is in the midst of a comprehensive program of electoral cleansing.

Its ballots are being cleansed of political dissidents, its voting rolls cleansed of the urban and rural poor. The streets are being cleansed of anti-government political activity.

This cleansing violates the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the charters and other instruments of the OAS and the UN. It also violates the electoral standards that are applied in other countries, and that were applied to elections run by Haiti's constitutional governments. The persecution and disenfranchisement of political opponents is being conducted openly, notoriously, and under the eyes of the international community. The persecution is not the result of a government unable to assure adequate security, but of a deliberate and multifaceted campaign against opponents by Haiti's Interim Government. This government's primary benefactor is the American taxpayer.

Haiti's ballots have been cleansed by prohibiting or discouraging political opponents, especially supporters of the ousted constitutional government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In some cases this has been done by the application of rules that appear neutral on the surface, but have a targeted impact. For example, all presidential candidates were required to register in person by September 15, but only Lavalas candidates could not meet this requirement because they were in jail. Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, widely believed to be the most popular potential candidate, was arrested without a warrant two months ago, on July 21. He has been held since then on trumped-up charges, despite a call for his release issued by twenty-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives led by Rep. Waters and echoed by Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and hundreds of religious, community, and human rights leaders throughout the world.
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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=55&ItemID=8951