CARICOM TAKES ACTION ON HAITI

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Haiti was one of the most urgent issues dealt with by the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) at their February 24 to 25 Heads of Government Conference. And at the conclusion of the Conference, the CARICOM Prime Ministers and Presidents issued the following Statement on the crisis situation in Haiti :-

“Heads of Government expressed their deep concern over the deteriorating political situation and the deepening public anxiety over citizen security in Haiti.

They took note of the Report of the United Nations Secretary General of 11 February 2021 and of the comments therein on the political and governance issues.

Heads of Government underlined the importance of respect for the rule of law and constitutional processes as laid out in the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society, and the primary responsibility of the government to this end.

They called on the political actors to engage in dialogue to reach consensus on the way forward and establish an enabling environment for the conduct, as quickly as possible, of the elections to renew the lapsed Legislative and Local Government Institutions.

Heads of Government look forward to the conduct of free and fair Presidential Elections, in accordance with the Constitution of Haiti.”

In addition, our CARICOM Heads of Government mandated Ambassador Colin Granderson of the CARICOM Secretariat to urgently establish a small expert group to inquire into the situation on the ground in Haiti and to give a Report on its findings to the Heads of Government.

Of course, this CARICOM expression of “deep concern” comes against the following background :-

  1. The dissolution of Haiti’s Parliament since January 2020, and – in the absence of any Parliamentary oversight -the President ruling this Caribbean country of 11 Million people by issuing Presidential decrees;
  2. The 7th of February 2021 3AM arrest of Supreme Court Justice Yvickel Dabresil and Police Inspector General Marie Louise Gauthier;
  3. The 10th February 2021 Court order, that determined that Justice Dabresil’s arrest was illegal and that ordered the Judge’s release;
  4. The 8th February 2021 Presidential decree that removed three Judges from the Supreme Court, and the installing of three replacement Judges;
  5. The 8th of February 2021 Police seizure of control of the Supreme Court and the Ecole de la Magistrature;
  6. The Police use of live ammunition against protestors;
  7. The documentation by Haitian human rights organizations, the United Nations and the Haitian Judicial Police of the involvement of state actors in a series of massacres in various Haitian communities;
  8. The untenable situation of a country of 11 million people only having 11 elected leaders in office;
  9. The use of Presidential decrees to implement substantial governmental changes, inclusive of the creation of a National Intelligence Agency, and the establishing of a unilateral process directed towards creating a new Constitution of the country.
  10. The ongoing controversy over whether – under the Constitution of Haiti – President Moise’s term of office ends in 2020 (as Opposition forces Claim) or in 2022 (as the President claims).

For some time now, the question has been raised as to whether CARICOM’s Charter of Civil Society could be utilised to facilitate CARICOM to make a positive and helpful intervention in or contribution towards resolving the crisis situation in Haiti. And so, it is very encouraging to see that our CARICOM Heads of Government have prominently referenced the Charter in their Statement on Haiti.

The Charter of Civil Society was prepared by an Inter-Governmental Task Force of the Community (under the Chairmanship of the Secretary General), and, way back in 1997, the CARICOM Heads of Government passed a Resolution at their Eighth Inter-Sessional Meeting adopting the Charter and agreeing to “pay due regard to its principles”. The Heads also expressed their determination to “pursue the principles declared in the Charter in response to the challenges of the Twenty-first Century”.

Numerous principles expressed in the Charter are directly relevant to the crisis situation that currently exists in Haiti. Some of these principles are as follows :-

ARTICLE VI
Political Rights

  1. The States shall ensure the existence of a fair and open democratic system through the holding of free elections at reasonable intervals, by secret ballot, underpinned by an electoral system in which all can have confidence and which will ensure the free expression of the will of the people in the choice of their representatives.
  2. The States shall take all appropriate measures to promote and maintain an effectively functioning representational system, including the holding of regular public sessions of representatives of the people.

ARTICLE VII Meetings, Demonstrations and Petitions

Every person shall have the right to assemble, to demonstrate peacefully and to draw up and present petitions, subject to such restrictions as may be imposed by national law in the public interest and which are reasonably justifiable in a free and democratic society.

ARTICLE XVII
Good Governance

  1. The States shall adopt and implement all appropriate measures to ensure good governance which is just, open and accountable.
  2. The States recognise and affirm that the rule of law, the effective administration of justice and the maintenance of the independence and impartiality of the judiciary are essential to good governance.
  3. The States, recognising that integral to the concept of good governance are the complementary roles of government, the social partners and the citizenry, shall ensure that the rights and responsibilities of all are clearly established and that the appropriate environment for their exercise and discharge, as the case may be, is fostered.
  4. The States, in order to ensure morality in public affairs, agree that holders of public office and all those who exercise power the exercise of which affects or may affect the public interest, shall so order their affairs in accordance with national law that such ordering gives no cause for conflict to arise or to appear to arise between their private interests and their duties to the public, or to otherwise compromise their integrity. To this end, the States agree to establish a Code governing the conduct of the holders of public office and all those who exercise power, the exercise of which affects or may affect the public interest.

ARTICLE XXII
Social Partners

The States undertake to establish within their respective States a framework for genuine consultations among the social partners in order to reach common understandings on and support for the objectives, contents and implementation of national economic and social programmes and their respective roles and responsibilities in good governance.

IN LIGHT OF THE FOREGOING, it seems clear that an objective and impartial application of the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society to the situation in Haiti would be extremely useful in providing a way out of the untenable impasse that currently exists and in helping to resolve the crisis situation, and no doubt, Ambassador Granderson’s expert fact finding group will bear this in mind.

And so, it is now over to the CARICOM fact finding team to do its work quickly and urgently, so that not only would CARICOM be provided with greater insight into the crisis in Haiti, but our premier regional organization would be enabled to help craft a sensible and effective way out of an existential crisis that is imperiling the lives and livelihoods of millions of CARICOM citizens.