Haiti Justice Blog

Emmanuel Constant Sentenced

Emmanuel Toto Constant was sentenced today in Kings County Supreme Court  in New York, by Judge Abraham Gerges. Click to read the 3-page Sentencing Memorandum, which gives the highlights of Mr. Constant's life of crime in the U.S. and Haiti, the six charges on which he was convicted and the convictions and sentences for each. 

According to the Memorandum, the full sentence should be between 12 and 37 years. I am not sure how much of that he is likely to actually serve under New York's prison practices. We'll get details from criminal law experts, and post them on the Emmanuel Constant section of our website.

Haiti: A Natural Disaster?

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
        Thursday, September 11, 2008
        
Interviews Available 

MATT MAREK, via Winnie Romeril, (202) 316-4399, RomerilW@usa.redcross.org
   Available for a limited number of interviews, Marek is head of programs for the American Red Cross in Haiti. He is in rural Haiti, where he is traveling in  isolated communities to facilitate aid deliveries.

PAUL FARMER, via Andrew Marx, (617) 432-1976, cell: (617) 515-5385, amarx@pih.org, http://pih.org
   Available for a limited number of interviews, Farmer is just back from Haiti. He is author of "The Uses of Haiti," professor of medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Partners in Health. Farmer said: "I have never seen anything so painful" as what he has just seen in Haiti. For a recent interview, see:  Democracy Now! website.

BRIAN CONCANNON, (541) 432-0597, cell: (541) 263 0029, Director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, brian@ijdh.org, http://www.ijdh.org
  

INTER-AMERICAN COURT: HAITI VIOLATING FORMER PRIME MINISTER YVON NEPTUNE’S HUMAN RIGHTS; ORDERS $95,000 IN DAMAGES AND COSTS

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact outside Haiti: Brian Concannon, Esq., Institute for Justice &  Democracy in Haiti 541-432-0597, 541-263-0029 (U.S.), brian@ijdh.org

Contact in Haiti: Mario Joseph, Esq., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, + 509 3701-9879, mariohaiti@aol.com

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 10, 2008—The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) sharply criticized Haiti’s current and former governments for their treatment of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in its first-ever case involving Haiti. It found Haiti responsible for violating 11 different provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights and ordered the government to pay Mr. Neptune $95,000 in damages and costs.

The Inter-American Court’s 60-page judgment, made public June 6, denounced nearly every aspect of the State’s treatment of Mr. Neptune. It found that the Interim Government of Haiti (2004-2006) illegally imprisoned the former Prime Minister in inhumane conditions for two years. The Court found that Haiti’s current constitutional government continues to violate Mr. Neptune’s human rights by inexplicably failing to serve an April, 2007 appeals court decision that would help end Mr. Neptune’s legal struggles. By refusing to serve the order, the Court said Haiti is keeping Mr. Neptune in a state of “absolute judicial insecurity” and perpetuating “an unjustifiable delay in access to justice.”

Inter-American Court Decision in Neptune Case: Background

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DECISION

REGARDING FORMER PRIME MINISTER YVON NEPTUNE’S

“JUDICIAL INSECURITY” IN HAITI

Decision gives Haiti deadline to bring its inhumane prisons

up to international human rights standards

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“IACHR”), an autonomous judicial  institution of the Organization of American States, recently ruled that the State of Haiti violated 11 different provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights by illegally imprisoning former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune for two years and allowing the case to drag on in the courts for almost two more. The IACHR ordered Haiti to end what it calls Mr. Neptune’s continuing “judicial insecurity” and to pay him $95,000 in damages and costs. The Court also ordered Haiti to start bringing its inhumane prisons in line with minimum international standards within two years.

“From the beginning, the State failed its obligation to protect Mr. Neptune’s right to be heard by a court competent to hear the charges against him…as well as to an effective recourse,” the IACHR said in a 60-page judgment issued publicly on June 6. The Court denounced the State’s continued failure to bring Mr. Neptune before a qualified judge, thereby leaving him in a situation of “absolute legal uncertainty.” 

Lovinsky Pierre Antoine's Human Rights Award

 

The Haiti Solidarity Network of the North East (HSNNE) is honoring Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine with its Human Rights Award on Saturday, May 10, in Bayonne NJ (click here for event details).  HSNNE will launch an action alert to fight for Lovinsky's return, which we will get out next week. But in the meantime, they've shared an advance copy of the testimonials from their event program:

Churches, Development Advocates Praise Congress’ Passage of Legislation for Expanded International Debt Cancellation

Jubilee USA Network

 

www.jubileeusa.org

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

 

Contact: Eleiza Braun, Massey Media, 415-420-4059

 

Neil Watkins, Jubilee USA, 202-783-0129, 202-421-1023 (c)

 

Churches, Development Advocates Praise Congress’ Passage of Legislation for Expanded International Debt Cancellation 

 

 

Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation Passes House of Representatives with Bi-Partisan Support; Senate Panel to Consider Issue April 24

 

 

WASHINGTON – Leaders of churches, development agencies, civil rights, labor, and human rights groups today praised the passage by the US House of Representatives by a vote of 285-132 of the Jubilee Act (HR 2634). The legislation calls the US Treasury Department to negotiate a multilateral agreement for debt cancellation for up to 24 additional poor countries that need cancellation to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Jubilee Act: We Did It!

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

 

Together, we did it!   

Thanks to your advocacy and bi-partisan champions in Congress, the Jubilee Act (HR 2634) passed the U.S. House of Representatives today by a vote of 285 to 132.

   

See how your representative voted at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll199.xml.

Co-Sponsors of the Haiti Debt Cancellation Resolution, H.Res.241, as of 2/08/08

(from www.Thomas.gov)

H.Res.241

Title: Urging multilateral financial institutions to cancel completely and immediately Haiti's debts to such institutions, and for other purposes.    

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COSPONSORS(66), ALPHABETICAL:

 

Rep Bachus, Spencer [AL-6] - 3/13/2007
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 5/14/2007
Rep Berman, Howard L [CA-28] - 5/9/2007

My Rosary Is My Only Weapon- Fr. Jean-Juste goes to Court in Haiti, Again

By Pooja Bhatia, Esq.

 

Port-au-Prince, 26 November 2007— Hundreds of supporters of Father Gérard Jean-Juste crammed into the courtroom of the Palais de Justice today to attend his long-awaited hearing before the Cour d’Appel (Court of Appeals). Dozens demonstrated outside. Although the court did not dismiss the charges against Jean-Juste—as many of his supporters had hoped and cautiously predicted—the hearing gave them reason to believe that the charges will eventually be dropped.

Hurricane Dean, Democracy, Mostly Spare Haiti

  The Toronto Sun's headline today announces that "Haiti Spared Worst of Storm." Category 4 Hurricane Dean passed nearby Haiti's south coast on Sunday, and most reports cite three people killed, and four missing so far, as well as widespread damage to homes and farms.  The deaths and damage are certainly tragedies for the families and communities involved. And we will most likely hear about more deaths in the days ahead, as reports filter in from remote areas. But the scale of damage will certainly be nothing compared to the over 2,500 deaths from Tropical Storm Jeanne in September 2004.