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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/press-releases/report-finds-haitian-government-complicit-in-crimes-against-humanity/">https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/press-releases/report-finds-haitian-government-complicit-in-crimes-against-humanity/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Report Finds Haitian Government
Complicit in Crimes Against Humanity</h1>
April 22, 2021</div>
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<h3><br>
<em>Haitian human rights coalition, Harvard clinic
release new analysis of state-sanctioned massacres</em></h3>
<p><em><br>
(April 22, 2021, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Cambridge, MA)</em>
— Three deadly massacres targeting impoverished
neighborhoods in Haiti were carried out with Haitian
government support and amount to crimes against
humanity, according to a <a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing_With_Impunity-1.pdf">report</a>
released today by Harvard Law School’s International
Human Rights Clinic and the <em>Observatoire Haïtien
des Crimes contre l’humanité</em> (OHCCH). The report
points to evidence that the gang-led attacks were
resourced and supported by state actors, ranging from
high-ranking officials in the Moïse administration to
the Haitian National Police.</p>
<div>
<figure><a
href="https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing-with-Impunity-State-Sassacres-in-Haiti-19.04.2149-1-1.jpg"><img
src="https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing-with-Impunity-State-Sassacres-in-Haiti-19.04.2149-1-1-791x1024.jpg"
alt="Report cover shows the image of Haitian
citizens marching in the streets protesting."
width="239" height="310"></a></figure>
</div>
<p>The report, <a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing_With_Impunity-1.pdf">“Killing
with Impunity: State-Sanctioned Massacres in Haiti,”</a>
analyzes three attacks that took place between
2018-2020, which have together killed at least 240
civilians. The massacres targeted the Port-au-Prince
neighborhoods of La Saline, Bel-Air, and Cité Soleil,
which have played a leading role in organizing protests
demanding government accountability for corruption and
other human rights violations.</p>
<p>“Moïse’s government has been pushing the story that the
attacks are merely gang infighting, but the evidence
demonstrates high-level government involvement in the
planning, execution and cover-up of the attacks,” said
Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney of <em>Bureau des
Avocats Internationaux</em>, a member organization of
OHCCH.</p>
<p>The report relies on investigations by Haitian and
international human rights experts that show that senior
Moïse administration officials planned the attacks or
otherwise assisted by providing the gangs with money,
weapons, or vehicles. Off-duty police officers and
resources were utilized to carry out the attacks. The
Haitian National Police repeatedly failed to intervene
to protect civilians despite the sites of the attacks
being in close proximity to multiple police stations. In
each attack, gangs arrived in the targeted neighborhood,
shot at residents indiscriminately, raped women, and
burnt and looted houses. The massacres repeatedly
involved gangs affiliated with the G9 alliance led by
Jimmy Chérizier, which reportedly enjoys government
connections.</p>
<p>“We found that Moïse’s failure to stop or respond to
attacks initiated by his subordinates may make the
President himself liable for crimes against humanity,”
said Beatrice Lindstrom, a Clinical Instructor at the
Harvard Clinic who supervised the research and drafting
of the report. “This should serve as a wake-up call to
the international community to stand up for human
rights, fully investigate allegations of serious abuses,
and do its part to hold perpetrators accountable,” she
added.</p>
<p>The report comes amidst a deepening crisis for
democracy and human rights in Haiti. Widespread
demonstrations have gripped the nation, with large
swaths of the population protesting government
corruption, rising insecurity, and Moise’s increasingly
authoritarian conduct. Notably, to repress dissent,
Moise has criminalized common forms of protest and
created an intelligence agency to provide <a
href="https://lenouvelliste.com/article/225420/lagence-nationale-dintelligence-operationnelle-les-adversaires-de-jovenel-moise-sous-surveillance">surveillance</a>
of the political opposition. Attacks against civilians,
including the <a
href="https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/human_rights/rule-of-law-letters/haiti-nov2020.pdf">assassination</a>
of prominent government critics, have largely been
carried out with impunity. Although <a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/210213-Final-Human-Rights-Clinics-Statement-re-Haiti-NYU-HLS-YLS.pdf">most
experts</a> and much of civil society agree that
President Moïse’s constitutional mandate ended on
February 7, 2021, he has refused to step down, insisting
that an <a
href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/03/09/the-biden-administration-is-greenlighting-haitis-descent-towards-dictatorship/">illegal</a>
constitutional referendum take place before elections
for his replacement. </p>
<p>The finding that the attacks amount to crimes against
humanity strengthens the prospects for accountability.
In addition to imposing an international obligation on
the Haitian government to prosecute the people
responsible, it opens the door to prosecutions in
national and international courts outside of Haiti. It
also means that perpetrators can be pursued indefinitely
as no statutes of limitations apply.</p>
<p>“Just like Haiti’s former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier
eventually had to stand trial for his brutal repression
decades after he left office, the perpetrators of
today’s massacres can no longer escape justice by
relying on statutes of limitations,” Joseph added.</p>
<p>The UN has raised alarm that the ongoing lack of
accountability for massacres has fostered an enabling
environment for further carnage. Yet <a
href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article250400641.html">another
attack</a> on Bel-Air earlier this month bore striking
similarities to the massacres analysed in the report.</p>
<p>“The attacks covered in the report are particularly
severe and well-documented, but they are part of a
widespread, systematic campaign of violence and
intimidation of political dissidents,” said Pierre
Esperance, Executive Director of the <em>Réseau
National de Défense des Droits Humains</em> (RNDDH),
an OHCCH member that has led independent investigations
into repeated attacks on impoverished neighborhoods.
RNDDH has documented at least 11 massacres over the
course of Moise’s presidency.</p>
<p>The report relies on evidence collected by a range of
Haitian and international actors over the last few years
and analyzes it under international criminal law.
Harvard Law School students Joey Bui JD’21 and Nathalie
Gunasekera JD’21 led the research and drafting of the
report under Lindstrom’s supervision.</p>
<p>Read the report in <a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Killing_With_Impunity-1.pdf">English</a>,
<a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Massacres-cautionnes-par-lEtat-2.pdf">French</a>,
and <a
href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Asasina_nan_tout_enpinite.pdf">Haitian
Creole</a>.</p>
<p>##</p>
<h5><strong>Contact:</strong></h5>
<p><strong>Observatoire Haïtien des crimes contre
l’humanité</strong></p>
<p>Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney, Bureau des Advocats
Internationaux<br>
+509-3701-9879; <a href="mailto:mario@ijdh.org">mario@ijdh.org</a></p>
<p>Hérold Jean-François, Journalist<br>
+509-3727-5570; <a href="mailto:heroldjf@gmail.com">heroldjf@gmail.com</a></p>
<p><strong>About the Observatoire Haïtien des crimes
contre l’humanité (OHCCH): </strong>OHCCH is a
consortium of Haitian civil society organizations and
prominent leaders that came together in October 2020
with a mission of monitoring human rights violations in
Haiti that may amount to crimes against humanity.
Members include the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
(BAI), the Réseau National de Défense des
Droits Humains (RNDDH) and individual civil society
leaders and prominent lawyers. </p>
<p><strong>About the International Human Rights Clinic at
Harvard Law School: </strong>The International Human
Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School works to protect the
human rights of clients and communities around the
world. Through supervised practice, students learn the
responsibilities and skills of human rights lawyering.
Learn more at <a href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/">http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/</a>.
Follow the Clinic on social media: <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/HmnRghtsProgram/">Human
Rights Program at Harvard Law School</a> on Facebook, <a
href="https://twitter.com/harvardlawhrp?lang=en">@HarvardLawHRP</a> on
Twitter, and <a
href="https://www.instagram.com/humanrightsharvardlaw/">humanrightsharvardlaw</a> on
Instagram.</p>
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