YouSaid · the spoken record

Gilles

lines on the record: 22
first: 2020-02-20
most recent: 2023-07-06
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We recommend that it help to create a specialized unit to combat armed gangs within the Haitian National Police, while strengthening the intelligence service and identifying and arresting the perpetrators of serious human rights violations, with a view to bringing them to trial in an exemplary manner. We recommend that the Council help to support the Haitian State in conducting trials relating mainly to the PetroCaribe funds, the killings in La Saline, Carrefour- Feuilles, the Cul-de-Sac plain and Artibonite, and the cases of rape; effectively assist the State in combating corruption by strengthening its normative and institutional framework for the fight against corruption; and audit the Haitian National Police to make the police force more credible with the population and better able to carry out its mission to protect and serve.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“The scandal of the mismanagement of PetroCaribe funds is flagrant proof of corruption. The managers of those funds have not yet been brought to trial and are preparing to return to power to continue their crimes of corruption. Some 89.23 per cent of the 232 public figures subject to the 2008–2018 declaration of assets did not declare their assets when they left office. According to a survey report published by the Fondasyon Je Klere in 2019, some 93 per cent of Haiti’s senators and 93 per cent of its deputies did not file a declaration of assets upon leaving office. With that in mind, the Fondasyon Je Klere recommends that the Security Council help Haiti to strengthen its political governance to reform the State, reform the Constitution and create a safe and stable climate for the organization of proper and clean elections.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“Few kidnapped girls have not been beaten, abused and raped. Before being raped, they are humiliated by derogatory remarks. Reprehensible scenes are sometimes filmed and posted on social networks by members of armed gangs with their faces uncovered, as if to defy the forces of law and order, who watch helplessly as the acts of cruelty escalate sharply. In Haitian culture, gang rape and anal rape are the worst crimes a woman can suffer, and at times leave her infected with HIV/AIDS. In today’s briefing, the Fondasyon Je Klere believes that it has provided a broad picture of the reality of human rights in Haiti, marked by systematic violations of freedom and dignity. To reduce human rights violations in Haiti, the Fondasyon Je Klere proposes strengthening public governance, with an emphasis on the fight against corruption.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“The most ferocious are Village-de-Dieu, Grand Ravine, Tibwa and the G9 an fanmi e Alye coalition. In Pétion-Ville, there are 30 gang hot spots; the most fearsome are in the Kraze Baryè and the Laboule 12. Croix-des-Bouquets has 17 gangs, the most active being Baz Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo. In Artibonite, 29 gangs are active, the most powerful being Baz Gran Grif and Kokorat San Ras. All this is to inform Council members that almost a third of the national territory is controlled by armed gangs. What is the current state of women’s rights in Haiti? During armed attacks in 2022 and 2023 in Cité Soleil, Butte-Boyer, Canaan, Source-Matelas, Carrefour Feuille and Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, more than 130 women and girls were gang-raped. The stories of women and young girls who have been kidnapped, beaten and raped are legion.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“Indeed, figures up to 26 June 2023 show that out of a prison population of 11,802 inmates, only 1,820 have actually been sentenced; some 84.57% are therefore in extended pretrial detention. We live in a country where the right to life is trivialized. Despicable crimes are perpetrated every day with total impunity. From July 2021 to date, more than 2,929 people — police officers and civilian members of the population — have been executed in the streets, in their homes or in their neighbourhoods, and this is not an exhaustive number. The State no longer has a monopoly on legitimate violence. Entire areas are controlled by armed gangs, some of which are better armed and equipped than public forces. More than 155 armed gangs are active throughout the country. Port-au-Prince alone is home to 26 of them.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“In many parts of the capital, people are fleeing their homes and taking up residence in public squares and other places. This is the case for the population of Martissant, Fontamara, Bel Air, Cité Soleil, Carrefour Feuilles and Croix-des-Missions, and residents of Solino, Pernier and Tabarre have suffered the same misfortune. To date, the State has not taken any action to return the displaced to their homes. What about access to justice? The doors of the courts in Port-au-Prince, the country’s largest jurisdiction, have been closed since June 2021. It was not until June 2023 that attempts were made to organize correctional and criminal hearings without the help of juries. This situation has led to a marked increase in illegal pretrial detention.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“Nowadays, access to national route 1 is almost impossible. In some cases, victims are abducted from their homes, as was the case with journalist Marie Lucie Bonhomme, and, a few days later, her husband was also abducted. Over the last 24 months, more than 2,000 cases of kidnapping have been recorded across the country, with the majority of those kidnapped being released after payment of a ransom. The number of kidnappings is on the rise. Reality shows that from July to December 2021, there were 625 reported kidnappings; from January to December 2022, there were 1,005 reported kidnappings; from January to June 2023, there were 457 cases if kidnapping. For the past two years or so, the Haitian population has been unable to peacefully move from one town to another or from one department to another. The country is controlled by gangs.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“Haiti is facing systematic human rights violations. State authorities are failing in their duty to protect, respect and ensure respect for human rights. Freedom and dignity are the foundations of human rights. They are the thermometer that measures the temperature of the reality of human rights. Today this thermometer indicates that the reality of human rights in Haiti is 99 per cent degraded, and that no measures are being taken to avoid the high degree of lawlessness in Haitian society. Fundamental freedoms are greatly threatened by the proliferation of gangs throughout the country. For more than two years, it has been very difficult to reach the south of Haiti by land from Port-au-Prince. Gangs have been kidnapping, raping, holding to ransom and beating up people travelling along route nationale 2.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“To that end, the FJKL runs a nationwide human rights training programme in which reflection and debate are encouraged across the territory on such issues as State reform, the effectiveness of human rights, the State’s obligations, the fight against corruption and the realization of human rights, good governance and transparency in the management of public affairs. Human rights are an important issue in public debates on the rule of law, democracy and even social justice and equity. In the context of twenty-first century globalization, it must be admitted that the affirmation of human rights remains a major challenge for public authorities. Human rights are defined as prerogatives that uphold human freedom and dignity and benefit from institutional guarantees. What is the current human rights situation in Haiti?”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“The Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL), which I have the honour of representing in this Chamber, is pleased to participate in today’s Security Council meeting on the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti and the situation in Haiti. In responding in the affirmative to the invitation to today’s briefing on the general human rights situation in Haiti, under the presidency of the United Kingdom, I am living up to the values defended by the FJKL. Indeed, the Fondasyon Je Klere is a Haitian organization committed to the defence of human rights, which prepares every Haitian man and woman to become a responsible leader participating in public life for the renewal of a nation-State founded on the principles of human rights and sustainable development.”
2023-07-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.9368 (2023) · source
“Fifthly, we need to audit the police with a view to boosting its credibility among the people and ensure that it can discharge its mission to protect and serve. I apologize for going on so long; as they say, I could not be brief.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Although the movement is controlled by the mafia sector of the Police, the claims presented are nevertheless fair and deserve consideration. That body, which was established 25 years ago, needs to be audited. The efforts of the United Nations in recent years to strengthen it have proved to be a bitter failure. From that perspective, the Fondasyon Je Klere has the following recommendations for the Security Council to help Haiti. First, it must contribute to the success of the transition period in order to ensure a return to democratic order, broken since 13 January. Secondly, the firepower of armed gangs must be weakened. Thirdly, it must help organize the trials of PetroCaribe, the La Saline and Carrefour-Feuilles massacres and cases of rape. Fourthly, we need to effectively wage the fight against corruption.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“The country has been operating without a budget for two years, with a Government that resigned almost a year ago. The constitutional order broke down in January due to the failure to hold elections on the constitutionally prescribed dates. The country therefore finds itself in an undeclared state of exception, which is liable to reinforce personal power, administrative mismanagement, theft, the plundering of scarce State resources and corruption. Against that backdrop, the country is facing a grass-roots uprising against the Haitian National Police hierarchy. Just yesterday, police officers attempted to set fire to the law firm of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fondasyon Je Klere. They set fire to five vehicles, two generators and motorcycles in the firm’s parking lot.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Nearly 90 per cent of the individuals working in the executive branch had not filed their assets disclosures upon leaving office, along with 93 per cent of Senators and Deputies. The management of the PetroCaribe funds, following the performance audit by the Haitian administrative court, is marked by cases of mismanagement, overcharging, theft, corruption, embezzlement, favouritism and illicit enrichment. That funding, at nearly $4 billion, would represent a significant opportunity for Haiti. Yet the current Head of State was implicated by the court in those acts of corruption, which constitutes the greatest obstacle to the holding of fair and equitable trials on the management of those funds — a trial that the Haitian people very much want to see.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Haiti is one of the rare countries in the world where a man or a woman who has never worked a day in his or her life and who takes up an elective post in Parliament or the executive branch can become a millionaire in two or three years. They can openly display their wealth without any fear. Indeed, in February 2018, as a result of the efforts of the international community, the law on wealth declaration was adopted in order to contribute to transparency in public life. However, an inquiry carried out by FJKL from February 2008 to February 2018 on political figures, civil servants and other public servants who had declared their wealth showed that the implementation of the law deviates from the practices and norms set out therein.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“People in vehicles with no registration plates are opening fire on demonstrators, as well as on groups of people viewed as opposing the authorities, in Port-au- Prince, Cap-Haïtien and Saint-Marc and many other areas of the country, killing and injuring many. Beheadings and mutilations of captured political adversaries are filmed and posted on the Internet by armed gangs known to have ties to the authorities. All of this, and this is just a partial list, reflects the fact that these crimes are being committed with the support, at least tacit, of the Government, and the perpetrators enjoy official impunity. I wish to draw the Council’s attention to the need for good governance and the fight against corruption in Haiti.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“There has therefore been a considerable increase in incidents involving prolonged preventive detention and the illegal release, without due process, of criminals arrested by the police, as a result of political interventions with respect to Government representatives within the judiciary and unscrupulous prosecutors. Access to judges, the right to a fair and equitable trial and the right to be tried within a reasonable time frame are now just empty words. Such rights do not exist. Everyone knows that death squads are a form of State terrorism. We witnessed a wide range of acts similar to those carried out by death squads during the “lock mode” period and when major anti-Government demonstrations are taking place.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Women are gang-raped both anally and vaginally. Such scenes are sometimes filmed and posted on social networks by armed gang members with their faces covered, in an act of defiance to law-enforcement authorities, which are powerless in the face of the fast-rising tide of such acts of cruelty. In Haitian culture, gang rape and anal rape are the worst crimes that can be committed against women, so rape is used as a political weapon. The courts in Port-au-Prince, the largest jurisdiction in the country, have been closed since September 2019.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Nearly a third of the national territory is controlled by armed gangs. Freedom of movement is not guaranteed, nor is the right to the physical integrity and dignity of the human being. Roads are dangerous. As armed-gang fiefdoms have become inaccessible to the police, the gangs have taken full control of the civilian population living in those areas and of those they have kidnapped, who are often subjected to the worst atrocities. They are carrying out numerous appalling acts — murders, beheadings, rapes, kidnapping for ransom, diversion of supplies, abductions and forcible confinement. Young university students, schoolchildren and the civilian population, gripped by terror, hesitate to go outside. Kidnapped persons and those seized while using national roads are abused and forced to pay ransoms that further impoverish their families.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“Entire areas are controlled by armed gangs, which are often better armed and better equipped than law-enforcement authorities. The authorities, in an attempt to survive politically, often rely on gangs and use gang-warfare strategies. That is what we have been seeing for two years in the Martissant area, some 3 kilometres from the Palais de Justice and less than 5 kilometres from the presidential palace. The same situation exists on national road No. 1 and in the Carrefour Shada area, which is controlled by the Chiens Méchants gang, which has ties to the authorities and whose rival is the Tête de Mort gang. The same situation prevails in other areas. More than 150 armed gangs are active throughout the country. In Port-au-Prince alone there are 23 active gangs; in Pétion-Ville, 30; in Croix-Des-Bouquets, 17; and in Artibonite, 20.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“The FJKL also aims to promote and protect human rights in Haiti through its programme for the monitoring of public institutions such as Parliament, the judicial and penal systems, the executive and the police. It conducts inquiries and denounce grave human rights violations, and it provides legal assistance to the voiceless and the underprivileged. Haiti is today facing widespread and systematic violations of human rights. State authorities are failing to uphold both their positive and negative obligations to protect and respect human rights. The right to life has been cheapened. Appalling killings and heinous crimes are committed daily, with total impunity. To date this year we have already noted 31 violent deaths, but the actual figure is likely higher. The State is losing its monopoly of the use of legitimate violence.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source
“The Fondasyon Je Klere (FJKL), which I have the great honour of representing here, is pleased to participate in this meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Haiti. In accepting the invitation to deliver this briefing on the overall human rights situation in Haiti to the Council under the Belgian presidency, I seek to embrace the values that the FJKL upholds. The FJKL is an active Haitian human rights organization that prepares Haitians to become responsible leaders and to participate in public life in order to revitalize a nation State that is founded on the principles of human rights and sustainable development. Our organization conducts a human rights training programme at the national level.”
2020-02-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8729 (2020) · source