Category Archives: Human rights

Speakers of Haitian Parliament Issue Urgent Call for Popular Vigilance to Respect for Law | Les présidents des deux chambres appellent à la ‘Vigilance’ citoyenne pour ‘éviter le pire’

avatarPosted on by December 20, 2018

By Haitian Speaker of the Senate and Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, AlterPresse | Translated by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. “You stood up in 1804, 1934, 1986 and 1990. Stand up today for respect for the preamble to the 1987 Constitution and respect for the laws passed by Parliament! Stand up and call for the President of the Republic to respect his oath and faithfully follow the Constitution and the laws of the Republic! Stand up to back democratic gains, and demand free and fair elections within the time prescribed by the law and the Constitution!” – Joint statement from Simon Dieuseul Desras and Levaillant Louis-Jeune.

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Haiti’s Elected Mayors Dismissed, Illegally Replaced by Presidential Appointees | Prefeitos Eleitos do Haiti Demitidos, Substituídos Ilegalmente por Nomeados pelo Presidente

avatarPosted on by December 12, 2018

By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Thirteen Haitian mayors were dismissed and replaced on February 18, 2012 by presidential decree. In a press conference, one mayor said that a new individual recently arrived claiming to be his municipality’s new mayor, and two days later he got a letter telling him to assist this person in taking inventory of the region’s heritage. Another mayor wrote in open letter on February 3 that his life is under threat. Secretary of the Interior Georges Racine is thought to be behind the wave of illegal dismissals. (English | Portuguese)

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Pioneering Cholera Scientist Gives Thumbs Down to Oral Vaccines Promoted for Haiti | Un pionnier scientifique du choléra dit que les vaccins oraux promus pour Haïti sont inutiles

avatarPosted on by December 14, 2018

By Rashid Haider, Haiti Chery. Prof. Richard A. Finkelstein, an eminent microbiologist and Nobel-Prize nominee for his pioneering studies on cholera, advises that for cholera “the best solution resides in providing safe drinking water and sewage disposal.” In Dec 2010, alarmed by the oral vaccination plans for Haiti, he wrote to the health officials, including Jon Andrus, the Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) that the proposed use of Dukoral was “a useless and expensive waste of resources.” This vaccine was not adopted, but a campaign immediately started for the use of Shanchol, another questionable oral cholera vaccine. (English | French)

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Carnaval 2012: A Musical Indictment of Corruption in Haiti

avatarPosted on by March 11, 2019

Music by Don Kato, Boukman Eksperyans, Vwadezil | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Nearly every Haitian Carnival 2012 song is an indictment of the current state of affairs: corruption, cholera, rapes, MINUSTAH. We’re not partying to forget but to remember. (songs in Kreyol)

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Palestinian Khader Adnan Wins Freedom from Detention with 66-Day Protest Hunger Strike

avatarPosted on by December 20, 2018

By Pierre Klochendler, IPS | Staff, We Speak News. Khader Adnan, a 33-year-old Palestinian baker, went on a hunger strike that lasted 66 days from the start of his detention without charge or trial on Dec 18 in an Israeli jail. Over 300 Palestinians are so-called administrative detainees, some of whom have been held for over four years.

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Racist Incarceration Regime in U.S. Enabled by Sentencing Guidelines

avatarPosted on by February 26, 2019

By Marisa Taylor, McClatchy | By Law Professors, Sentencing Law and Policy | Al Jazeera, YouTube. Black and Hispanic men became likely to receive longer prison sentences than their white counterparts after the Supreme Court loosened federal sentencing rules, according to studies in 2010 and 2011 by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

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Schoolhouse to Jailhouse: Children of Color Under Arrest in U.S.

avatarPosted on by February 26, 2019

By Kanya D’Almeida, IPS. Metal detectors, teams of drug-sniffing dogs, armed guards and riot police, forbiddingly high walls topped with barbed wire: such descriptions befit a prison or perhaps a high-security checkpoint in a war zone. But in the U.S., these scenes of surveillance and control are most visible in public schools. Children as young as 6 years old have been arrested for ‘crimes’ like trespassing.

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U.S. National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners, Monday Feb 20th | Bay Area ‘Occupy San Quentin’

avatarPosted on by February 26, 2019

By Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity | Occupy Oakland. On Monday, February 20, 2012, over a dozen rallies and demonstrations for a National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners will be held throughout the U.S. including the San Francisco Bay Area’s Occupy San Quentin.

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Poland Government: We Were Wrong, We Will Not Ratify ACTA

avatarPosted on by March 11, 2019

By Alice Trudelle, Warsaw Business Journal | By Staff, The Slovenia Times | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. “I was wrong,” said Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, who announced that he wrote to his party not to back ACTA in the EU Parliament in its current form. A protest by Anonymous is underway.

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Haitian Senate Resolution: UN Soldiers Accused of Rape Should Be Tried In Place | Le Sénat vote une résolution réclamant que des soldats de l’ONU accusés de crimes soient jugés en Haïti

avatarPosted on by March 11, 2019

By staff, AHP | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Haitian Senate has strongly condemned the latest rape of a boy on Jan 20, 2012 by Pakistani UN soldiers and noted that in such cases it is the law of the place where the crime is committed that should prevail. (English | French)

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U.N. Tightens Belt: No More Cruise Ship Hotels | La ONU se ajusta el cinturón : No mas barcos de crucero

avatarPosted on by March 11, 2019

By Thalif Deen, IPS. Compared to the $5.4 B U.N. budget for 2010-11, the 2012-13 budget will be cut by $260 M. This is a cut of less than 5%, but the news are still significant because, since its inception over 50 years ago, the U.N. has expanded every year, except for one instance 14 years ago. (English | Spanish)

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Magistrate Baltasar Garzon Sentenced to 11 Years of Disbarment by Partisan Spanish Court | Garzón dice adiós a la carrera judicial al ser condenado a 11 años de inhabilitación

avatarPosted on by December 20, 2018

By José Yoldi and Julio M. Lázaro, El Pais | Translated by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Wikipedia. As people protested outside the Criminal Chamber of the National Court in Spain, a group of partisan judges allied to Spain’s ruling conservative Partido Popular (PP) unanimously condemned Judge Baltasar Garzón to 11 years of disbarment for ordering the recording of conversations of the ringleaders of the corrupt Gürtel group connected to the PP.

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Khmer Rouge Jailer Given Life After Appealing 30-Year Sentence

avatarPosted on by February 26, 2019

By Mujib Mashal and Staff, Al Jazeera. Khmer Rouge chief jailer and torturer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, escaped justice for over 30 years by hiding out as a Christian aid worker. On Feb 3, 2012, the 69-year old Duch was sentenced to life imprisonment after he appealed a 30-year sentence because he had only “respectfully and strictly followed the orders.” He is the first person to be brought to justice for the killing-field atrocities.

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Former Guatemalan Dictator Rios Montt to Stand Trial for Genocide

avatarPosted on by February 26, 2019

By Danilo Valladares, IPS. A Guatemalan court has ordered former dictator Efrain Rios Montt to stand trial for genocide and crimes against humanity. If convicted, he faces 30 years in prison. Hopefully the members of the army who perpetrated the crimes will also be brought to justice. (English | Spanish)

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