ckaihatsu
19th July 2011, 05:12
HAITI - Aug. 25: Int'l Delegation to UN to Demand "MINUSTAH Occupation Forces Out of Haiti!"; Report on Congress of Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH)
Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee
52 St. Nicholas Place #23
New York, N.Y. 10031
Tel. 267-231-0030
[email protected]
http://www.africana1.com
http://www.ilcinfo.org
--------------------
Dear friends and comrades,
Leaders of the Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC), the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH), and the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti (ICI-H) have written to our Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee in the United States to ask if we can assist them in organizing an international delegation to the United Nations in New York on August 25, 2011, in conjunction with a press conference, to (1) present the findings of the ICI-H and the work of its Continuations Committee, and (2) demand the immediate withdrawal of UN-MINUSTAH occupation troops from Haiti.
Our committee, as you will recall, organized the very successful tour in July 2009 of Brothers Fignolé St. Cyr (President, CATH-Haiti), Eli Domota (Convener, LKP-Guadeloupe) and Raymond Gama (National Organizer, NOMM-Guadeloupe) in seven cities across the United States. We have agreed to reply positively to this request, and we urge all who back the struggle for democracy, self-determination, workers' rights and justice in Haiti to mark your calendars and to join us in participating in, or otherwise supporting through a much-needed financial contribution, this delegation to the United Nations.
(Funds should be sent to the New York address listed above, with checks payable to Guadeloupe-Haiti Tour Committee.)
Please see below (Appendix No. 1) the letter we have sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking that he receive an international delegation made up of delegates from Haiti, Guadeloupe, Brazil and the United States.
You will also find below (Appendix No. 2) a report with the resolutions adopted by the Sixth National Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH), which took place outside Port-au-Prince on June 23-25, 2011.
This proposal to organize a representative delegation to the United Nations marks a great move forward for the struggle for liberation in Haiti. We thank you in advance for your support.
We must press forward. Long live the struggle for a Free Democratic Republic of Haiti!
In Friendship and Solidarity,
Colia L. Clark and Alan Benjamin
National Coordinators,
Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee in the United States
* * * * * * * * * *
APPENDIX No. 1
Letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
Lawond a Travayè é Pèp an Karayib'la /
Association des Travailleurs et des Peuples de la Caraïbe
25, rue Clara Bourgarel
97139 Abymes, Guadeloupe
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: 590 690 62 94 79
----------
Pointe a Pitre (Guadeloupe)
New York (USA)
Sao Paulo (Brazil)
July 4, 2011
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General, United Nations
1st Ave. and 46th St.
New York, NY, 10017 USA
Mr. Secretary General,
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti (ICI-H) -- which was held on September 16-20, 2009 in Port au Prince, Haiti, at the request of many Haiti associations, grassroots organizations, cultural groups and trade unions -- has mandated us to write this letter to request a meeting with you.
We wish to let you know that the members who made up this International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti came from Algeria, Brazil, the United States, Guadeloupe and Martinique. They carried out the following three objectives, namely:
1) To investigate the situation in Haiti, especially concerning the situation of the working class and the abuses of power by the UN occupation force (MINUSTAH).
2) To produce a report on this situation and to expose it nationally and internationally.
3) To prove that the MINUSTAH force is an occupation force, which, as a result, must leave the country immediately.
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti has conducted its work based on documents and materials provided by a Haitian Preparatory Committee, then by a Continuations Committee, and finally from field visits.
It heard from individuals, associations, trade unions and political organizations across Haiti.
It examined newspapers (Haiti Liberté, Le Nouvelliste), photographs, and various reports.
Also examined were the "Agreement between the UN and the Haitian government on the status of the United Nation's operation in Haiti of July 9, 2004" and the documents adopted by the 3rd Conference of the Association of Workers and Peoples of the Caribbean (ATPC in its French acronym).
Members of the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti also met with Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, commander of the MINUSTAH forces in Haiti, as well as with Colonel Toro, second-in-command, and Gerard Le Chevalier, advisor for political affairs.
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti reached the conclusion, based on all these observations and analyses, that the country's social, economic and political reality is rapidly degenerating:
There is a growing discontent, which is being expressed through the questioning of the military intervention. Testimonies presented to the International Commission of Inquiry only confirmed this assessment -- in its various social, economic and political aspects.
The situation after the earthquake and after the cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010, as well as other supporting testimonials, strengthen our assessment of the situation.
Accordingly, we have been mandated to ask you to please receive a delegation of the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti on Thursday, August 25, 2011, at a time that best suits you in order to present to you the report produced by our Commission as well as complementary documents gathered since our last meeting.
Ms. Colia Clark and Mr. Victor Fabert, on behalf of ICI-H, are charged with monitoring this request for you to receive our delegation.
Ms. Clark can be reached at:
Email: [email protected]
Cell phone: 646-657-7207
Mr. Fabert can be reached at:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 001-590-690-62-94-79
We thank you in advance for your prompt reply to our request for this meeting, which we will hope be answered favorably.
Sincerely,
For the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti,
- Victor Fabert, coordinator
- Colia L. Clark, U.S. coordinator, based in New York
- Jose Candido de Souza (PT/SP), Deputy of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Adriano Diogo (PT/SP), Deputy of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil
* * * * * * * * *
APPENDIX No. 2
Resolutions Adopted by the 6th National Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH)
Bon Repos (Port au Prince, Haiti)
June 23-25, 2011
a) Resolution on Health Care:
Whereas the dismantling of public health services is being organized by U.S., Canadian and French governments to the detriment of the workers and the Haitian people;
Whereas the Haitian state has left the country in the hands of the NGOs and the forces of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH ), which are occupying the country and plundering all its resources;
Whereas the terrible earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010, wounded the Haitian people to their very core, causing more than 300,000 deaths; followed by the cholera outbreak, which was brought to the country by the forces of MINUSTAH -- particularly by the Nepalese forces -- and is seriously affecting the health of Haitians;
The Sixth Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH) met June 23-25, 2011 in Bon Repos (Port Au Prince) and resolved:
To mobilize all means to promote trade union action in the health sector and to ensure proper working, hygiene and security conditions, on the basis of workers' demands.
To invite workers from all professional sectors to organize with the goal of demanding the creation of a genuine public health service in the service of workers and the Haitian people.
To ask the workers of all professional sectors and the Haitian people to organize mass actions, in unity, in order to obtain satisfaction of their demands.
* * * * *
General Resolution:
At its June 23-25, 2011 gathering at Bon Repos (Port au Prince) and after having heard and discussed the activity and advisory reports, the delegates of the Sixth Congress of the CATH:
1) Confirm that the domination and occupation of Haiti by foreign forces not only is still continuing, but is being reinforced. With the intensification of said occupation, we are witnessing a new guardianship of the country which is preventing the nation of Haiti from exercising its sovereignty.
This situation inevitably fosters a chaos that is being imposed on workers, youth and all the Haitian people by imperialism, particularly the governments of the United States, France and Canada. This has been happening for decades through the application of structural adjustment plans, the extortion of the foreign debt and the creation of sweatshop "free trade" zones.
It is a chaos that has translated into the dismantling of public services, layoffs, horrendous working conditions, obstruction of the enforcement of union rights, and unemployment affecting 80 percent of the active population.
2) Affirm the need to fight for:
- Free, quality schools and education for all children.
- Public services capable of helping the population.
- An emergency plan for the development of national production, one which allows humble peasants to participate.
- The re-nationalization of privatized public services and the reinstatement of all fired public employees (APN, TELCO).
- The ability of trade unions to fully exercise their powers.
- For the protection of workers in their workplace, particularly in the "free trade" zones.
- The right to housing for hundreds of thousands of homeless people.
- A real minimum wage, taking into account our true needs. This means a minimum of 300 gourdes ($6.50).
3) Ask those in charge of professional fields to communicate between themselves to prepare for mobilization.
4) To affirm that this fight must be closely related to the fight for Haitian sovereignty.
As a result, the delegates at the Sixth Congress of CATH, which met June 23-25 at Bon Repos (Port au Prince), demand:
- The total and unconditional cancellation of all Haitian debts.
- The immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces in the country -- MINUSTAH and others.
- The repayment by France of the $21 billion it extorted from the Haitian Republic.
- Compensation for the damages caused by cholera, which was brought into the country by the MINUSTAH troops.
We also agreed join and support all the initiatives with the same goals, and we confirmed our active participation in the preparation of the Nov. 16-18, 2011 Caribbean Workers and Peoples Conference in Cape Haitien. Also, with other Haitian organizations and a Caribbean level of international support, we will launch a campaign to require restitution of the $21 billion extorted by France.
* * * * *
Resolution on Trade Union Independence:
Whereas various governments are attempting to silence the organizations of class struggle and the masses;
Given the existence of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the labor rights of workers to organize to defend their interests; and
Given the policy initiated by the IMF, pointing to a co-management attempt to use trade unions to better organize social deregulation, destruction of collective-bargaining agreements, the labor code and workers' gains.
The Sixth Congress of the CATH, which met June 23-25, 2011 in Port au Prince, therefore affirms:
The independence of the CATH union is an indispensable tool in the present situation to defend the interests of the masses.
Therefore, all necessary steps must be taken to preserve trade union independence (through the strengthening of unionization), which is a fundamental element for the preservation of the financial independence of the working class and its organizations and for never having to depend on our class enemies or its surrogates.
It will also launch a broad unionization campaign around the country to allow workers to better defend their interests. In addition, it will arrange informational meetings in different districts on trade union rights as well as create a brochure to affiliate members.
* * * * * * * * * *
Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee
52 St. Nicholas Place #23
New York, N.Y. 10031
Tel. 267-231-0030
[email protected]
http://www.africana1.com
http://www.ilcinfo.org
--------------------
Dear friends and comrades,
Leaders of the Caribbean Workers and Peoples Alliance (ATPC), the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH), and the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti (ICI-H) have written to our Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee in the United States to ask if we can assist them in organizing an international delegation to the United Nations in New York on August 25, 2011, in conjunction with a press conference, to (1) present the findings of the ICI-H and the work of its Continuations Committee, and (2) demand the immediate withdrawal of UN-MINUSTAH occupation troops from Haiti.
Our committee, as you will recall, organized the very successful tour in July 2009 of Brothers Fignolé St. Cyr (President, CATH-Haiti), Eli Domota (Convener, LKP-Guadeloupe) and Raymond Gama (National Organizer, NOMM-Guadeloupe) in seven cities across the United States. We have agreed to reply positively to this request, and we urge all who back the struggle for democracy, self-determination, workers' rights and justice in Haiti to mark your calendars and to join us in participating in, or otherwise supporting through a much-needed financial contribution, this delegation to the United Nations.
(Funds should be sent to the New York address listed above, with checks payable to Guadeloupe-Haiti Tour Committee.)
Please see below (Appendix No. 1) the letter we have sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon asking that he receive an international delegation made up of delegates from Haiti, Guadeloupe, Brazil and the United States.
You will also find below (Appendix No. 2) a report with the resolutions adopted by the Sixth National Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH), which took place outside Port-au-Prince on June 23-25, 2011.
This proposal to organize a representative delegation to the United Nations marks a great move forward for the struggle for liberation in Haiti. We thank you in advance for your support.
We must press forward. Long live the struggle for a Free Democratic Republic of Haiti!
In Friendship and Solidarity,
Colia L. Clark and Alan Benjamin
National Coordinators,
Guadeloupe-Haiti Support Committee in the United States
* * * * * * * * * *
APPENDIX No. 1
Letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
Lawond a Travayè é Pèp an Karayib'la /
Association des Travailleurs et des Peuples de la Caraïbe
25, rue Clara Bourgarel
97139 Abymes, Guadeloupe
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: 590 690 62 94 79
----------
Pointe a Pitre (Guadeloupe)
New York (USA)
Sao Paulo (Brazil)
July 4, 2011
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General, United Nations
1st Ave. and 46th St.
New York, NY, 10017 USA
Mr. Secretary General,
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti (ICI-H) -- which was held on September 16-20, 2009 in Port au Prince, Haiti, at the request of many Haiti associations, grassroots organizations, cultural groups and trade unions -- has mandated us to write this letter to request a meeting with you.
We wish to let you know that the members who made up this International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti came from Algeria, Brazil, the United States, Guadeloupe and Martinique. They carried out the following three objectives, namely:
1) To investigate the situation in Haiti, especially concerning the situation of the working class and the abuses of power by the UN occupation force (MINUSTAH).
2) To produce a report on this situation and to expose it nationally and internationally.
3) To prove that the MINUSTAH force is an occupation force, which, as a result, must leave the country immediately.
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti has conducted its work based on documents and materials provided by a Haitian Preparatory Committee, then by a Continuations Committee, and finally from field visits.
It heard from individuals, associations, trade unions and political organizations across Haiti.
It examined newspapers (Haiti Liberté, Le Nouvelliste), photographs, and various reports.
Also examined were the "Agreement between the UN and the Haitian government on the status of the United Nation's operation in Haiti of July 9, 2004" and the documents adopted by the 3rd Conference of the Association of Workers and Peoples of the Caribbean (ATPC in its French acronym).
Members of the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti also met with Major General Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, commander of the MINUSTAH forces in Haiti, as well as with Colonel Toro, second-in-command, and Gerard Le Chevalier, advisor for political affairs.
The International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti reached the conclusion, based on all these observations and analyses, that the country's social, economic and political reality is rapidly degenerating:
There is a growing discontent, which is being expressed through the questioning of the military intervention. Testimonies presented to the International Commission of Inquiry only confirmed this assessment -- in its various social, economic and political aspects.
The situation after the earthquake and after the cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010, as well as other supporting testimonials, strengthen our assessment of the situation.
Accordingly, we have been mandated to ask you to please receive a delegation of the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti on Thursday, August 25, 2011, at a time that best suits you in order to present to you the report produced by our Commission as well as complementary documents gathered since our last meeting.
Ms. Colia Clark and Mr. Victor Fabert, on behalf of ICI-H, are charged with monitoring this request for you to receive our delegation.
Ms. Clark can be reached at:
Email: [email protected]
Cell phone: 646-657-7207
Mr. Fabert can be reached at:
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 001-590-690-62-94-79
We thank you in advance for your prompt reply to our request for this meeting, which we will hope be answered favorably.
Sincerely,
For the International Commission of Inquiry on Haiti,
- Victor Fabert, coordinator
- Colia L. Clark, U.S. coordinator, based in New York
- Jose Candido de Souza (PT/SP), Deputy of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Adriano Diogo (PT/SP), Deputy of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil
* * * * * * * * *
APPENDIX No. 2
Resolutions Adopted by the 6th National Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH)
Bon Repos (Port au Prince, Haiti)
June 23-25, 2011
a) Resolution on Health Care:
Whereas the dismantling of public health services is being organized by U.S., Canadian and French governments to the detriment of the workers and the Haitian people;
Whereas the Haitian state has left the country in the hands of the NGOs and the forces of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH ), which are occupying the country and plundering all its resources;
Whereas the terrible earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010, wounded the Haitian people to their very core, causing more than 300,000 deaths; followed by the cholera outbreak, which was brought to the country by the forces of MINUSTAH -- particularly by the Nepalese forces -- and is seriously affecting the health of Haitians;
The Sixth Congress of the Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers (CATH) met June 23-25, 2011 in Bon Repos (Port Au Prince) and resolved:
To mobilize all means to promote trade union action in the health sector and to ensure proper working, hygiene and security conditions, on the basis of workers' demands.
To invite workers from all professional sectors to organize with the goal of demanding the creation of a genuine public health service in the service of workers and the Haitian people.
To ask the workers of all professional sectors and the Haitian people to organize mass actions, in unity, in order to obtain satisfaction of their demands.
* * * * *
General Resolution:
At its June 23-25, 2011 gathering at Bon Repos (Port au Prince) and after having heard and discussed the activity and advisory reports, the delegates of the Sixth Congress of the CATH:
1) Confirm that the domination and occupation of Haiti by foreign forces not only is still continuing, but is being reinforced. With the intensification of said occupation, we are witnessing a new guardianship of the country which is preventing the nation of Haiti from exercising its sovereignty.
This situation inevitably fosters a chaos that is being imposed on workers, youth and all the Haitian people by imperialism, particularly the governments of the United States, France and Canada. This has been happening for decades through the application of structural adjustment plans, the extortion of the foreign debt and the creation of sweatshop "free trade" zones.
It is a chaos that has translated into the dismantling of public services, layoffs, horrendous working conditions, obstruction of the enforcement of union rights, and unemployment affecting 80 percent of the active population.
2) Affirm the need to fight for:
- Free, quality schools and education for all children.
- Public services capable of helping the population.
- An emergency plan for the development of national production, one which allows humble peasants to participate.
- The re-nationalization of privatized public services and the reinstatement of all fired public employees (APN, TELCO).
- The ability of trade unions to fully exercise their powers.
- For the protection of workers in their workplace, particularly in the "free trade" zones.
- The right to housing for hundreds of thousands of homeless people.
- A real minimum wage, taking into account our true needs. This means a minimum of 300 gourdes ($6.50).
3) Ask those in charge of professional fields to communicate between themselves to prepare for mobilization.
4) To affirm that this fight must be closely related to the fight for Haitian sovereignty.
As a result, the delegates at the Sixth Congress of CATH, which met June 23-25 at Bon Repos (Port au Prince), demand:
- The total and unconditional cancellation of all Haitian debts.
- The immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces in the country -- MINUSTAH and others.
- The repayment by France of the $21 billion it extorted from the Haitian Republic.
- Compensation for the damages caused by cholera, which was brought into the country by the MINUSTAH troops.
We also agreed join and support all the initiatives with the same goals, and we confirmed our active participation in the preparation of the Nov. 16-18, 2011 Caribbean Workers and Peoples Conference in Cape Haitien. Also, with other Haitian organizations and a Caribbean level of international support, we will launch a campaign to require restitution of the $21 billion extorted by France.
* * * * *
Resolution on Trade Union Independence:
Whereas various governments are attempting to silence the organizations of class struggle and the masses;
Given the existence of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on the labor rights of workers to organize to defend their interests; and
Given the policy initiated by the IMF, pointing to a co-management attempt to use trade unions to better organize social deregulation, destruction of collective-bargaining agreements, the labor code and workers' gains.
The Sixth Congress of the CATH, which met June 23-25, 2011 in Port au Prince, therefore affirms:
The independence of the CATH union is an indispensable tool in the present situation to defend the interests of the masses.
Therefore, all necessary steps must be taken to preserve trade union independence (through the strengthening of unionization), which is a fundamental element for the preservation of the financial independence of the working class and its organizations and for never having to depend on our class enemies or its surrogates.
It will also launch a broad unionization campaign around the country to allow workers to better defend their interests. In addition, it will arrange informational meetings in different districts on trade union rights as well as create a brochure to affiliate members.
* * * * * * * * * *