Haiti Human Rights after the Return of President Aristide and Ongoing Observations.

Carrie and Doug Melvin of Boise, Idaho have devoted themselves to working to improve Haiti human rights issues. Promising changes have occurred, but the attempts to rectify human rights abuses happening in Haiti face many challenges:

• MICIVIH (the International Civilian Mission in Haiti) activities in Haiti resumed on 26 October 1994, some two weeks after the return of President Aristide, with the reopening of its headquarters and an office in Port-au-Prince.
• Eleven further offices were subsequently opened in the nine departments of Haiti and, by September 1995, some 193 observers were monitoring human rights throughout the country.
• Since the restoration of the democratically elected government, and the return of President Aristide on 12 October 1994, the human rights situation has improved substantially.
• MICIVIH has observed that the freedoms of expression, association and assembly are being exercised by different sectors of the society, including by those who are strongly critical of President Aristide and the government.

The systematic violation of human rights in Haiti by agents of the state - as had occurred under the de facto government - has come to an end.

Monitoring Activities in Haiti- the Work of MICIVIH Human Rights Observers.

MICIVIH has continued to give priority to the monitoring and promotion of respect for human rights in Haiti:

• Haiti human rights observers receive information from numerous sources, direct and indirect;
• Human rights observers include the national press, non-governmental and church organizations and individual members of the public;
• Information is also regularly received from the military and police components of the UN mission in Haiti.
  

All reports of possible human rights abuse in Haiti are thoroughly investigated, a task which frequently involves two to three-day trips into remote regions of the countryside. Such investigations are fully documented and provide the basis for detailed monthly reports which are submitted to the UN's Special Representative in Haiti and to the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States. The Mission also issues regular public statements, which provide MICIVIH's assessment of human rights questions in Haiti, such as the progress of penal and judicial reforms, human rights during the electoral process and other matters affecting human rights protection in Haiti.

Nevertheless, the extreme weakness of institutions serving to guarantee the civil and political rights of the civilian population - most notably a well-trained police force and an effective judicial system - are serious impediments to the actual and future protection of human rights.

From the MICIVIH website