Keep Fighting For Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine

by Half Hour for Haiti

Tonight [May 10, 2008] we have heard a wonderful collection of tributes to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, from Haiti to Washington to New Jersey to Africa- and many places in between.

 

The tributes have praised Lovinsky’s courageous and tireless efforts to help human rights victims, especially when they most needed it. Now it is Lovinsky who needs help, and it is our turn to do what Lovinsky would be doing if it were anyone else who had been kidnapped for fighting for human rights.

 

 

 

• Update: Good news first: the Jubilee Act continues to move through Congress. The bill received a decent welcome in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 24 (click here to read the witness testimony), and Senate leaders expect a Committee vote by Memorial Day. Thanks to everyone who has been calling and writing their representatives. We’ll have an update, with another action when the vote is scheduled.

• The New York mortgage fraud trial for former Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel Constant has been postponed until July 8. Thanks to the people who had volunteered to be trial observers, we’ll send a notice about observing the new trial in June. The Global Research News Hour has two recent Haiti interviews on its website, author Peter Hallward (April 21, Hour 1) and Brian Concannon of IJDH (May 5, Hour 2). Listen online, or download the interviews to your MP3 player.

• The Haiti Solidarity Network of the North East (HSNNE) conferred its Haiti Human Rights Award on disappeared activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine last Saturday (May 10). By all accounts it was a moving ceremony, including testimonials to Lovinsky and his work sent in from Haiti, South Africa and across the U.S.  Global Women's Strike continues to organize regular vigils for Lovinsky at the Brazilian consulates in London and Los Angeles, and to circulate the Petition to Free Lovinsky.

• This Week’s Action: HSNNE sees its human rights award as not just a recognition of Lovinsky’s past work, but as an opportunity to mobilize for Lovinsky’s release so he can do more great work promoting human rights in Haiti.  Letters from dozens of HSNNE members to President Preval on Lovinsky’s behalf are already in the mail, and more letters are coming. HSNNE is now asking other supporters of justice for Haiti to add their voices to this movement. Let’s keep this momentum going, and insist on an investigation for Lovinsky:

 

The Haitian police have never effectively investigated Lovinsky’s disappearance, according to Lovinsky’s family, his organization (Fondation 30 Septembre), human rights groups like Amnesty International and even the UN Mission in Haiti. This failure to investigate is a personal tragedy, but it also sends an extremely dangerous message, summed up in the Haitian proverb Konstitisyon se papye, bayonet se fe – the Constitution is paper, a bayonet is steel.

Haiti’s elected government is facing many tests right now, especially over food. But it needs to make investigating Lovinsky’s disappearance a top priority, because Haiti will always face crises as long as violence can trump the Constitution. If people can get away with silencing their opponents through abduction and other violence, they will do so, and Haiti’s cycle of violence and instability will never end.

In the current crisis, Lovinsky’s leadership is needed more than ever. His disciplined, non-violent approach to social change could help channel the Haitian people’s justified anger caused by their hunger away from destructive violence into constructive advocacy for solutions. Lovinsky’s critiques might challenge the government’s policies, but his insistence on Constitutional, democratic paths would support its continued existence.

Please send a letter to Haiti’s President René Préval, to let him know that you care about Lovinsky, and to urge him to ensure that his government does everything it can to investigate Lovinsky’s disappearance and ensure his safe return. A sample letter is below, please personalize it if you can. You may send your letter directly to President Préval by regular mail (.90 postage in U.S.), or send it to the Bureau des Avocats Inernationaux by fax: (206) 350-7986 (a U.S. number) or email: avokahaiti@aol.com.

________________________________
May   , 2008

 

His Excellency René Préval
President of the Republic of Haiti
Palais National
Port-au-Prince, Haïti

Re: Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine’s Disappearance

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express my deep disappointment at the lack of an effective police investigation into the disappearance, nine months ago, of human rights activist Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s family, his organization (Fondation 30 Septembre), human rights groups like Amnesty International and even MINUSTAH have criticized the lack of an effective investigation. Nor has your government made a public report about the progress of the investigation, despite many requests.

I know that your administration is facing many tests right now. But I urge you to make investigating Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s disappearance a top priority, because Haiti will always face crises as long as violence can trump the Constitution. If people can get away with silencing their opponents through abduction and other violence, they will do so, and Haiti’s cycle of violence and instability will never end.

Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s leadership would have benefitted your administration and Haitian society during the current crisis. His disciplined, non-violent approach to social change could help channel justified anger caused by hunger away from destructive violence into constructive advocacy for solutions. Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s critiques might challenge the administration’s policies, but his insistence on Constitutional, democratic paths would defend the administration’s continued existence against efforts for unconstitutional regime change.

Please demonstrate that Haitians can participate effectively and lawfully in Haiti’s democratic process, without fear, by demanding that everyone working for your administration- from the Ministry of Justice to police leadership to investigators- immediately take every possible lawful step to investigate Mr. Pierre-Antoine’s disappearance, pursue the perpetrators and return Mr. Pierre-Antoine safely.

 Sincerely,

 

 


For more information about the Half-Hour for Haiti Program, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, or human rights in Haiti, see www.HaitiJustice.org. To receive Half-Hour for Haiti Action Alerts once per week, send an email to HalfHour4Haiti@ijdh.org  

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