MINUSTAH preying on Haitians, UN’s occupation force must go now!

TO: Media Outlets and Personnel

The Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (Toronto) is sharing its press release on the behaviour of the the United Nations' occupation force or MINUSTAH against the people of Haiti. The press release is attached and well as below this message.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 9, 2011

MINUSTAH preying on Haitians, UN’s occupation force must go now!

 Toronto, ON -- The Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (Toronto) stands in solidarity with the Committee for the Research, Development and Organization of Port-Salut’s (CREDOP) denunciation of the United Nations-flagged occupation army’s behaviour. CREDOP described such behaviour as "contemptuous, insulting, disrespectful and dishonest to the citizens and environment of Port-Salut."

 The recent gang-rape allegation of a teenager by members of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is one more case in a litany of physical and sexual abuses that have been experienced by Haitians at the hands of this 12,252-strong occupation force. It is high time for the United Nations’ occupation army to leave Haiti.

 The United Nations’ military personnel have a history of committing rape and sexual abuse of Haitian children and adults. In 2007, the UN deported 108 Sri Lanka soldiers, because of their sexual abuse of minors.

 The military presence of the United Nations in Haiti is quite abnormal. This international body is usually called upon to enforce a peace agreement or to stand between warring parties to a conflict. Haiti does not fit the mould of prior UN interventions. Why is Haiti being singled out for this “special” treatment? In whose interest is it to have Haitians live under the surveillance and iron fist of a foreign occupation force?

 According to the Washington DC-based Center for Economic Policy Research, the UN’s occupation force has “developed a reputation for brutality and human right violations. These include a raid on one of Haiti’s largest poor neighborhoods in July 2005 that left dozens of civilians killed or wounded.”

The United Nations’ occupation army has been linked to the strain of cholera that has killed over 6,000 Haitians and infected over 400,000 individuals. The medical calamity has placed tremendous strain on the already compromised health care infrastructure in the country.

 The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders documented 10,000 new cholera cases in the lower Aribonite Valley over a period of ten weeks during the summer. The United Nations should commit the resources to fix the problem caused by its armed personnel.

 The Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (Toronto) is calling upon the United Nations to immediately withdraw its occupation force from Haiti and to provide reparations to the people and the country for the harm that it has done to Haitians.

-30-

Network for Pan-Afrikan Solidarity (Toronto) For further information please contact: Email: network4panafrikansolidarity@gmail.com