October, 24 2011, 10:59am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jen Nessel, CCR, press@ccrjustice.org, (212) 614-6449
Nicole Phillips, IJDH, nicole@ijdh.org, (510) 715-2855
Melinda Miles, TransAfrica, mmiles@transafricaforum.org, (413) 923-8345
International Human Rights Hearing on Housing Crisis in Haiti's Displacement Camps
Press Conference Wednesday October 26
WASHINGTON
This Wednesday, rights groups will meet with the government of Haiti before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C. to discuss solutions to the unlawful eviction crisis in Haiti's displacement camps.
After the hearing, which is closed to the public, petitioners will hold a press conference.
WHAT: Press Conference on the housing and eviction crisis in Haiti.
WHEN: 11:15 a.m. -12 p.m., Wednesday, October 26, 2011
WHERE: 1889 F Street NW, Washington, D.C., in the lobby of the OAS building
WHO:
Mario Joseph, Av., Managing Lawyer of Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, represents displacement camps threatened with evictions and will speak about the need for government accountability to address the increasing human rights crisis.
Etant Dupain, Director of Bri Kouri Nouvel Gaye, a Haitian grassroots organization, will present on the evictions crisis affecting displacement camps. Bri Kouri is a partner of TransAfrica's Let Haiti Live project and is a team of community mobilizers and citizen journalists.
Nicole Phillips, Esq., Staff Attorney with Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and Assistant Director for Haiti Programs, University of San Francisco School of Law, will speak about the lack of progress by the international community and Haitian government in implementing a post-earthquake housing plan.In response to a legal petition the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Center for Constitutional Rights submitted last November, the IACHR issued urgent precautionary measures directing the Haitian government to steps to protect Haitians living in displacement camps as a result of the January 12, 2010 earthquake. The petition called for immediate action to address the humanitarian crisis being caused by unlawful evictions in Haiti's displacement camps.
As an IACHR member state, the Haitian government is legally obligated to uphold commission's ruling. These measures require the government to cease illegal evictions from Haiti's displacement camps and to take steps to assure that victims of forced eviction are relocated to housing that meets minimum health and security standards.
"This Wednesday's meeting presents a rare opportunity for representatives of displacement camps to discuss the eviction crisis with the new Haitian government led by President Michel Martelly," according to Mario Joseph, Managing Attorney at Bureau des Avocats Internationaux that represents displacement camps threatened with evictions. The IACHR is expected to ask the government to take responsibility for its failure to provide housing and protection from unlawful evictions to earthquake victims, and its failure to implement the precautionary measures issued by the Commission last November. Mario Joseph and Etant Dupain, Director of Bri Kouri Nouvel Gaye, a grassroots organization working with displaced communities, will participate in the meeting.
To read the legal petition submitted to the IACHR in full and a statement by the IACHR against unlawful evictions, click here and here.
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Amnesty International on Thursday called for a war crimes investigation into recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed dozens of civilians, as well as a suspension of arms transfers to Israel as it attacks Gaza, the West Bank, and Syria.
In a briefing paper titled The Sky Rained Missiles, Amnesty "documented four illustrative cases in which unlawful Israeli strikes killed at least 49 civilians" in Lebanon in September and October amid an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign of invasion and bombardment that Lebanese officials say has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people.
"Amnesty International found that Israeli forces unlawfully struck residential buildings in the village of al-Ain in northern Bekaa on September 29, the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon on October 14, and in Baalbeck city on October 21," the rights group said. "Israeli forces also unlawfully attacked the municipal headquarters in Nabatieh in southern Lebanon on October 16."
Erika Guevara Rosas, Amnesty's senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns, said in a statement that "these four attacks are emblematic of Israel's shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law."
The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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In the deadliest single strike detailed in the Amnesty report, IDF bombardment believed to be targeting a suspected Hezbollah member killed 23 civilians forcibly displaced from southern Lebanon in Aitou on October 14.
"The youngest casualty was Aline, a 5-month-old baby who was flung from the house into a pickup truck nearby and was found by rescue workers the day after the strike," Amnesty said.
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As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
The tribunal also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes committed during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and over 240 others were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice is weighing a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. Last week, Amnesty published a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The United States—which provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic cover—has also been accused of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.
"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians," Guevara Rosas said. "The latest evidence of unlawful air strikes during Israel's most recent offensive in Lebanon underscores the urgent need for all states, especially the United States, to suspend arms transfers to Israel due to the risk they will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law."
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