Haiti
Haiti has long been known for its major export of Haitian migrants in search of a better way of life. It is an exodus that goes back several decades, however with recent times the numbers have increased dramatically. In fact, that numbers of Haitians fleeing Haiti in the early 1990's far exceeds the numbers recorded in earlier years. Between 1972- 1979, some 8,000- 10,000 Haitians arrived in the United States. Compare this number with the 14,443 Haitians interdicted between September 30, 1991 - January 1, 1992. By early 1994, this number totaled over 41,000 (Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, 1994). Economic deprivation has always been the predominant influence for the migrating of Haitians, yet in the early 1990s, it was a repressive political system that was compelling the mass exodus of Haitians from their homeland. Haiti had become a place where military forces had consolidated their rule by ruthlessly suppressing the land's once diverse and civil society that had come about after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship seven years earlier. On September 29, 1991, the military government, headed by Lt. General Prosper Avril, led a coup d' etat and overthrew Haiti's first freely elected president, Jean-
The first piece of evidence that supports the first hypothesis is the issuing of annual State Dept. reports on the situation in Haiti, including fact-finding missions by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. For the most part, the State Dept. annual reports (beginning in 1989) stressed that the Avril government had much to do to convince the Haitian people and the international community of its' commitment to hold free elections and to respect human rights. Thus confirms the State Dept.'s firm dedication to monitoring and condemning the actions of the Haitian government. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights was one important candidate that the Bush administration used to continue to pressure the Haitian military to respect human rights. Due to this Commission, the U.S. supported the appointment of an expert to provide advisory services to promote human rights in Haiti. In addition, the U.S. endorsed a resolution to condemn Haitian human rights violations by appointing a special reporter to investigate and report on abuses (Reverting to Despotism, 1990). All of these things suggest merciless effort on behalf of the U.S. to pressure the Haitian government into changing its ways. The next piece of evidence that supports the first hypothesis includes the U.S. efforts to ensure free elections in Haiti, as well as to condemn the human rights violators. On January 21, the day after the Avril government declared a state of siege and preceded to arrest, beat and expel opposition leaders, the State Dept.: Nonetheless, there are several pieces of evidence that disconfirm this point of view and therefore, the first hypothesis. The first issue is President Reagan's policy of silence, which in effect failed to recognize human rights violations and abuses of any kind that were brewing in Haiti. Next, the U.S. practice of interdiction and repatriation came under continuous attack by non-governmental human rights groups specifically, the human Rights Watch/Americas and the National Coalition for Haitian Refugees. They asserted that the practice was in violation of international law, specifically, the provision in Article1 (A) of the U.N. Protocol relating to the status of refugees (of which the U.S. is a party) 1 and Article 33 of the 1951 Convention, which provides: The first piece of evidence that supports the first hypothesis is the advances taken by the Clinton administration. Even before taking office, the Clinton team worked with Aristide to enlist the support of the U.N. to bolster the diplomatic efforts of the Organization of American States, which had previously been ineffectual (Silencing A People, 1993). Clinton stated that he would continue to implement the policy of interdiction and repatriation of the refugees. He also pledged that his administration would enact a global plan of restoring democracy in Haiti, along with the return of President Aristide (Report on the Human Rights Watch in Haiti, 1994). Thus, President Clinton's plans comply with the hypothesis that the refugees have to be forcibly returned to Haiti in order to be helped and that the U.S. must take action to aid the state in order to aid the individual. According to normative liberalism, the Haitian government under Avril's military rule would be characterized as an authoritarian state, one that does not share the same norms as the democratic U.S. The military government declared a state of siege and did not allow for the democratic electoral process to progress. They adopted numerous practices of denying basic human rights of its citizens, using both repression and severe violence, causing, and countless numbers of its citizens to flee and seek refuge in the U.S. Unfortunately, when these people were returned to Haiti, they would endure harsh punishment for having tried to escape (Silencing A People, 1993). Therefore, under these conditions, Haiti was in a position of violating the norms, and a hypothesis that can be deduced is that
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Approximate Word count = 4084
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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