Haiti Solidarity Meeting: Resolution

Considering the historical importance, for the whole world, of the act of Haiti's national independence, proclaimed on January 1, 1804;

Considering the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 10, 1948;

Considering the United Nations General Assembly proclamation of 2004 as the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition, which recognized Haiti as the symbol of the struggle and resistance of slaves, and triumph of the principles of liberty, equality, dignity and the rights of the individual;

Considering the unique circumstances under which the independence of Haiti was proclaimed;

Considering the glorious epic struggle of our ancestors, former slaves, who succeeded in 1804 in reversing the oppressive slave system, an accomplishment unique in the history of humanity;

Considering that, thanks to the sweat and blood of our ancestors, Haiti was the Pearl of the Antilles;

Considering the isolation imposed by the great colonial and slaveholding powers of the time on Haiti;

Considering the heroic actions of February 7, 2006, which permitted the Haitian people to completely reverse the coup d'état of February 29 2004, thereby limiting its destruction;

We, the organizations with the Worldwide Movement of Solidarity with the Haitian People, and the Haitian grassroots organizations attending the 3rd Edition of the Solidarity Encounter with the Haitian People, which took place from August 20-26, 2006 in Port-au-Prince, have unanimously agreed:

To ask the 48th Legislature of the Haitian Parliament to prepare and vote a resolution, to UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), qualifying Haiti as a Patrimony of Humanity;
To ask His Excellency Mr. René Garcia Préval, President of the Republic of Haiti, to immediately take all possible steps to facilitate the return of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti;
To ask the United Nations Security Council to vote a resolution annulling that of August 15, 2006, and calling for the immediate withdrawal of the MINUSTAH soldiers from Haiti and the cessation of all steps to place this Caribbean country under international tutelage;
To urge the Haitian government to take the necessary steps to relaunch the process of national dialog in a more balanced fashion, including all sectors and all ranks of society without exclusion;
To encourage the Haitian Government to implement a real process of disarmament at the level of all ranks and all groups in society that possess illegal weapons, to free all the political prisoners without distinction, to eliminate the illegal, extra-judicial and discriminatory measures taken by the de facto authorities against the grassroots activists in poor neighborhoods on account of their political convictions;
To ask the Government to re-balance the Provisional Electoral Council, to remove its corrupt elements in order to safeguard the institution's credibility, to re-open the electoral registers to new voters and new candidates for the local and municipal elections, and to organize these elections within a reasonable time;
To encourage the holding in Port-au-Prince, before the end of the year, of an international tribunal which will provide the victims of the de facto regime the opportunity to testify to the entire world the violations of their human rights committed by the brutal regime installed by the coup d'état of February 29, 2004, and by paramilitary groups and foreign soldiers in Haiti;
To demand the donor countries and international financial institutions to annul Haiti's foreign debt without conditions, and we demand that France reimburse the funds extorted by force from the government of Jean-Pierre Boyer in 1825, in the amount of 90 million gold francs, which equals more than $21 billion US in current terms;
To demand the Haitian Government to avoid all structural adjustment and privatization programs imposed by the international donors that could generate more misery, increase the already chronic unemployment, destroy national production and leave the country dependent on forces outside the country;
To organize the 4th Edition of the Solidarity Encounter with the Haitian people at the beginning of August, 2007.

For Authentication:

Jacques Depelchin, OTA BENGA Alliance for Peace, Healing and Dignity, DR-Congo and USA Ben Terrall, Haiti Action Committee Oakland, California, USA

Sr. Maureen Duignan Ireland

Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti Joseph, Oregon, USA

Frederic Maeder Switzerland

Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine Fondation Trente Septembre Haiti

Haiti Solidarity Meeting: Resolution

SOLIDARITY ENCOUNTER WITH THE HAITIAN PEOPLE

3RD EDITION

August 20 - 26, 2006

Port-au-Prince