Civil Society Demands End to IHRC Mandate
CALL TO NOT RENEW THE MANDATE OF THE IHRC
Friday, April 15, 2011
A few days before the start of a new legislature (the 49th) and installing a new head of state in Haiti, the organizations signing this note, call to parliamentarians and those who compose Executive to take all necessary measures to restore the state a set of essential functions without which the fundamental rights of the population, such as the right to food, education, health, housing worthy, will never be guaranteed.
More specifically, we demand the withdrawal of the law passed April 15, 2010 by the Haitian Parliament granting a parallel organization to the State, namely the IHRC (Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti), the power ” implement the Development Plan for Haiti in response to the consequences of the earthquake that devastated the country January 12, 2010.
Information and ideas generated here and there to suggest an extension of the mandate of the IHRC is being planned. How to accept the renewal of an illegal institution and which moreover has totally failed? In this case, what is the validity of this approach of the next prime minister of the future government to present its policy by the two front rooms? This whole exercise is meaningless because the IHRC has its own strategic plan.
Note that since the establishment of this Commission, emerges the clear impression that the state of Haiti, already seriously weakened by decades of ultra-liberal policies, no longer exists. For almost all the fundamental questions of national life and for any action to respond to the plight of people affected by the earthquake, officials refer to international organizations and / or IHRC. Despite the presence within it of 12 “representatives” of Haitian society, the HRIC has built no legitimacy given the designation process of these people and the lack of organic links aves sectors they purport to represent. Besides these representatives have formally confessed in December 2010 their marginalization from decision-making process.
Recent statements by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, suggesting that the IHRC and the state would operate in parallel, can only increase the concerns already expressed by various sectors in the creation of this commission, April 15, 2010, Exactly one year ago.
On the first anniversary of this important decision of the Haitian Parliament creating the IHRC, we, members of Haitian society organizations signed the note, reaffirm our position on this commission asking her disappearance pure and simple. We recommend that the coordination of aid linked to the process called “reconstruction” is assured by the Prime Minister’s Office together with the Presidency and that funds are channeled through the ministries and other state structures and managed seamlessly with vigilance and participation of civil society in Haiti.
For this, we urge MPs not to come back in this game is to extend this structure unconstitutional what the IHRC. We encourage them in preference to do everything possible to help the country move in the lanes leading to the recovery of its sovereignty in all its dimensions.
For the committee to follow up resolutions of 26 March 2011:
Colette Lespinasse, Coordinator GARR
Camille Chalmers, Executive Director of the PAPDA
Antonal Mortimer, Executive Secretary POHDH