Following the unexpected return of former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude (“Baby Doc”) Duvalier to Port-au-Prince earlier this month after 25 years in exile, the former President for Life is facing criminal prosecution on fraud charges and several civil suits alleging human rights abuses and crimes against humanity, committed during his 15-year rule. [Democracy Now!; Guardian] Calls for Duvalier’s prosecution came as soon as his presence in Haiti became known, including from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Two days after his return, Duvalier was arrested on corruption charges. [Guardian] The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights stated:
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has been informed of the presence in Haiti of Mr. Jean-Claude Duvalier, former President of that country, who had fled in February 1986 amid popular unrest. Mr. Duvalier ruled Haiti as President-for-life between 1971 and 1986, and his government was characterized by massive violations of human rights, which were documented by the IACHR, other international organizations, and civil society.
In December of 1979 the IACHR submitted its Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti, prepared on the basis of an on-site visit observation carried out in that country from August 16 to 25 of 1978, to the General Assembly of the OAS. In that report, the Commission pointed out concrete violations of the right to life, to personal integrity, to personal liberty, to judicial guarantees, freedom of investigation, opinion, expression and dissemination of thought, freedom of association, freedom of residence and movement, the right to nationality, and political rights. Included in the 1979 report is the recommendation to the Haitian State “that it investigate and punish those responsible for the numerous violations of the right to life and physical security”.
The IACHR must remind the authorities of the State of Haiti of the on-going duty to investigate, prosecute, punish and remedy human rights violations that are crimes under national or international law. To date the Inter-American Commission has not learned of any full investigation or punishment, undertaken consistent with due process guarantees as established in the American Convention and other applicable instruments, of the persons responsible for the violations committed in Haiti between 1971 and 1986, especially the authorities in charge of the State apparatus during that period.
[IACHR] The Commission’s review of human rights conditions in Haiti leading up to and following Duvalier’s flight from the country is available here, in Chapter 4 of its 1986 annual report.
In addition, Haitian organization Groupe d’Appui aux Rapatriés et Réfugiés (GARR) has called for Duvalier’s prosecution for forcing many Haitians to leave the country during his rule, including selling some into slavery in the Dominican Republic – a charge also made by former agricultural workers who filed suit. [Guardian; Dominican Today] GARR’s press release states:
In the name of all the braceros which were sold like slaves for the exploitation of their sweat and blood in the Dominican sugar bateyes, the GARR claims Justice and Compensation. In the name of all the boat people which perished at sea or failed on the coasts of Florida or the Bahamas to escape violence from the dictatorship; in the name of all those and all those which were exiled and which could not put their youth nor their knowledge at the profit of the development of their country, the GARR claims Justice and compensation.” [GARR]