62nd
General Assembly
Mexico City, Mexico
September 29 to October 3, 2006
Camino Real Hotel
Reports and Resolutions
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HAITI
Report to the Midyear Meeting
Quito, Ecuador
There is
a consensus among journalists that the press freedom situation in the country
is improving, although there still is a climate of insecurity that hinders the
free exercise of journalism.
An example is the case of Wadson Desir, a reporter for Metropole Radio and contributor
to the state-owned Radio France Internationale, who was kidnapped on December
2, 2005, and freed the following day. Desir, 27, was abducted with his father
in one of the suburbs of Port-au-Prince, where kidnappings in exchange for money
are frequent. He was freed hours later after paying a ransom.
Meanwhile, as a consequence of the limited and inefficient judicial system,
impunity prevails in the country in crimes against journalists, especially in
the cases of Jean Leopold Dominique, murdered on April 3, 2000, and Brignol
Lindor, murdered on December 3, 2001.
In the case of Dominique, former director of Radio Haiti Inter, three of the
defendants have been on the run since February 2005, when they escaped from
jail during a riot. Although there are witnesses who have located two of the
three fugitives, nobody has been arrested. Dominique’s case, as well as
the case of the radio station’s guard, Jean-Claude Louissaint, who was
also killed, remain unpunished.
In the case of Brignol Lindor, news director for Echo 2000 Radio, in Petit-Goâve,
witness testimonies and statements from several people have not been considered.
Lindor was stoned to death and his body chopped into pieces. The reporter had
received threats on several occasions from local authorities from the ruling
party for having invited various members from the opposition to participate
in his radio program called “Dialogue.”
In November 2005, the S.O.S. press
organization was created, whose mission is to protect press freedom, promote
projects to improve the socioeconomic conditions of professionals in the field
of journalism, and organize activities in conjunction with other local organizations,
among other objectives.
Local journalists praised the Inter American Press Association’s seminar
that offered training and instruction for Haitian journalists and editors in
November.
 questions
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