Action Alert:
Haiti-based coalition asks for your help
Haiti is marching
to
save the life of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine
A broad coalition of
Haitian elected officials, community organizations and human
rights groups, including Fondayson Trant Septanm (September 30th
Foundation) have announced plans for a series of activities in
Haiti calling for the safe return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine. At
a press conference in Port-au-Prince on Monday, August 27th, the
coalition, Gwoup Inisyativ Pou Sove Lavi Pierre-Antoine (Group
Initiative to Save the Life of Pierre-Antoine), announced that
it would stage vigils and peaceful marches this Wednesday and
Friday, August 29 and 31.
Lovinsky
Pierre-Antoine is a Haitian grassroots leader, member of the
Lavalas Party, and the head of Fondayson Trant Septanm, a
Haitian human rights organization that advocates for victims of
the 1991 and 2004 coup d'etats against the
democratically-elected governments of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He
has not been seen since the evening of Sunday, August 12, 2007
after meeting with a U.S. human rights delegation then in Haiti.
He is presumed kidnapped.
As a young
psychologist working in Port au Prince, Lovinsky helped
establish Fondsayon Kore Timoun Yo (Foundation for the Support
of Children) for young street children in Port au Prince; FAM
(Foyer pour Adolescentes Mères), a center for teenage mothers;
and Map Viv ("I Live"), a program designed to give psychological
and medical aid to the victims of the first coup against
Aristide in 1991. The September 30th Foundation, named for the
date of the first coup against President Aristide in 1991,
emerged out of this work. Similar to the work of Mothers of the
Disappeared in Central and South America, September 30th
Foundation held weekly vigils demanding justice for victims of
human rights violations and the release of political prisoners.
Forced to leave
Haiti after the 2004 coup, Lovinsky returned to the country in
April 2006. Since that time, he has continued his efforts on
behalf of human rights. A delegation of activists with the Haiti
Action Committee had the privilege of meeting with Lovinsky in
his home last month. We are deeply concerned over his
disappearance.
Please support the
call by the Gwoup Inisyativ Pou Sove Lavi Pierre-Antoine.
Contact the
following offices of the Haitian government, the U.S. Embassy
and the U.N. occupying powers. Express your concern that all
efforts are being made to facilitate the safe and peaceful
return of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine.
Haitian Ministry
of Justice
Tel: 011-509-245-0474
UN Stabilization
Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Tel: 011-509-244-9650-9660
Fax: 011-509-244-9366/67
Or, Fax, Office of General
Secretary (New York) – (212) 963.4879
United States
Embassy
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephones:
011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354
Fax: 011-509-223-1641
or 9038
The
Americas