[Shadow_Group] Fw: HAITI: Killing street children ...

[shadowgroup-l at lists.resist.ca]

December 6, 2004

HAITI:  KILLING STREET KIDS, Inc.

Below, a letter from Michael Brewer, summarizing the devastating and
predictable situation of killing street kids in Haiti.  In other countries
(Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Colombia) this practice has been called
"social cleansing".

As with other issues of injustice, inequality and racism in Haiti, the
killing of street kids cannot be understood in a vacuum, but in the context
of the US-France-Canada instigated and backed coup in February 2004, that
ousted Haiti's democratic government and brought back to power the
repressive, racist, elitist regime that is now being propped up and
"legitimized" by the United Nations, France, Canada and the USA.

Please re-publish and re-distribute this letter, citing author and contact
info.

Please send copies of this info to any media and politicians you know of.

You can donate tax-deductible funds directly to "Haitian Street Kinds" (see
information below) or via Rights Action (information below).

If you want on/ off this elist: info at rightsaction.org<mailto:info at rightsaction.org>.

===

LETTER FROM HAITI

My name is Michael Brewer, RN, an American who lives in Port au Prince,
Haiti, where I have an organization and home for street kids and runaway
restavek slave children.  Being as intimately close to the problem of
homeless children as I am, I feel I must let someone know about a very
disturbing trend that has begun to surface again in Haiti.

Carloads of men referred to as "ancient military," who are actually members
of the now disbanded military, have began patrolling the streets of Port au
Prince and are indiscriminately murdering street children for no reason
other than sport. These men prowl the streets of the city in groups of 6 to
10 with high powered military assault rifles, shotguns and 9mm pistols,
wearing all-black uniforms with black ski masks over their heads to conceal
their identities. They justify the murders of these boys by referring to
them as "vagabonds" and say that they are "cleaning the streets".

An example of the merciless slaughter of these children happened last
Thursday on the 11th of November between 7:pm and 8:pm in the evening, in a
well-known park located in the Petionville section of Port au Prince named
Plais Bois. Many homeless boys of all ages sleep in this park at night due
to lack of facilities and helping organizations available to them.

We are one of the very few advocacy and residential organizations in Port au
Prince that offer these boys help and refuge in times of great need.  But
due to critically deficient support, our capability to take more of them in
on a permanent basis is very limited.

Here is what happened: At approximately 7:pm in the evening, a carload of
these ex-military members, whom the people wrongly refer to as "police,"
drove by the park and stopped where 20 to 30 children were sleeping. The
ones that were not asleep alerted the others, and they all began to run.
Three were caught by the men: one 7-year old by the name of Linxson, one
12-year-old and a 15-year-old. The boys were first beaten severely. Black
bags were then put over their heads and tied around their necks, and then
they were shot and killed. The bodies were placed in the trunk of the car
and taken away from the scene.

One week earlier, a nine-year-old named Emmanuel was running from a group of
these men after he refused to come to them when they called him. They shot
him in the leg with an assault rifle to stop him. Three of the men casually
walked up to where the child was lying on the ground and crying. They
ridiculed him, then shot him again with pistols and a shotgun, for a total
of 4 more times.

One of my children, a 14 year old boy named Makinzi, was murdered as he was
walking down the side of the road about three weeks ago.  His face was
terribly scared from previous abuse suffered while sleeping on the streets
before coming to our home.  While sleeping, passer-bys poured flaming liquid
of some sort over his face and shoulders, resulting in thick, dark scaring
from third degree burns. His self-appointed executioners were heard to say
that they thought he was wearing a mask, and assumed that he must be a
thief.

Summary executions of these children have become almost commonplace. The
children are living in fear and their already difficult existence has become
comparable to an unarmed soldier in a war zone.  One inspection alone of the
morgue at Haiti's General Hospital, yielded 4 bodies of massacred street
children; one 10 and one 13 year old riddled with bullets, laying along side
two other young boys who had been decapitated.

The incidents I have given as examples are just a very few of the daily
murders of these children that are committed by these groups of men every
day and night in every part of the city. There are "dump zones" where the
decomposing bodies of little boys can be found any day of the week. I have
found many. This is blatant genocide. The merciless atrocities committed on
these defenseless, harmless and innocent street children go completely
unnoticed, unreported, and uninvestigated.

The United Nations forces do nothing and completely ignore this crisis.
There is no "real" or effective police for them to turn to due to the
children's inability to "pay" for the services or protection of the police.
In many cases, the police are participants in the abuse rather than
protectors.  I also find it very ironic that the Brazilian military forces,
now constituting the bulk of the UN presence in Haiti, are from the very
country so well known for the murder and abuse of street children in their
own country. Their inaction and lack of concern regarding these heinous acts
is not difficult to understand when viewed in that context.

An effective way must be found to put an end to this ongoing tragedy that
has become an epidemic.  This is no less than urban terrorism with the most
vulnerable, the most innocent, and the most defenseless citizens as it's
targets and victims.  The urgent and critical nature of this problem
dictates that decisive action may be taken now if we are to prevent more
children from being terrorized and slaughtered.

The terror, insecurity and misery being placed upon these children, whose
lives are already far more difficult and painful than any child should be
forced to endure, is now at an unprecedented level. There is no one for them
to turn to for protection or help except for people like me, and
organizations such as mine, who are in reality powerless to do anything real
to stop this. Our support is at a point now, where we have many days we are
unable to feed them more than once, or even once per day, and our efforts to
improve the support for the children renders very little results so far.
Humanitarian assistance to Haiti should be expanded to allow non-profit
organizations such as our, to directly apply for assistance and on-going
support.  The small NGO's that work on the ground, directly with the
children, are the ones that suffer and have the most difficult time
receiving funds and assistance to survive.

It is a heartbreaking situation when a young boy comes to our gates in a
panic, begging to be let in so that he may escape the dangers he is being
forced to live with on the streets, and we are unable to let him in due to
limited space and funding to care for him.

SUPPORT HAITIAN STREET KIDS
If anyone is interested in offering assistance with our efforts to rescue
and sustain these children, any and all donations would be gratefully
appreciated. 100% of your donations will go toward the medical, educational,
nutritional and personal needs of these children.  As support for HSKI
increases, more frightened and suffering kids will be able to escape the
dangers and misery of the streets and be admitted into the home.  All
donations are tax deductible.

Our U.S. mailing address for donation is:
Haitian Street Kids, Inc.
5209 Rain Forest Drive
McKinney, Texas, USA, 75070

Our non-profit EIN number is: Family Circle Inc., dba:  Haitian Street Kids,
Inc. (HSKI), No. 74-3116886.  If you prefer, donations can be made by credit
card or bank payment by going to this web page on the HSKI:
http://quicksitemaker.com/members/immunenation/Donation_Form.html<http://quicksitemaker.com/members/immunenation/Donation_Form.html>

Thank you for caring and we hope to hear from you soon.

Respectfully,

Michael W. Brewer, RN
Haitian Street Kids, Inc.
haitianstreetkids at rescueteam.com<mailto:haitianstreetkids at rescueteam.com>
www.HaitianStreetKids.com<http://www.haitianstreetkids.com/>

===

To make TAX-CHARITABLE DONATIONS via Rights Action

For humanitarian relief work in Haiti, make check payable to "Rights Action"
(writing "Haiti Fund" on the memo-line) and mail to:

UNITED STATES:  1830 Connecticut Av, NW, Washington DC, 20009.
CANADA:  509 St. Clair Ave W, box73527, Toronto ON, M6C-1C0.

DONATE BY INTERNET in Canada and the USA: www.rightsaction.org<http://www.rightsaction.org/>.  CFC # 9914.

WIRE DONATIONS TO RIGHTS ACTION in the USA and Canada, contact:
info at rightsaction.org<mailto:info at rightsaction.org>, 416-654-2074.

Thank-you.  Grahame Russell, co-director Rights Action

===


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