|
OAS: HRF Calls on Insulza to Resign as Secretary General; Report Reveals Mishandling of Honduran Crisis
NEW YORK (March 9, 2010) – The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) calls for the resignation of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza. Today, HRF published a 300-page legal report exposing numerous errors in judgment, gross negligence of duty, and willful complicity in the undermining of the Inter-American Democratic Charter by the OAS secretary general. HRF contends that the actions of the OAS escalated the Honduran crisis, when its duty was to resolve it. These actions included: making deceptive statements to U.S. congressmen about the OAS's participation in Honduras; misleading both the public and member states; and disregarding information sent by the Honduran Congress before the June 28 coup d'état that deposed President Manuel Zelaya. "After just one term as secretary general, Mr. Insulza has proven that he is willing to undermine the organization's democratic charter, and its mission. He must step down. If he is re-elected, the OAS will continue on its course as an organization with a severe deficit of integrity," said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. "Mr. Insulza often publicly says that the Inter-American Democratic Charter does not give him any power to act in favor of harassed independent courts and opposition congress members in Latin America, but he has found absolutely no impediments to sending a 'Mission of Accompaniment' to Honduras – effectively lending legitimacy to a president who was violating his own country's constitution – despite the lack of any international legal provision allowing for this type of OAS 'political' mission, and despite a formal request to withdraw it, made by the Honduran Congress. He also seemingly has no qualms about making demonstrably misleading statements to U.S. members of Congress. Putting Mr. Insulza in charge of safeguarding democracy in the Americas is like asking a fox to safeguard a henhouse," said Halvorssen. HRF's report reveals that at the height of the Honduran crisis, days before the coup d'état, Insulza sent an OAS delegation to "witness" the national "opinion poll" carried out by President Zelaya; a delegation of this type, called a "Mission of Accompaniment," had never existed before in the history of the OAS. Its impact – legitimizing an act that had been ruled illegal in Honduras – was incendiary. The Honduran Congress wrote a letter expressing "profound outrage" and calling for the OAS to "immediately withdraw" its high-level officials from Honduras. Days later, after the coup d'état was validated by the Congress and the Supreme Court of Honduras, the OAS adjunct secretary general falsely told the Hispanic Congressional Caucus of the U.S. Congress that before the coup d'état, the OAS had a, "proactive role," in seeking to, "prevent the growing confrontation," between the "government and the opposition," when its actions had in fact accomplished the opposite. Ironically, the international community looked to the OAS secretary general to be the mediator in the restoration of Honduran democracy after the coup. "After fanning the flames of the fire he then turns around and pretends to be the fireman. Insulza is not fit to be involved with any organization that seeks to defend democracy," said Halvorssen. Insulza had full knowledge of the deceitful nature of President Zelaya's "non-binding poll." Days before the coup, the OAS representative from Honduras told the OAS that, "if the fourth ballot is victorious," a Constituent Assembly was expected to take office on November 29, and start drafting a new constitution. "The Inter-American Democratic Charter calls for strengthening existing constitutions rather than weakening them to fit the caudillo's wants," stated Halvorssen. "The new, democratically-elected government of Chile has, to its shame, agreed to support the aspirations of their countryman. It is not surprising that the nations that have repeatedly violated the OAS democratic charter – Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela – will endorse anything Insulza does. However, Chile should know better after its experiences with dictatorship," Halvorssen continued. HRF's legal report is divided into two parts and covers all relevant events between March 23, 2009, and January 27, 2010. The first part finds that the Supreme Court of Honduras had the power and favorable conditions to successfully try, suspend, and, eventually remove President Zelaya from office, but that it instead chose to validate a coup perpetrated by the armed forces and the unconstitutional removal of the president by Congress. Part two finds that, confronted with the erosion of democracy, the OAS failed to activate the democracy clause against Zelaya; instead, it decided to send an observation mission that escalated the crisis, precipitating the coup. Confronted with the coup d'état by the armed forces, the OAS acted correctly in activating the democracy clause and suspending Honduras from the OAS. The report also concludes that the OAS should have monitored the November 29 elections in Honduras. Even after Zelaya withdrew from the San José-Tegucigalpa Accord, the OAS had the obligation to send an Electoral Observation Mission in order to foster the restoration of democracy. Halvorssen enclosed the report in a letter to Eduardo Stein, former Guatemalan vice-president and head of the recently created Truth Commission in Honduras, outlining the main features of the document: "We believe this report is a valuable testimony about the facts and the law behind this serious crisis, and we hope it can facilitate your work as the definitive arbiter of what really happened, so that all American States can learn from it." HRF was one of the first international organizations to call for the suspension of Honduras from the OAS after the coup d'état. In the face of the many politically-charged news reports and legal opinions that emerged after June 28, the HRF Center for Research on Democracy published a thorough and comprehensive legal report, "The Facts and the Law behind the Democratic Crisis of Honduras, 2009," to clarify what had occurred. HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF's ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF's International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Václav Havel, Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.
Contact: Javier El-Hage, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org Download "The Facts and the Law behind the Democratic Crisis of Honduras, 2009" in full here. Download the executive summary of the report here. Download the letter sent to Mr. Eduardo Stein, head of Truth Commission in Honduras, here. -30- |
No comments:
Post a Comment