EDUCATORS CONDEMN DUVALIER AS MODEL FOR LAW SCHOOL GRADUATES
(Defend Haiti) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE – More and more voices are raising to condemn the choice of former dictator and human rights offender, Jean-Claude Duvalier, standing as a model for law school graduates in Gonaives, Haiti, delivering their commencement address.
The Executive Board of the State University of Haiti "strongly condemns" the presence of the former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier as a "guest" at a graduation ceremony for graduates of a promotion at the School of Law, Economics and Management (EDSEG) of Gonaives (north).
The direction of this teaching unit within the State University (UEH) has been called to stand on December 28 at 11 am in front of the Executive Council, following a letter from the Executive Board of the State University dated December 19 and addressed to the Director of the School.
Signing the letter, the President of the State University, Henri Vernet, noted that it is "totally inconceivable that a law school has endorsed the participation of this character at such a ceremony."
The former dictator was involved in the city of Gonaives, as a "sponsor of the promotion" at the graduation ceremony of the graduating class of the Law School in Gonaives on December 16.
Moreover, Father Jean Hansen of the National Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace (JILAP), and the delegate of the students of the Faculty of Humanities, James Belts, expressed their indignation at the choice of the dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier as the "godfather of the promotion" for the students graduating from the law school in Gonaives (north).
"We are surprised and indignant at the attitude of these future lawyers who are to be advocates of human rights," said father Hansens in a phone interview with Alterpresse.
"These students and the Dean will return to a history under a cloak of shame and ignominy. For history, justice and morality, we must denounce them, "responded on Beltis James, in a note.
Dismayed, the Secretary General of JILAP, wonders about the real reasons that led to the dictator to enjoy impunity in defiance of the victims.
"Is this a policy based on the macabre lack of memory of the people or a strategy to make us forget the sad years of the Duvalier regime? "asked the priest.
Several organizations and individuals, including the Lawyers Committee for the Respect of Individual Liberties (CARLI) and the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights (ECHR) condemned the "outrageous" behavior of the dean and the students graduating from law school in Gonaives.
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