ARTICLE - MANIGAT - CONILLE - RESIDENCE?

RESIDENCE OR NOT OF DR. CONILLE? MIRLANDE MANIGAT EXPLAINS
(Haiti Libre) -

The question of residence of Dr. Garry Conille, the third Prime Minister designated by the the Head of State is controversial. Mirlande Manigat explained what could be considered as residence and what can not be considered as such. Without knowledge of the documents submitted by the candidate, Mirlande Manigat does not claim to provide a definitive answer on the subject, but her interpretation should provide some relevance on the issue of the residence controversy.

"...Dr. Conille, I do not know him. In addition, I can not say that the name of his father is more familiar to me than his own. Regarding the conditions listed in Article 157, concerning residence, I heard with great interest the statements made by people here and there. The status of an international civil servant is not that of a diplomat, nor the status of a Haitian who represents Haiti in an international organization. Eric Pierre, for example, had twice been approached to be Prime Minister. He represented Haiti at the Inter-American Development Bank [IDB], so he enjoyed what is called extraterritoriality enjoyed by diplomats. The diplomat by definition, does not live in Haiti. He represents his country and enjoys extraterritoriality... Haitians working in international organizations, do not have diplomatic status and do not enjoy extraterritoriality.

Now, we should see all the documents [of Dr. Conille] to know whether or not his case meets the requirements of section 157. I can only speak on this specific point. I heard o the Vienna Conventions of 1962; the Vienna Conventions concerning the diplomatic and consular life, not the case of an employee of the United Nations or the Inter-American Bank or someone who works for UNESCO, for the Inter-American Bank, for the UN... but does not represent Haiti. You see, it's a small difference. I heard also, that according to a United Nations resolution, that when someone completes a sheet for his nomination, it is asked about his place of residence... Does he put Haiti with an address ? I do not know. We should see if he put Haiti and an address in Haiti and that this address is permanent. How do we assess that an address is permanent? By property taxes (impôt locatif) if he owns property. If I have an address in Haiti and I have a house in Haiti; I pay a property tax to the DGI each year. This is a proof. Therefore, we must see what are the documents that he will present. For now I can only interpret at the level of a principle, namely that international civil servants, do not have the status of a diplomat; therefore he does not benefit from the extraterritoriality [...]

...We can assume that if he's [Dr. Conille] the choice of Mr. Clinton, that he has the approval of Mr. Clinton. What we can also say, is that this will pose a problem with the IHRC, [...] the Prime Minister of Haiti will also be a very close collaborator of Mr. Clinton... perhaps that he will be a Clinton bias [...] there are presumptions...

The fact that he has an international career, will not be for him a kind of legal or political incapacity. There are circumstances,... the general context in which this appointment was made [that we must consider]..."