Haiti: Amnesty International On Jean-Claude Duvalier?s Arrest in Haiti

Amnesty International Press Statement

For Immediate Release:

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Amnesty International On Jean-Claude Duvalier’s Arrest in Haiti 

Contact:  Wende Gozan Brown at 212-633-4247, [email protected], or Josefina Salomón at +44-7778-472-116, [email protected].

(London) — In response to the arrest of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in Haiti, Amnesty International’s Senior Advisor and Haiti expert, Javier Zuñiga, said:  

“The arrest of Jean-Claude Duvalier is a positive step but it is not enough to charge him only with corruption.”  

“If true justice is to be done in Haiti, the Haitian authorities need to open a criminal investigation into Duvalier’s responsibility for the multitude of human rights abuses that were committed under his rule including torture, arbitrary detentions, rape, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.”  

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.8 million supporters, activists and volunteers who campaign for universal human rights from more than 150 countries. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Javier Zuñiga, Special Advisor at Amnesty International, currently in London, and Gerardo Ducos, Haiti researcher at Amnesty International, currently in Port-au-Prince, are available for comment.

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