Definitive Report - Report No 90, 1966

Case No 373 (Haiti) - Complaint date: 02-JAN-64 - Closed

1. 25. This case has already been examined by the Committee at its 38th, 39th, 40th and 42nd Sessions, held respectively in November 1964, February 1965, May 1965 and February 1966, on which occasions interim reports were presented to the Governing Body, which approved them. At its February 1966 session the Committee examined the only allegation remaining outstanding, which related to the arrest of trade union leaders and militants.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 26. The complainants alleged that the Government had arbitrarily arrested a number of trade union leaders and militants. Among the persons arrested, it was stated, were Messrs. Ulrick Joly, President of the Inter-Union Federation of Haiti-which had been dissolved - Claude François and Léon Gabriel, members of the Executive Committee of the organisation mentioned and presidents of the cement and sugar unions respectively, Messrs. Alcius Cadet and Arnold Maisoneuve, of the Dockers' Union, and the trade union leaders Messrs. Prossoir and Guerrior.
2. 27. At its February 1966 session the Committee took note of a statement by the Government to the effect that if the persons concerned were not discharged as an act of mercy before the verdict of the court by which they were to be tried, a copy of the text of the judgment pronounced by the court should be communicated to the Committee. The Committee accordingly recommended that the Governing Body request the Government to be good enough to let the Governing Body know whether the persons mentioned by the complainants had or had not been discharged as an act of mercy and, if they had not, to communicate the text of the judgment or judgments delivered, with the text of the grounds therefor.
3. 28. In a communication dated 14 February 1966 the Government states that the persons concerned, who had been imprisoned for subversive activities, had, before the court pronounced judgment, been discharged in consequence of a general act of mercy on the part of the President of the Republic and that they had all been released.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 29. In these circumstances the Committee, considering that it would be purposeless to pursue the matter further, recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case does not call for further examination.