Ezili Danto's Open Salon Blog

Letter from concerned parishioner on Perlitz and Fr. Carrier

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:11:23 -0500

Michael Nowacki Letter distributed to St. Thomas More parishioners in Darien, CT (from the parking lot)

La Sosyete, HLLN and Michael Nowacki,

By circulating this mail, HLLN extends its sympathies, support and solidarity to Mr. Michael Nowacki of the St. Thomas More parish in Connecticut USA, who, with great courage ignored alienation to inform the St. Thomas More parishioners who contributed funds to the Douglas Perlitz endeavor in Haiti about his case. (See below - Letter to Parishioners, November 7, 2009).

Mr. Nowacki was actually detained by police, called to his Church by the highest Catholic official in the State of Connecticut, Bishop Lori, for his efforts to tell fellow parishioners about the Douglas Perlitz case and the questionable role of Catholic priest Paul Carrier, who appears to still have been soliciting for funds for accused pedophile Douglas Perlitz, even when Father Carrier was no longer affiliated with the Haiti Fund for over a year. (See Letter to Parishioners for exact details.)

Mr. Michael Nowacki, we at HLLNetwork who know well how it is to struggle for the right thing alone and against the most powerful of forces, commend you for doing the right and decent thing to keep our children safe, thank you for standing for transparency, full disclosure and against secrecy, and assure you, in this matter, you are not alone. We encourage more parishioners to stand up with Mr. Nowacki for full disclosure and hope those of you reading this post, will personally let Mr. Nowacki know of your support and solidarity.

Nou voye fòs, kouraj e lanmou pou ou Michael Nowacki ak tout fanmi w. Mesi anpil.

Ezili Dantò
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN)
November 11, 2009
(PS. Thank you Paul Kendrick for all that you do to protect victims of sexual abuse by priests and for sharing this letter with Ezili's HLLN.)

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Letter to Parishioners
by Michael Nowacki
November 7, 2009

Dear Fellow Parishioner,

As a Parishioner of St. Thomas More for the last eighteen years, it is with some genuine concern that this letter is being written.

On the morning of September 12, an article was sent to me which had been posted in that day’s edition of the Connecticut Post. The article was about an indictment of the former executive director of the Pierre Trouissant Project in Haiti on nine counts related to charges relating to child molestation.

The devastating indictment indicated that Douglas Perlitz had used money that had been raised largely through the efforts of Father Paul Carrier, who has been an active homilist at St. Thomas More, especially in the last two years.

Perlitz allegedly used funds from The Haiti Fund to purchase electronics and other inducements for these children in order to purchase their silence from this abuse.

Perlitz was a student when Father Paul Carrier was the Chaplain and Director of Campus Ministry at Fairfield University. Father Carrier was removed from his position at Fairfield U. in the spring of 2006 and devoted himself to raising money in Parish’s including St. Thomas More for his favorite charity—the Haiti Fund.

In the allegations, Perlitz was also the recipient of wire transfers from the Haiti Fund to personal accounts.

On the morning of September 16, at 8:30 am, I place a call to Father Furey’s private phone number and left him a message: please remove Father Paul Carrier from being involved with the Confirmation Class Masses at St. Thomas More and make that announcement this weekend. Father Furey did not return that call..

Father Furey announced at the first Mass for the Confirmation Class aspirants on August 30 towards the end of the Sunday 5:15 Mass that Father Carrier would have a continuing role as the lead homilist for this group of students.

Father Carrier was scheduled to celebrate the 4:00 and the 5:15 Mass on Saturday, September 19. In the Ct. Post article, it was indicated that the Jesuit Provincial was not willing to volunteer the location of Father Paul Carrier. There was also a phone number that was provided at the end of the article if there was information of interest that could be provided in the continuing investigation of matters relating to the Perlitz investigation.

I called the number which is 203-773-2029 and left a message that Father Carrier was to say the Masses at St. Thomas More on the same afternoon as the article appeared on September 19.

When I arrived for the Mass, Father Bob Post was standing with vestments on in the vestibule of the Church. When the Connecticut Post article was brought up to him to see if he had read the devastating article, and Father Bob responded, “You don’t believe everything you read in the media do you?”

My response was somber: “ in this case, you don’t get an indictment from a grand jury without compelling evidence of wrongdoing.” Douglas Perlitz was arrested in Colorado on September 16, where he was living and escorted on Thursday, September 17 with a federal marshal and incarcerated after arraignment in the Federal Courthouse in Bridgeport on Friday in Federal prison in Rhode Island.

Father Bob then startled me when he said that he couldn’t talk to me about this subject because he was under a gag order. “A gag order?” was my question, isn’t that usually connected to a court proceeding? A court didn’t direct your silence did it Father Bob?

I then explained to the lector that Father Carrier had been identified as the “religious leader” in the indictment for having signed a pro-Perlitz letter in the spring of 2008 supporting Perlitz.

Despite the knowledge of the problems for Father Carrier in Haiti, Father Carrier continued to raise money at our parish after he was removed from his role as the Chairman of the Haiti Fund. He raised money at Fairfield University and other parishes including St. Thomas More after he was removed for his favorite charity.

I asked Father Bob whether Father Furey had noticed him of my phone call this morning asking that Father Carrier be removed from all contact with the Confirmation aspirants. Father Bob turned his back and said that I can’t talk about it because there is a “gag order on me.”

Father Furey and Father Bob both spurned my request that weekend that this subject be addressed immediately.

On Friday, October 2, the second Connecticut Post article came out indicating that the Jesuits had identified the location of Father Carrier. He was living in a private home in Fairfield County. If Father Carrier has nothing to hide, why would he be hiding is the question rumbling inside me.

There isn’t anyone who has heard Father Carrier deliver a homily that wouldn’t have been memorized by the eloquence and passion with which he spoke about our Faith.

At 3pm, Father received an email from me asking him to not delay in addressing this issue about removing Father Carrier from our Confirmation Formation program, about reporting to the parish on the money raised under false pretenses, for the Parish and its staff transparently participate in volunteering information to the special agent working on the Perlitz investigation, and for Father Furey to distance himself from the investigation and consider hiring an outside counsel to handle the Parish investigation.

Father Furey responded via email to thank me for my concerns and that he was passing the information to the head of the Finance Committee, Peter Franks. I called Peter Franks home, got his cell phone number and awaited his call.

At 8pm on Friday, October 15, Peter Franks called my home and we spent 45 minutes on the phone. My call was the first he had heard of any problems with Father Carrier.

Peter and I discussed a process whereby he would serve as a contact person to collect the information from the parishioners, or we would also provide the phone number for the Special Agent, Rod Khattabi, to parishioners that wanted to provide evidence of money being provided to the Pierre Trouissant Project or the Haiti Fund that may have been raised through second collections or direct donations to Father Carrier.

Peter Franks said he would get on the collection of money which came from the second collections and it was determined that transparency was extremely important.

Father Furey then called my home at 10:15 on Friday night and asked me: “Mr. Nowacki why are you going about it this way? Why didn’t you come to me first?”

My response was blunt and to the point: two weeks ago you were called. You never returned the call. Father Bob was asked about that call, and nothing had been communicated to the Parish.

I then explained that Fairfield University sent an email to the students and the alumni on Monday, September 21, and they appointed an outside counsel to investigate whether any University funds had been donated to the Haiti Fund, and to also see how much money had been raised for this cause over the years.

Father Furey ended a very solemn conversation with the words, “I understand.”

The special agent and I spoke the next morning about the late night phone call from Father Furey. It sounded to me like Father Furey, as a three decade friend of Father Carrier, needed to meet with the special agent. Father Furey got an email from me suggesting a meeting with Rod Khattabi.

On Saturday, I reached out to Peter Franks to see if he was planning on addressing matters this weekend to ensure full transparency. Calls to Peter Franks went unreturned but his wife said that he was at a baseball game for their son and then heading out for a Boy Scout weekend.

Father Furey received an email from me saying that either he needed to address every Mass this weekend in a fully transparent way or that I was prepared to do so at every Mass.

At 3:55, Father Furey and I greeted one another in the back of the church. Deacon Blier witnessed our exchange. What wasn’t known at that moment is that Father Furey had a meeting in the sacristy with a group of Parish Council members, with Galen Tate, and others prior to my arrival.

We are citizens as well as parishioners. It is our duty to report information to a lawful investigation if we so desire to assist in seeing how our money was used in the second collections and how our donations made directly or indirectly to Father Carrier were used..

Agent Khattabi was looking for account numbers from our checks to assist his investigation of the money trail to see if there are multiple accounts where money was being hidden.

The remarks that were prepared by me were to address what our parish should know:

that Father Carrier should not be involved with our Parish at this time until his role in the money issues of the missing funds from the Haiti Fund was resolved, of describing how parishioners who wanted to volunteer information on the back of their checks to either Peter Franks or directly to Rod Khattabi, and that Father Furey and the staff needed to allow for an independent investigation to be done about how the second collections may have been used to help fund the Haiti donations raised in our Parish.

Father Furey made an innocuous announcement at the beginning of the 4pm Mass, about how “a” parishioner had raised issues about fundraising at the Parish for the Haiti Fund, indicated that there would be a transparent investigation of church funds used to support that cause, and that if there was information to be contributed by any parishioner to call the Parish Office.

Father Furey made no mention that Father Carrier would no longer be with our Confirmation group. Father Furey didn’t distance himself from the investigation. He instead was going to enlist the assistance of the Parish staff, who reports to Father Furey rather than use an independent person like Peter Franks or Rod Khattabi as a resource for collection of information.

When I arrived for the 4pm Mass, Father Furey did indicate to me that I did not have permission to address the congregation. It was important for Father Furey to address matters in a forthright and transparent matter. However, my eyes locked squarely with his when I said, that I don’t need his permission to tell the truth.

I said that if he didn’t address the issues that I would do so after the Apostolic Blessing.

It is important that we keep our children safe and that public pronouncement could have come from Father Furey. Father Furey could have had people call someone other than the Parish Offices. He instead wanted to control the process which he needed to distance himself from in this particular case because of his close relationship with Father Carrier.

When I stood up to speak, Father Furey said that I didn’t have permission to speak. He didn’t know what it was that I was going to say. Within a minute of asking those with small children to leave because of the subject matter being a sensitive one, Galen Tate started to play the organ over my words.

Father Furey then waved everyone out of the church while I tried to indicate that unbeknownst to us that there was money raised at our Parish to support the Haiti Fund even though Father Carrier was no longer associated with the cause. The indictment of Douglas Perlitz wasn’t referenced by Father Furey’s remarks.

It was an attempt to bury the painful truths which have been such a source of discomfort for many of The Faithful who have stood by our Church leadership despite many years of hidden misdeeds.

By the time that I walked to the back of the church, there was a police officer awaiting me. Someone had actually been instructed to call the police to remove me from the private property where I have been a faithful parishioner for 18 years.

When I asked on whose authority was Officer Gorton suggesting that I was trespassing, he again repeated that they had been called to remove me from the property.

When the officer put his hand on my elbow, I asked him to remove it, but continued to speak with a group of interested parishioners as to what it was that Father Furey didn’t want anyone to know in detail.

There were a number of Parish Council members in attendance who came to the defense of Father Carrier.

All of us like what we know about Father Carrier was my response. However, it is what we don’t know sometimes about people which can hurt us. Father Carrier was a friend of mine too.

What disturbed me about Father Carrier is that Father Furey in mid-August was forwarding my email address to Father Carrier who seemed elusive about getting together so that I could make a special donation to his beloved Haiti project.

Now it was clear to me why he was elusive. It turns out that Father Carrier hadn’t been involved with the Haiti Fund since May 2008, yet was not acknowledging that fact.

Nor was Father Furey who allowed him into our Parish to raise money for a cause he was no longer affiliated with for over a year.

This is more than a small oversight by Father Furey if he knew that Father Carrier was no longer affiliated with the Haiti Fund and Project Pierre Trouissant. What did Father Furey know and when did he know about Father Carrier’s departure from the Haiti Fund is something that Father Furey needs to be transparent about.

Having the police called was not a reaction to something said by me, it was a preplanned event.

What was not revealed to me until I picked up an incident report on the following Thursday from the Darien Police Department was that Father Furey was directed to do so by none other than Bishop Lori.

Silence dissent by calling the police on the eve of the Connecticut Supreme Court decision which mandates that the Diocese of Bridgeport must open the files. While the Diocese is appealing the decision, they intend to continue silencing the voices of dissent.

On Saturday night, October 3, I posted a message on the Bridgeport Bishop’s blog. It never got posted. It was intercepted by Joe McAleer the Diocese Media Mogul.

When I called the Bishop’s Office on Monday, I called Joe. Joe said the matter wasn’t a Diocese matter because Father Carrier doesn’t work for the Bishop. Yet, he was asked, it isn’t a Diocese issue if he was invited to raise money for a cause with which he wasn’t affiliated?

At the point in time that the Diocese office was saying Father Carrier wasn’t their concern, the Bishop two days before was silencing my voice revealing that there is another scandal brewing for Bishop Lori and the Diocese.

It is terribly sad that the Church believes that secrecy is sacrosanct.

While Father Carrier is entitled to the presumption of innocence, the longer that he remains in hiding the better.

As for my being banished from St. Thomas More? It took three phone calls to fix. One to the Connecticut Post, one to the American Civil Liberties Union and one to Joe McAleer to say that a meeting needed to be set up to avoid a much larger financial problem with the Diocese.

On Saturday, October 10, a meeting was held with Father Furey, and three others to resolve my reinstatement. A letter was issued with the caveat that I would not “create further disturbances.”

In that meeting, the group asked me to refrain from talking to the media. That was a possibility if there was a public apology given, there was an announcement that Father Carrier would until further notice be sequestered from contact with our children, that the Parish announce the money that had been raised was done under less than forthright circumstances, and that the Parish had hired an outside counsel to oversee the processes of the money that had been raised for the Haiti Fund.

My suggestions were not well received by the group. They refused on all fronts. Therefore it was my decision to continue to talk to the media. However, before anything was published, it was my feeling that the Parish Council and Fathers Furey and Post be given one last opportunity to hold a Parish meeting to discuss a complete and honest reporting to the Parish of their knowledge of who knew what and when.

Absent that, a copy of this letter will be shared with Joshua Fisher on Monday. Joshua and I have been in dialog for weeks. Joshua actually believes that Joe McAleer is going to have a meeting with the Darien Times. Joshua is a great guy, but he hasn’t learned much from how Joe McAleer was less than transparent with the Father Fey scandal in Darien’s other Catholic Church.

Not sure about you, but this writer is tired of apologizing for the secrecy issues of the Catholic Church.

Secrets are not the kind of transparency which the Church needs to demonstrate to restore confidence that the Truth is important to authenticity.

It is time for the Parish Council to level with us. The Parish Council reports to the Parishioners, not the dictates of the Diocese.

What everyone is not aware of is that the Diocese has hired an attorney to represent all of the Diocese personnel that want the protection of the Bishop’s use of our funds to defend secrecy. This protection extends to the members of our Parish Council according to Special Agent Rod Khattabi.

There is no reason for secrecy if you have nothing to hide.

There is much more of this story to be told, but everyone now knows of that which has been withheld from you in hopes that our leadership would step forward to do the right thing.

They haven’t.

If you believe such a meeting should be held by our Church leadership, a petition will be in the vestibule of the Church next weekend November 14 and 15. That is, if this wouldn’t be classified as a disturbance.

I am sure that someone else could hold the clipboard and wouldn’t be sanctioned.

The Darien newspaper will have the chance to publish this story when they have the time and interest to do so.

However, now that the issues are out in the open, perhaps it would be a good time to have an open dialog and stop hiding behind the disguise of secrecy.

It has been four weeks since my meeting with the St. Thomas More leadership.

A sufficient time has passed to feel comfortable that there is never going to be a meeting unless the Parishioners petition its leadership to host such a meeting.

It might be a good session to have with our children who are getting ready for Confirmation to demonstrate how difficult it is to do the right thing.

Sincerely,
Michael Nowacki
Connecticut, USA

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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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Thank you: Haitian children had no public voice in this process until you came on the scene

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line, Posted by Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit blog

I'm the history of rape

No More Secrecy

Letter to the UN asking for investigative reports on UN rape

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 11:11:36 -0500

"I am the history of rape...
I am the history of battery assault and limitless
armies against whatever I want to do with my mind
and my body and my soul and
whether it’s about walking out at night
or whether it’s about the love that I feel or
whether it’s about the sanctity of my vagina or
the sanctity of my national boundaries
or the sanctity of my leaders...I know from my heart...
I have been raped." Poem about My Rights by June Jordan

***

HLLN Letter to the UN asking for investigative reports, specific actions taken and punishment metered, reparations provided to Haitian victims of rape and sexual abuse by UN soldiers in Haiti

In 2005, the Ezili Danto Witness Project reported on a Jordanian soldier's brutal rape and sodomizing a Haitian mother of five in Haiti. The report was sent to the UN, the victim complained to the UN. The investigation process never led to a resolution that was ever revealed to HLLN or the victim. (Read the English transcript.)

In 2007, it was discovered and reported that girls as young as 13 were having sex with U.N. peacekeepers for as little as $1 in Haiti. Moreover, Sri Lankan soldiers were accused of systematically raping Haitian women and girls, some as young as 7 years old.

Today, the UN said that dozens of UN peacekeepers were punished for sexual abuses. (UN peacekeepers involved in abuse are being punished, world body says, UN News Center, November 5, 2009, and Dozens of UN peace keepers punished for abuses, CBC News, November 5, 2009.)

Indeed, what this UN statement reveals to Ezili's HLLN is that if only a dozen UN peacekeepers were punished for sexual abuse and rape, than that means, for instance, most of the 114 Sri Lankan soldiers deported back to Sri Lanka from Haiti in 2007 for sexual abuse and rape in Haiti did not get punished. The Jordanian and other perpetrators we are aware of through Haitian complaints also have not been redressed or punished.

The more important revelation is the UN's continued secrecy on this matter as “no data on the nationalities or identities of the peacekeepers were revealed.”

HLLN is again publicly and via cover of this note to UN authorities requesting the release of the findings of the investigation and report as to exactly what was happening in Martissant, Haiti and other locations at the brothels set up by the Sri Lankan and other UN soldiers in Haiti before they were deported in 2007.

Via-cover of this note, Ezili’s HLLN again stresses that the UN should take a leaf out of Oprah’s book and not run from the allegations of rape and abuse by their employees. When girls at Oprah's school in South Africa alleged sexual abuse, Oprah investigated, apologized to the students, their parents and the entire community that such depravity could have happened in her school, cleaned up the mess and set up new accountability standards and rigors so that such depraved assaults on children had a lesser chance of re-occurring.

The UN could at least do the same with all those international experts and PHDzzzs on its payroll. Investigate, apologize to the people of Haiti, fully and publicly report the result of the investigations, reveal the names of the culprits to the Haitian public, provide relief for the victims, set up new standards and accountability bars for the countries whose soldiers were involved in the rapes and sexual abuses in Haiti, not just release these diluted data where nothing is really revealed.

The UN’s “zero tolerance” is lip service until it is backed up by actions that realistically assures Haitians they are truly concerned about these depraved assaults on minors and women by their UN soldiers, are providing counseling and assistance to the victims, have cleaned up all backlog of complaints and have stopped making the victims who come forward with allegations, for instance, of gang rape by three or four soldiers at a time, feel responsible, terming the acts "consensual" if money was exchanged and/or further making the victims feel responsible for the abuse and exploitation of power with appallingly racist statements to the effect that - “Haitians are natural prostitutes, used to trading sex for food, shelter and education.” What such moral actions, new standards and accounting procedures would signal to Haitians is that indeed this indecency is clearly marked very seriously as a zero tolerance zone by UN superiors.

The newly release UN data on abuse falls short of such responsibility and is reprehensible. The investigation into the 114 Sri Lakan soldiers accused of sexually abusing minors and running a brothel in Haiti must be made public to the Haitian people and the victims offered assistance, especially the minors whose childhood innocence cannot be returned.

Humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers accused of sexually abusing and sexual trafficking children in Haiti should have their names and their country’s identities exposed so that this matter may be cleaned up once and for all.

HLLN looks forward to a response to this letter from the UN authorities and a copy of their investigation to share with our Network and the media.

To end, we attach a Final Call article on this same HLLN concern for justice, transparency and accountability from the UN, written more than a year ago: UN peacekeepers and aid workers accused of abusing children, Final Call, June 24, 2008

For a related concern which touches on the UN and other authorities non-transparency and irresponsibility in cases involving the sexual abuse and rape of Haitian people by aid workers, see: No More Secrecy -HLLN on Douglaz Perlitz's new motions asking for secrecy.

Sincerely,

Ezili Dantò/(Marguerite Laurent)
President, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN")
November 5, 2009
erzilidanto@yahoo.com
www.ezilidanto.com

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Recommended HLLN Links:

Jordanian Soldier brutally rape and sodomize Haitian mother of five in Haiti Ezili Danto Witness Project| Transcription and translation by Frantz Jerome of HLLN| November 28, 2005

UN peacekeepers and aid workers accused of abusing children, Final Call, June 24, 2008

UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children

U.N. Faces More Accusations of Sexual Misconduct
Officials Acknowledge 'Swamp' of Problems and Pledge Fixes Amid New Allegations in Africa, Haiti

Dozens of UN peacekeepers punished for abuses, CBC News, November 5, 2009

Youtube: Sri Lankan TROOPS Rape Haitian Girls

****
UN peacekeepers involved in abuse are being punished, world body says, UN News Center, November 5, 2009

5 November 2009 – Dozens of United Nations peacekeepers implicated in cases of sexual abuse and exploitation have been disciplined and punished, a spokesperson for the world body said today.

The UN has imposed a zero-tolerance policy against sexual abuse and exploitation by its peacekeepers, and senior officials have reiterated in recent years that this means there is no impunity for blue helmets who engage in such practices.

UN spokesperson Michele Montas said that, since January, troop-contributing countries have reported that 33 military personnel implicated in cases of sexual abuse and exploitation while serving in UN operations have been disciplined and punished.

This is according to the Department of Field Support (DFS), which added that the punishments included forced retirement, withdrawal of officer’s commission, various lengths of imprisonment and outright dismissal.

Last year, two military personnel received such disciplinary action and there were 15 such cases the year before, Ms. Montas told reporters in New York.

In addition, disciplinary action was taken, over the past three years, against 20 military personnel for cases involving other forms of misconduct, such as negligent loss of firearms, traffic-related violations and fraud or theft.

Some of the cases involved peacekeepers who served in Haiti, Lebanon, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which hosts the largest UN peacekeeping mission worldwide.

Deployment of UN peacekeepers is at a record high, with more than 113,000 personnel serving in 18 operations on four continents.

While not providing details about those engaged in misconduct, Ms. Montas said there have been a number of cases where people have been repatriated, with follow-up action by troop-contributing countries.

“When allegations of misconduct are substantiated against any military or police serving in UN peacekeeping, the UN repatriates the individuals concerned and then bans them from participating in future peacekeeping operations.”

She added that the UN tries to pursue cases of any misconduct as far as it can. Beyond that, national tribunals and national courts have a role to play.

“The UN is trying to get troop contributors to do more in prosecuting and punishing their nationals who engage in misconduct,” said the spokesperson.

Ms. Montas stressed that there has been an increase in the number of requests and responses to those requests in dealing with the issue.

In 2009, the UN sent 112 requests for action taken concerning all forms of misconduct, including but not limited to sexual exploitation and abuse, and received 14 responses as of 3 November.

By comparison, she noted, the UN sent 192 such requests in 2008 and received six responses on action taken, while 146 requests were made and nine responses received in 2007.

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UN: 50 peacekeepers punished for sex abuses By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press, November 5, 2009

GENEVA — At least 50 peacekeepers have received punishments ranging from reduction in military rank to eight months imprisonment for committing sexual abuses on United Nations missions since 2007, the U.N. said Thursday.

The data were released after media organizations asked what measures countries were taking against peacekeepers accused of rape and other abuses in conflict areas such as Congo. The U.N. can investigate allegations of misconduct, but prosecution is handled solely by governments contributing personnel to missions.

The figures show a significant increase in prosecutions and court-martials by national authorities this year. The disciplinary action against 33 peacekeepers in "cases involving sexual exploitation and abuse" through November included lesser penalties from dismissal, forced retirement and withdrawal of an officer's commission to prison sentences reaching eight months.

Only two military personnel were punished for similar abuses in 2008, and 15 in 2007, according to the U.N. data aggregated by the organization's field support department.

"When allegations of misconduct involving military and police personnel are substantiated, the U.N. can repatriate the individuals concerned and ban them from participating in future peacekeeping operations," the U.N. said.

Allegations of sexual exploitation and other crimes have dogged U.N. peacekeeping missions almost since their inception in 1948, with abuses reported in missions from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor, West Africa and Congo. The issue was thrust into the spotlight after the United Nations found in early 2005 that peacekeepers in Congo had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money.

In response, the U.N. adopted a "zero tolerance" policy toward sexual abuse and a universal code of conduct that required training for all peacekeepers. But it left punishment for wrongdoers to individual countries, which has been a continuing problem.

The figures show that the U.N. has referred to national authorities over 450 instances of misconduct — sexual and otherwise — since 2007. It received responses in only 29 of these cases.
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UN peacekeepers and aid workers accused of abusing children

Posted: 2008/06/24
From: MNN

The Save The Children UK research involved hundreds of children in Cote d'Ivoire, southern Sudan and Haiti. The most shocking aspect was that the sex abuse went unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out and little happening to perpetrators of the despicable acts when children did speak up.

(Final Call)

UNITED NATIONS - A European charity organization, Save The Children UK, accused humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers of sexually abusing and sexual trafficking children in several war-torn and food-poor nations.

“It’s hard to imagine a more grotesque abuse of authority or flagrant violation of children’s rights,” said Jasmine Whitehead, of Save the Children UK. In interviews, children said they engaged in prostitution, pornography, traded food for sex and were raped. The report was released in late May.

This report is a blessing, said attorney Marguerite Laurent, chairwoman of the Connecticut-based Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network. “In Haiti, children as young as six were sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers, according to the report; and by the lack of media coverage it would seem that the world doesn’t care,” Ms. Laurent told The Final Call.

“Those of us on the ground in Haiti have been saying these things for years, but this report has credibility because of the group putting it out,” Ms. Laurent stressed. The activist attorney added that very little was being done to support victims of the reported abuses.

Some journalists have attempted to alert the international community concerning the persistence of gross human rights abuses in Haiti since the 2004 coup that ousted the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The Center for the Study of Human Rights at Miami University’s Law School published a report on the security breakdown in Port-au-Prince after the 2004 coup, which, according to Brian Conconnon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, was ignored by the UN and the international community.

“What the UN Mission In Haiti is doing is not a mission of stabilization,” said Mr. Conconnan. “It is a mission that engages in operations of massacres, assassinations and alleged sexual abuse of women and children more so than activities of reconstruction and peacekeeping,” he said.

The Save The Children UK research involved hundreds of children in Cote d’Ivoire, southern Sudan and Haiti. The charity organization said the most shocking aspect was that the sex abuse went unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out and little happening to perpetrators of the despicable acts when children did speak up.

But, the report found there was an “endemic failure” on the part of the UN and others in responding to cases of abuse. “A better reporting mechanism needs to be introduced,” the report said.

Save The Children UK also noted that the international community has a policy of zero-tolerance toward child sexual abuse, but that stated policy was not being followed by action on the ground. A major part of the charity organization’s critique was aimed at the lack of punishment of wrongdoers in blue helmeted peacekeepers.

“The United Nations has refused to accept moral responsibility for the action of peacekeepers under its control,” Ms. Laurent said.

At the United Nations there was a welcoming of the report. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said the report was “very helpful” and would be studied closely.

The secretary-general’s spokeswoman, Michele Montas, a Haitian, told reporters the report was “largely accurate,” but would not take reporters’ questions concerning the charges it contained. Instead Assistant Secretary-General for Mission Support Jane Holl Lute was sent as a “sacrificial lamb” before the press.

When reporters asked Ms. Lute about the outcome of the cases of the Moroccan peacekeepers repatriated from Cote d’Ivoire accused of rape; or the Sri Lanka contingent repatriated from Haiti on similar charges, she said, “I came down to speak about the report, not those cases.”

But several reporters would not let the issue go and Ms. Lute finally admitted that the Peacekeeping Department had asked the mission in Cote d’Ivoire to respond to charges they were given evidence in child sex abuse cases and did not act.

She said there might be accountability from the mission’s leadership, but was unclear on whether it would be the departed leadership or the present group.

“Holding individuals accountable has been an ongoing problem, because none of the reports mentions names of the organizations the individuals work for; so they just leave one job and get hired by another aid group, and the cycle continues,” said Ms. Laurent.

Larry Holmes, UN under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs told reporters there was a need to boost efforts to make “zero tolerance” of sexual violence a reality by reversing the “continued failure” of peacekeepers and UN police officials to “take sexual violence seriously.”

Mr. Holmes also urged an end to ineffective investigations, minimal prosecutions and interference by the military and other officials in the administration of justice.

Ms. Laurent said the problem is corruption between the international community and local authorities, and whether or not the government takes action against a person depends on where they work.

Save The Children UK agreed, saying the international community is not “exercising sufficiently strong leadership and managerial courage.” It asked for an outside-sponsored watchdog to oversee peacekeeping operations.

Reports from missions continue. In early 2008 the Daily Telegraph in London reported that members of the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan were facing allegations of raping children as young as 12.

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Perlitz remains behind bars - HLLN says "No More Secrecy"

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:10:20 -0400

No More Secrecy

HLLN on Douglaz Perlitz's new motions asking for secrecy

The new court date is December 2, 2009. Please continue writing to Judge Margolis and if you are in the East Coast, attend the hearing to show support for Haiti's children.

At his Oct. 28 bond hearing, accused pedophile Douglas Perlitz withdrew his bond request for now. The awareness-raising campaign HLLN-led to warn the community that an accused pedophile may be set free on bail had some effect. (Perlitz Court Date Moved, Groups Raise Awareness of Perlitz, O’Brien Cases; Letter-writing campaign aims to keep Perlitz jailed, and Jesuits, diocese asked to help sex abuse victims). Defendant Perlitz was not set free and shall remain behind bars until the matter is revisited again on December 2nd, if at all.

This is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless for all children considering that last time in court, on Oct. 8th, Perlitz's attorney kept pointing out how massive Mr. Perlitz's support was, implying the children of Haiti had no support and stating outright that our children are liars, not to mention detailing, in racist terms, how violent and corrupt Haiti is as the reason why Perlitz is being wrongly accused. (See in contrast, Pointing Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti is a myth. According to the UN, the violence rate in Haiti is 5.6 homicide per 100,000. In 2006 the neighboring Dominican Republic had 23.6 homicides per 100,000 according to the Central American Observatory on Violence. Brazil had 52.2/per 100,000 ... whereas in the USA, the rate is 13.2 per 100,000 in some excluded communities and 5.7 per 100,000 overall. The Caribbean region's average murder rate were at 30 per 100,000 in 2007. If you compare the US, Brazil, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, the facts indicate more violence there than in Haiti. But it is Haiti that is singled out, negatively stereotyped and saddled with UN occupation and people abusing Haiti stereotypes for their own ends. The facts reveal that the only time there is more violence in Haiti than normal crimes is when the US/Euros sponsor coup d'etat and dictatorship over the objections of the Haitian peoples' democratic vote.)

Photo credit: Chris Simmons, Fairfield Mirror

This time in court, the children of Haiti had more people there to support them than Mr. Perlitz's so touted "supporters" which were mostly no-shows in comparison to the Oct. 8th showing.

Thank you all who wrote and asked Judge Margolis not to release Douglas Perlitz on bond. The process has just begun. We suspect, the information Ezili's HLLN has been circulating about the systemic abuse of Haitian children by white charity workers and the UN troops is making a difference and the new information filed by the prosecutors on October 27 to support Perlitz's continued incarceration has raised the bar.

We suspect as more information is made available and as the media learns more about what is actually going on in Haiti in terms of the raping and molesting of Haitian children by charity workers and UN peace keepers, more of Mr. Perlitz's supporters and prospective bond financiers will be asking to remain anonymous. For instance, according to new information divulged by the federal prosecutors, from June until his arrest in September 2009, computer records show that Douglas Perlitz was using a laptop computer to seek Haitian and black boys on sexually oriented Internet sites and over 100 sexual images of black boys where found on his computer. Perlitz's attorneys has file a motion supporting bond where he requests that the individuals putting up money on defendant Perlitz's behalf remain anonymous. But all children need protection and we are publicly campaigning against this demand for secrecy. This sort of crime against children flourishes in secrecy. Its prosecution must be done in the full light.

Every Douglas Perlitz's bond supporter ought to be able stand in front of the entire community and say they are standing by Mr. Perlitz' innocence. Too many times in Haiti's past we've seen, as we just saw with the arrest of ex-priest and accused pedophile John Duarte last week, that the authorities are willing to make arrests but, as for instance in the John Duarte pedophile case, categorically refuse to name the hotel in Port au Prince where Mr. Duarte was having sex with children. This is exactly the sort of thing Save the Children did last year when it announced that UN peacekeepers in Haiti and NGO workers were sexually abusing Haiti's children, but did not name the UN peacekeepers nor the NGO charities involved.

Perlitz ran a residence for humanitarian aid workers in Haiti, as well as, the school for boys. Our investigation show an entwine international network in Haiti and a systematic cover up, it seems, by the authorities to keep this matter as "isolated incidents" when it is not. (See, for example - The 'Father Teresa' of Haiti – Armand Huard - was convicted on sex abuse charges against minors in Haiti orphanage; Two Canadians Charged with Sex Abuse in Haiti orphanage; Former Windsor priest John Duarte arraigned on child-molestation charges; Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line; Sex scandal in Haiti hits U.N. mission; and, A Swiss accused pedophile was arrested in Haiti.)

Thus, in this case with defendant Douglas Perlitz, those who wish to stand with him ought to be sure enough of him and his innocence not to hide their names as his attorney asked in the motions filed in court yesterday. If Douglas Perlitz is the "saint" that his attorneys say he is - just simply a wrongly accused white American in a "Hatfield/McCoy" caper concocted by Haiti’s children and teachers, if that is so, as his attorneys are vociferously pleading, then there ought not to be a problem with revealing who the 19 "people of fine standing in the community, as well as of sufficient financial means," many from Fairfield County, are, who will agree to post the required $5 million bond for defendant Douglas Perlitz.

Our concerned community (local, national and international) is asking for transparency.

We have had ENOUGH of secrecy in the exploitation, abuse, rape and molestation of black children and people in Haiti. Haitians are still waiting for the UN authorities to release the investigation report from the 114 Sri Lankan soldiers accused of the systematic sexual abuse and rape of minors in Haiti and deported back, in disgrace, to Sri Lanka. It's been two years and the UN investigation has never been made public to Haitians. This is the sort of racist double standard, complicity and capriciousness Ezili's HLLN finds an abuse of power by supposedly lawful and respected authorities. (See, UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children.)

The media must begin to look into the carnage in Haiti - the fleecing of Haiti's natural resources while the people starve and die, as well as, this systemic tourist sex trade bringing disease, rape and molestation to Haiti behind the disenfranchisement of 9 million Blacks by the 2004 Bush regime change and current UN occupation, all, in the name of bringing stability, democracy and humanitarian aid to Haiti. ( Minimum Wage, Maximum Outrage and Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues.)

The world needs to wake up to the voiceless poor's plight in Haiti. That is why Ezili's HLLN shall continue explaining these concerns to the world and go, people-to-people, as we just did with this Perlitz case, as the Haitian public does not seem to be getting anywhere with those in power, or who have taken power illegally (the more than 10,000 NGOs in Haiti and the UN forces) and who are supposed to be protecting and defending democracy, justice, and Haitian welfare.

Ezili Dantò/HLLN
October 28, 2009
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Recommended HLLN Link:
Documents Say Abuse Suspect Tried To Buy Off Victims
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, The Hartford Courant, October 29, 2009

Photos of Haitians speaking out on Douglas Perlitz case outside the courthouse - Chris Simmons Mirror's photostream

Ex-Fairfielder accused of abusing Haitian boys drops bond bid
By Michael P. Mayko, STAFF WRITER, Connecticut Post, Oct. 28, 2009

Perlitz detained without prejudice, defense plans to eventually ask for release by Chris Simmons, Fairfield Mirror, Oct. 28, 2009

Feds: Haiti abuse suspect sought boys while in US

Direct from Okap: Lakounewyork interview with Cyrus Sibert on Perlitz case

New motions filed in Perlitz case

Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line, Posted by Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit blog

Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues

Thank you: Haitian children had no public voice in this process until you came on the scene

Help Haiti's children - Demand that accused US pedophile, Doug Perlitz, not be set free on bond

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Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò

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Former Windsor priest John Duarte arraigned on child-molestation charges; Sex scandal in Haiti hits U.N. mission

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The 'Father Teresa' of Haiti – Armand Huard - was convicted on sex abuse charges against minors in Haiti orphanage

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A Swiss accused pedophile was arrested in Haiti

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The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose
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Video - Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya

Video - Paradise for Pedophiles - Senegal

Video - Peacekeepers 'abusing children' in Haiti - 27 Sep 08

Video - 108 sri lankan troops accused of sexual abuse in haiti UN

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Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:10:19 -0400

Oil in Haiti and Oil Refinery - an old notion for Fort Liberte as a transshipment terminal for US supertankers - Another economic reason for the ouster of President Aristide and current UN occupation (Haiti's Riches:Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti)

_{Located in the North-Eastern part of Haiti and abounding with tourist sites, Fort-Liberté is a city where the first declaration of Haiti's independence took place on November 29, 1803. It has one of the most captivating historical sites in the area called Fort Dauphin known today as Fort-Liberté. This fort was built around 1731 under the command of Louis XV, king of France, and its ruins are the greatest evidences of its genius designers who chose the most strategic point to built it in order to fight off upcoming invaders.

In addition to its architectural charm, it overlooks a splendid bay of turquoise seawater, which sparkles under the bright rays of the tropical sun.}

There is evidence that the United States found oil in Haiti decades ago and due to the geopolitical circumstances and big business interests of that era made the decision to keep Haitian oil in reserve for when Middle Eastern oil had dried up. This is detailed by Dr. Georges Michel in an article dated March 27, 2004 outlining the history of oil explorations and oil reserves in Haiti and in the research of Dr. Ginette and Daniel Mathurin.

There is also good evidence that these very same big US oil companies and their inter-related monopolies of engineering and defense contractors made plans, decades ago, to use Haiti's deep water ports either for oil refineries or to develop oil tank farm sites or depots where crude oil could be stored and later transferred to small tankers to serve U.S. and Caribbean ports. This is detailed in a paper about the Dunn Plantation at Fort Liberte in Haiti.

Ezili's HLLN underlines these two papers on Haiti's oil resources and the works of Dr. Ginette and Daniel Mathurin in order to provide a view one will not find in the mainstream media nor anywhere else as to the economic and strategic reasons the US has constructed its fifth largest embassy in the world - fifth only besides the US embassy in China, Iraq, Iran and Germany - in tiny Haiti, post the 2004 Haiti Bush regime change.

The facts outlined in the Dunn Plantation and Georges Michel papers, considered together, reasonably unveil part of the hidden reasons UN Special Envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, is giving the UN occupation a facelift so that its troops stay in Haiti for the duration.

Ezili's HLLN has consistently maintained, since the beginning of the 2004 Bush regime change in Haiti, that the 2004 US invasion of Haiti used UN troops as its military proxy to avoid the charge of imperialism and racism. We have also consistently maintained that the UN/US invasion and occupation of Haiti is not about protecting Haitian rights, security stability or long-term domestic development but about returning the Washington Chimeres/[gangsters] - the traditional Haitian Oligarchs - to power, establishing free trade not fair trade, the Chicago-boys' death plan, neoliberal policies, keeping the minimum wage at slave wage levels, plundering Haiti's natural resources and riches, not to mention using the location benefit that Haiti lies between Cuba and Venezuela. In the Dunn Plantation and Georges Michel papers, we find and deploy further details as to why the US is in Haiti with this attempted Bill Clinton facelift to the UN's continued occupations.

For, no matter the disguise or media spins it's also about Haiti's oil reserves, and about securing Haiti's deep-water ports as transshipment location for oil or for tank sites to store crude oil without interference from a democratic government beholden to its informed population's welfare. (See Reynold's deep water port in Miragoane/NIPDEVCO property- scroll to photos in middle of the page.)

In Haiti, between 1994 to 2004 when the people had a voice in government, there was an intense grassroots movement to figure out how to exploit Haiti's resources. There was a plan, where in the book "Investing In People: Lavalas White Book under the direction of Jean-Betrand Aristide (Investir Dans L'Humain), the Haitian majority "were not only told where the resources were, but that -- they did not have the skills and technology to actually extract the gold, to extract the oil."

The Aristide/Lavalas plan, as I've articulated in the Haiti's Riches Interview, was "to engage in some sort of private/public partnership. Where both the Haitian people's interest would be taken care of and of course the private interest would take their profits. But I think it was around that time we had St. Genevieve saying they did not like the Haitian government. Obviously, they didn't like this plan. They don't like the Haitian people to know where their resources are. But in this book, it was the first time in Haitian history, it was written in Kreyòl and in French. And there was a national discussion all over the radio in Haiti with respect to all these various resources of Haiti, where they were located, and how the Haitian government was intending on trying to build sustainable development through those resources. So that's what you had before the 2004 Bush regime change/Coup D'etat in Haiti. With the Coup D'etat now, though the people know where these resources are because this book exists, they don't know who these foreign companies are. What they're profit margins are. What the environmental protection rules and regulations to protect them are. Many folks, for instance, in the North talk about losing their property, having people come in with guns and taking over their property. So that's where we are." (Haiti's Riches: Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti.)

The mainstream media, owned by the multinational companies fleecing Haiti, certainly won't lay out for public consumption that the UN/US invasion and occupation of Haiti is to secure Haiti's oil, strategic position, cheap labor, deep water ports, mineral resources, lands, waterfronts, offshore resources for privatization or the exclusive use of the world's wealthy oligarchs and big oil monopolies. (See, Map showing some of Haiti's mining and mineral wealth, including five oil sites in Haiti;Oil in Haiti by Dr. Georges Michel; Excerpt from the Dunn Plantation paper; Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin; Is UN proxy occupation of Haiti masking US securing oil/gas reserves from Haiti).

In fact, the current Haitian authority-under-the-US/UN-occupation that is in charge of regulating exploration licenses and mining in Haiti does not explain, in any relevant or systematic manner, to the Haitian majority about the companies buying up, post 2004, Haiti's deep water ports, what their profit shares with the Haitian nation are, where are the accounting of said shares owed to the people of Haiti, nor explain the environmental effects of the massive excavations of Haiti's mountains and waters going on right now. Instead, the Director of Mining in Haiti blithely maintains that "further research will be necessary to confirm the existence of oil in Haiti."

In an excerpt taken from the article posted Oct 9, 2000 by Bob Perdue entitled "Lonnie Dunn, third owner of the Dauphin plantation," we learn that:

"On November 8, 1973, Martha C. Carbone, American Embassy, Port-au-Prince, sent a letter to the Office of Fuels and Energy, Department of State, in which she stated that the Government of Haiti "...had before it proposals from eight different groups to establish a trans-shipment port for petroleum in one or more of the Haitian deep water ports. Some of the projects include construction of a refinery...." She further commented that the Embassy was acquainted with three firms: Ingram Corporation of New Orleans, Southern California Gas Company and Williams Chemical Corporation of Florida.. (According to John Moseley, the New Orleans company was probably "Ingraham", not Ingram.)

In the November 6, 1972 issue of Oil and Gas Journal, Leo B. Aalund commented in his article "Vast Flight of Refining Capacity from U.S. Looms",.: "Finally, 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's Haiti is participating with a group that wants to build a transshipment terminal off Fort Liberte, Haiti". One of the proposals referred to by Carbone was undoubtedly submitted by Dunn interests.

Additionally, we learn from this article that "Lonnie Dunn who owned the Dauphin plantation "planned to straighten and widen the entrance to the [Fort Liberte] bay so that super tankers could be brought in and the cargo distributed to smaller tankers for transfer to U.S. and Caribbean ports that could not accommodate large ships..." (Photo of Fort Liberte, Haiti).

We've put on the Ezili's HLLN website the other relevant portions of this paper that talks about the corporate eye the US has had, for decades, on Fort Liberte in Haiti as an ideal deep water port for the multinationals to establish an oil refinery.

In the 50s and 60s there was little need for Haiti's ports or oil as the Middle Eastern monopoly was gushing dollars galore. No need for these oil monopolies to undercut themselves by putting more oil on the market to cut their profits. Manipulated scarcity thy name is profit! or, did I mean capitalism?

But the oil embargo of the 70s, the advent of OPEC, the rise of the Venezuelan factor, the Gulf Crisis followed by the Iraq war for oil, all has made Haiti a better bet for the three-piece suits and their military mercernaries called "Western governments", yep, a way easier place to pillage and plunder behind the "bringing democracy" or "humanitarian aid" public covers.

Serendipitously with Haiti's 2004 Bush-the-son Regime Change, a follow up to the 1991 Bush-the-father's military coup, we find, flurries of Congressional "discussions" about off-shore drillings in preparation, perhaps, to the eventual "revelation" as written in the Dunn paper years ago, that "there is a need for supertankers that require deep-water ports which are not readily available along the U.S. East Coast - nor ...welcome...for environmental and other consideration will (not) permit the construction of domestic refinery capacity on the scale that will be required."

_{Occidental side of the Fort

Despite being renovated by ISPAN in the mid' 1990, it is now in a very bad shape. All the balls and most of the canons have been stolen along with most of the cut stones paving its alleys and imported from Nantes, France. They were quite simply stolen by people not fully aware of their illegal act. Moreover, many holes within the fort enclosure are a potential threat to the preservation of the Fort in case of rain.}

We underline that Haiti is an ideal dumping ground for the US/Canada/France and now Brazil, because environmental, human rights and health issues and other considerations in the US and in these other countries, would probably not permit the construction of domestic refinery capacity on the scale that new explorations of oil in this hemisphere will required. So, why not pick the most militarily defenseless country in the Western Hemisphere and dot it with such unsafe initiatives behind a UN multi-national "humanitarian" mask and fatherly Bill Clinton's snowy white hair and smiling face?

It is relevant to note here that most of Haiti's major deep water ports have been privatized since the Bush 2004 regime change in Haiti. It is also relevant to note here what I wrote last year in the piece titled Is the UN military proxy occupation of Haiti masking US securing oil/gas reserves from Haiti: "If there's substantial oil and gas reserves in Haiti, the US/Euro genocide and crimes against the Haitian population has not yet begun. Ayisyen leve zye nou anwo, kenbe red. Nou fèk komanse goumen. (Read again, John Maxwell's Is there oil in Haiti.)

The revelations of Dr. Georges Michel and the Dunn Plantation papers seem to positively answer the question that there is substantail oil reserves in Haiti. And our Ezili Dantò Witness Project information is that it's indeed being tapped and contracted out, but not for the benefit of Haitians or Haiti's authentic development. That's why there was a need to marginalize the Haitian masses through the ouster of Haiti's democratically elected Aristide government and put in the UN guns and UN occupation that today masks the US/Euros' (with a piece to the new power that is Brazil) securing Haiti's oil and gas reserves and other mineral riches such as gold, copper, diamond and underwater treasures. (Majescor and SACG Discover a New Copper-Gold in Haiti, Oct. 6, 2009; See, Haiti's Riches.)

Today, the US and Euros say they are happy with Haiti's "security gains" and "stable" government. To wit: the last elections the US/UN presided over in Haiti excluded Haiti's majority party from participation. Haiti's jails are filled, indefinitely detained without trial or hearings, since 2004, with thousands upon thousands of community organizers, poor civilians and political dissenters that the UN/US label "gangsters." Site Soley has been "pacified." There are more NGOs and charitable organizations - about 10,000 - in Haiti then in any where in the world since 2004 and the Haitian people are a million times worst off than they were before this US/NGO civilization (otherwise also known as the "International Community") and their thugs, thieves and corporate death squads came and disenfranchised nine million blacks. Food prices are so high, some resort to eating dirt in the form of cookies to assuage Clorox hunger.

Lovinsky Pierre Antoine, the head of Haiti's largest human rights organization was disappeared in 2007 in UN occupied Haiti with no investigation done. Between 2004 and 2006 under the Western occupation, first by the US Marines then the UN multinational troops headed by Brazil, from 14,000 to 20,000 Haitians, mostly who opposed the occupation and regime change, were slaughtered with total impunity. More Haitian children are out of school today in 2009 than before the US/NGO "civilization" came post 2004. Under the US-imposed Boca Raton regime ,Haiti's Supreme Court was fired and brand new and paid-for judges, without any Constitutional authority inherited from the people of Haiti's mandate, took the place of the legitimate judges and law officers and are still metering out paid-for rulings in 2009 under the UN occupation and international community's tutelage.

And, as a matter of power, privilege, inequity and the violence of neocolonialism, white-sex abusers and pedophiles are having a hay day and human trafficking of Haiti children are at an all-time high. It is no revelation that in the stakes of corruption in Haiti or in Africa that a great many of the foreign NGOs along with their bourgeois/elite/pastors/priests and others are destroying poor children's life with absolute impunity while being painted as "saints" in their press back home the better to raise more funds to masturbate on Black pain some more.

Yet, Special UN Envoy, Bill Clinton, tells us "I am serving the next two years as a US Special Envoy to Haiti...This is the best chance in my lifetime that Haitians have ever had to escape the chains of their past..." The former President added, "If Haiti pulls out of this it will be in no small measure because of the efforts of non-governmental organizations."

What that means is perhaps this is the Haitian subcontractors, ruling oligarchs and US/Euro military industrial complexes' best chance to finally impose their chains on Haiti for good. Tap Haiti's oil, keep it so poor it will be grateful for slave wages at sweatshops. Let sexual tourism and the white sex-abusers do as they will. Transfer quickly more Haiti properties to foreigners and render the "good" Haitians as maids, butlers and servants in US/Euro-owned Haiti tourist resorts like the rest of the Caribbean. Militarize Haiti so that dissent is not possible even as a thought. That's perhaps UN Envoy, Bill Clinton's "best chance in my lifetime" scenario for Haiti. Nothing else makes sense. (See, HLLN comment on new IMF figures indicating Haiti is no longer the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and Does the Western economic calculation of wealth fit Haiti -fit Dessalines idea of wealth distribution?NO! and Comparing crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti and Pointing Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti is a myth and The Western vs the Real Narrative on Haiti and No other national group anywhere in the world sends more money home than Haitians living abroad.)

Going shopping in Haiti:
Though they exist and form the exception to the rule, there are very few Paul Farmers and Bill Quigleys in the Haitian world. Few who would HEAR, Lila Watson who said, "If you have come here to help me then you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine then let us work together." This sort of thinking that inspires self-reliance not dependency and provide the respectful conditions for those in great need to, in liberty, dignity and identity, realize their own needs is not what compels the "International Community" in Haiti right now.

For, in the age of humanitarian imperialism, globalization, financial colonialism and neocolonial-violence obfuscated behind forced assimilation and cultural imperialism, what exactly do some whites orï¿½ modern missionaries go shopping in Haiti for: sex, self-esteem, adulation, to exploit cheap labor, plunder Haiti's natural resources, for self-improvement, recovery, to use Haiti as in excuse to raise funds for their salaries and living expenses, or as an easy way to gain international expert credentials in any field and move up the socio-economic ladder at home and/or for securing the good tropical lifestyle with mountain and oceanfront houses, the maids, gardeners and seafood they couldn't obtain as easily in their Euro/US countries where they are the majority, ordinary, can’t use the white privilege inheritance without some scrutiny and are not as exotic and special as in neocolonial devastated Haiti. It’s all hidden, of course, behind the mask of being good humanitarians and helping Haitians.

Ezili Dantò/HLLN
October, 2009

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Help Haiti's children-Do not release Douglas Perlitz on bond

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:10:58 -0400

Help Haiti's children - Demand that accused US pedophile, Doug Perlitz, not be set free on bond

On October 28, 2009 at 11 a.m., accused US pedophile, Doug Perlitz will face, in New Haven Connecticut, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis and either be released on bond or held pending his trial. (See, Haiti program founder's release may hinge on higher bond, Connecticut Post, Oct. 8, 2009; Man charged with Haiti sex abuse pleads not guilty By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (AP); and School Founder Arraigned In Abuse Charges, wfsb.com, Founder Of Haitian School Is Accused Of Sexually Abusing Nine Former Students.)

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Douglas Perlitz

Photo:Fairfield Mirror

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We urge all who are in the East Coast of the US to be in that court room to support the case of the children of Haiti who are being so maligned by Perlitz's many supporters. Haiti is under occupation with a weak government, some say, that is mostly concerned with pleasing foreigners, not with protecting Haitian rights and domestic development. These Haitian children have no voice, unless we stand up for them. (UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children).

Recently, I spoke to an audience about the raping and molesting of Haiti's children and women, and in particular about the Doug Perlitz case, where one white man stood up and said, in sum, that Haiti was such a "hellhole," its children getting sodomized is not such a sin if Doug Perlitz the pedophile was also providing them with food and schooling! This is the attitude of Doug Perlitz's supporters in the United States. Please show up in court on October 28 at 11.a.m. and stand for these Haitian children, who have no Haitian government or Haitian institutions that will support their human rights, their innocence, their childhood, their right not to be violated by sex tourists and fake charity workers and UN "peacekeepers."

This is insupportable. Lend a hand in the case of Douglas Perlitz.

You may view a copy of the federal indictment here. Here's are some relevant points in the Douglas Perlitz case:

"1. Between 2002 and 2008, more than $2 million was transferred from the Haiti Fund to an account Douglas Perlitz controlled in Haiti.

"These monies did not include other significant capital expenses and other expenses that were directly paid by the Haiti Fund for Project Pierre Toussaint," Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel said in court papers. "Perlitz had access to an enormous sum of money ... and thus far there does not appear to be an accurate accounting of what happened to these monies."

The Haiti investigation into Douglas Perlitz began in 2007. Western Union records confirm that from 2008 through 2009, "Perlitz was sending money" to individuals in Haiti formerly enrolled in his program.

2. According to the federal indictment, in order to entice and persuade the children to comply with sex acts, Douglas Perlitz provided the promise of food and shelter and provided monetary and other benefits, including but not limited to, U.S. and foreign currency, cellphones, other electronics, shoes, clothes and other items.

Perlitz is accused of grooming the orphaned and desperately hungry street children for sexual acts, exposing them to homosexual pornography and plying them with alcoholic beverages in an effort to persuade them to spend the night in his private residence. According to the indictment, Perlitz told children not to be ashamed during sex acts; other times, he told them he was "crazy."

3. If minors refused to engage in sex acts, Douglas Perlitz would at times withhold necessities, such as bed linen or threaten to expel them from the program.

4 . After allegations of almost 10-year long misconduct of sexual abuse by Perlitz surfaced in 2007, Perlitz tried to block the investigation using his relationship with a religious leader who had influence with Board Members of the Haiti Fund to continue to conceal and attempt to conceal his illegal sexual conduct, the indictment says.

5. According to court papers: "The prosecutor also charged that beginning in July 2008 and continuing until March, Perlitz traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet with some of the children and adults associated with his program, shuttered recently because of lack of funds. On the night before Perlitz's Sept. 16 arrest in Colorado, Patel said he admitted receiving 17 calls from Haiti."

6. The Haitian national police department, which began investigating Perlitz's activities in 2007, has a warrant for his arrest.

7. Also according to US court papers: During a conversation with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Douglas Perlitz denied sexually abusing any of the children. But he allegedly said "molestation would be tough" and that the small victims "should just GET OVER IT ... He said he got over his father's death and even though it was tough he moved on ..." (See also, Haiti program founder's release may hinge on higher bond, Connecticut Post, Oct. 8, 2009).

What to do:
1. Attend the Court Hearings - Contact Ezili's HLLN [erzilidanto@yahoo.com] if you or your organization wishes to put together a bus load or groups of concerned citizens to attend the Oct. 28th or any of the other New Haven, CT, court hearings for accused US pedophile, Douglas Perlitz.

2. Contact - Write or fax a letter to the presiding judge -
The Honorable Joan G. Margolis, United States Magistrate Judge
Richard C. Lee UNITED STATES COURT HOUSE
141 Church Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06510

Chambers Tele: (203) 773-2350 -- Fax: (203) 773-2304
Clerk's Office Tele: (203) 773-2140 -- Fax: (203) 773-2334

SAMPLE LETTER TO THE JUDGE:

The Honorable Joan G. Margolis, United States Magistrate Judge
Richard C. Lee UNITED STATES COURT HOUSE
141 Church Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06510

DATE: ____, 2009

Dear Honorable Joan G. Margolis,

I am writing to request that you do not release accused pedophile Douglas Perlitz pending trial, because of the gravity of the charges - sexually abusing nine of the children he was helping in Haiti. The sexual abuse took place for close to ten years. Douglas Perlitz is a danger to children everywhere and there is no guarantee this compulsion that he is accused of is limited to just Haitian children in Haiti. If Douglas Perlitz is released on bond, despite the gravity of these charges, all children in the US communities he is released into may be in imminent danger, including Haitian children living in these US communities.

Court papers disclose that during a conversation with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Douglas Perlitz denied sexually abusing any of the children. He allegedly admitted "molestation would be tough" and that the Haitian children who were molested "should just get over it ... He said he got over his father's death and even though it was tough he moved on ..." It would be a dereliction of duty to release Douglas Perlitz on bond based on this depraved indifference alone.

What is "tough" right now for the (local, national and international) community affected by this case, is that Douglas Perlitz's release is even being contemplated. The Court ought to clearly tell Perlitz to "get over it" and detain him pending trial because he is a danger to the community, a flight risk, and based on the indictment, he has virtually admitted to molestations. Moreover, if Douglas Perlitz is released on bond, this will cause greater fear among the victims who were abused as well as allow Perlitz more opportunity to continue his campaigns to stop the victims from testifying. Perlitz will have unlimited access via prepaid cell phones to continue to intimidate the victims and the other children, most of whom are already vulnerable orphans with no parents, no shelter, and little or no State protection in Haiti. If released, Perlitz may use his mobility, access and connections to disappear his victims and witnesses, put them in greater danger or otherwise prevent them from testifying. Please do not release Douglas Perlitz on bond.

Sincerely,
Your name and contact information

_________________________________
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cc: Ezili Dantò
President, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN")
e-mail: ezilidanto@yahoo.com
www.ezilidanto.com

Background information

Persistent image of 'hellhole Haiti' an outdated myth, UN peacekeepers insist

108 sri lankan troops accused of sexual abuse in haiti UN

Peacekeepers 'abusing children' in Haiti - 27 Sep 08

UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children

Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya

Video Report: Child Abuse by Humanitarian Workers

Paradise for Pedophiles - Senegal

Comparing crime, poverty and violence in the rest of the Hemisphere to Haiti

Pointing Guns at Starving Haitians: Violent Haiti is a myth , and

The Western vs the Real Narrative on Haiti

As a matter of power, money, inequality and access White-sexual abusers, pedophiles and perverted Catholic priests are not just in Haiti, destroying children innocence and lives, but African children are suffering from the pain of sexual abuse throughout the world from sexual tourism or abuse and molestation by Catholic priests/pedophiles fleeing the US after indictments or exposure and by all sorts of charity and humanitarian aid workers.

Please view this video - (Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya) about white-sex assault on children in Kenya as young as 6-years old. No one will tell these stories if we don't. There is an explosion of child sexual abuse in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya The same trend is taking place in Ghana, Senegal, Ghoree Island, and East Africa. The Kenyan clip provides insight into the white-sex assault on our children in Kenya. (See, video reports from Haiti on UN Peacekeepers & Humanitarian aid workers ) raping and abusing Haitian children in exchange for food, schooling or money.)

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Ezili Dantò/Marguerite Laurent
President, Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network ("HLLN")
October 10, 2009

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Haiti program founder's release may hinge on higher bond
Judge hints higher bond may be OK
By Michael P. Mayko, Connecticut Post, Oct. 9, 2009

Douglas Perlitz

The Rev. Paul Carrier

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Who’s who in the Perlitz scandal
By Chris Simmons, September 23, 2009, The Mirror

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