Faced with growing outrage over an alleged sexual assault (in July 2011) by UN occupation soldiers on 18-year-old Johnny Jean in the southern town of Port Salut, the UN is pledging to investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice. But this promise is belied by the UN mission’s refusal to cooperate with the Haitian justice system’s attempt to investigate the hanging death of a 16-year-old boy inside another UN base one year ago.
Gerard Jean-Gilles ran errands for Nepalese soldiers at their base in Cap Haitien, Haiti’s second largest city. A Haitian interpreter for the troops, Joelle Rozefort, accused Jean-Gilles of stealing $200 from her car. The next day, on Aug. 18, 2010, Jean-Gilles was found hanging from a tree inside the base, a wire around his neck.
The UN Stabilization Mission to Haiti (MINUSTAH) said its internal inquiry found that Jean-Gilles committed suicide. But Jean-Gilles’ family and friends suspect he was murdered, and when a Haitian judge tried to investigate, the UN stone-walled.
The former delegate (or central government representative) of Haiti’s northern region calls the UN “the primary obstacle” to learning how Jean-Gilles died. In impassioned demonstrations against MINUSTAH this week, Haitians are calling for justice for Gerard Jean-Gilles, too.
UN personnel immediately met with the family and local officials. The body was flown to Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city, the same day. But it sat for three days until Haitian doctors carried out an autopsy at the General Hospital, according to Calixte James, Jean-Gilles’ uncle, who accompanied the body.
Bele also doesn’t believe Jean-Gilles committed suicide. “He’s dead because of the money,” he said. Shortly after the hanging, Bele and Raphael both lost their jobs at the base.
The northern region’s former Government Delegate, Georgemain Prophete, represented the Haitian state in its initial dealings with the UN on how to probe Jean-Gilles’ death. They agreed the Haitian judiciary would open an investigation, he said. The case was given to Heidi Fortune, a Cap Haitien investigating judge (juge d’instruction) since 2006.
Witnesses said that Rozefort “had a little trouble with her car and Gerard gave her some help,” Fortune said. “After she started the car and left she realized the money in her bag was missing. She accused and made threatening remarks to Gerard, but Gerard said that he did not take the money. Rozefort promised him she’d report her allegation to the chief of the base,” he said.
Both Bele and Raphael claimed in separate interviews that Rozefort had a sexual relationship with the Nepalese chief of the base.
One witness who had seen Jean-Gilles enter the base that morning told Fortune the boy had displayed no facial expressions or signs suggesting he would kill himself. Suicide is not considered part of Haitian culture and is practically unheard of in the island nation. “So the next person I need to hear from is Rozefort herself,” the judge explained.
Fortune said he issued three separate subpoenas for Rozefort to testify before him, the last of which mandated the police to arrest her and bring her to him. But MINUSTAH moved her to Port-au-Prince, saying she’d received death threats in Cap Haitien. Rozefort never testified.
After issuing his warrants, Fortune received a letter dated Sep. 16, 2010 and signed by Edmond Mulet, the former Guatemalan diplomat who headed MINUSTAH at the time. The letter was addressed to Haiti’s Foreign Minister, who sent it to Judge Fortune.
The Status of Forces of Agreement (SOFA) between the Haitian government and the UN provides MINUSTAH members with immunity from prosecution in Haiti under certain circumstances.
“Immunities should not be used as a shield to prohibit investigations into potential criminal acts that, if proven, would be clearly outside of the ‘official capacity’ of UN staff members,” wrote Scott Sheeran, an expert on peacekeeping law at the University of Essex who has worked in the United Nations, in an email to Haiti Liberte after viewing the exchange of letters.
“This is particularly so where the UN has not assisted the host government and local law enforcement to reach a view on what occurred,” Sheeran wrote. “It is not a good faith interpretation of the law, and, more broadly, it is not consistent with the rule of law and human rights which the UN is meant to uphold.” Mulet appeared to be claiming an “overly broad interpretation” of a key aspect of the SOFA, he added.
Edmond Mulet is now Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at UN headquarters in New York. A year later, he “doesn't feel that there was a denial of justice” in the Jean-Gilles case, according to Michel Bonnardeaux, a public affairs officer from the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
Former Justice Minister Denis could not be reached for comment.
Last October, protestors in Cap Haitien fought pitched street battles – using rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails - with MINUSTAH troops, turning the town into a veritable warzone. Judge Fortune said he was forced to round up his kids and dash out of his home when it was flooded with tear gas. The protesters blamed the Nepali UN troops (correctly, as scientific studies would later prove) for introducing cholera into Haiti. The resulting epidemic has now killed over 6,100 Haitians.
James and Judge Fortune confirmed by phone this week that nothing has changed in the Jean-Gilles case since last year. They said the investigation could not progress without Rozefort’s participation.
Incensed by the news from Port Salut, demonstrators again descended on the area around the capital’s National Palace this week to call for MINUSTAH’s departure. Some held signs saying, “Justice for Gerard Jean-Gilles.” Police responded with tear gas which sent demonstrators and quake survivors running for cover around the makeshift tent camps that crowd the plaza.
The UN Security Council looks set to renew MINUSTAH’s mandate for at least another year before it expires on Oct. 15. While talk of a drawdown in troops is growing, UN officials say the force is likely to stay in Haiti until 2015.