UN official presses for truth panel on Duvalier

[Judi Lynn]

UN official presses for truth panel on Duvalier
By TRENTON DANIEL Associated Press
Created: 07/05/2011 05:56:44 PM PDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—The creation of a truth commission would help promote reconciliation for Haitian victims who suffered during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier, a U.N. human rights official said Tuesday.

The U.N.'s Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang, said at a press conference that the panel wouldn't replace ongoing efforts to prosecute Duvalier, a former despot known as "Baby Doc," but would work alongside them.

More than 20 lawsuits have been filed in a Haitian court against Duvalier for crimes ranging from attempted murder and torture to embezzlement since he made an unexpected return to his homeland in January after 25 years in exile.

"We do not think that this (Duvalier) case and a truth commission are necessarily exclusive," Kang told The Associated Press. "We do believe that there is a need for a broader coming to terms with the past. And a truth commission would serve that broader purpose whereas the Duvalier case would focus specifically on the accountability of the leader of what was a very brutal period."

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