Transition agreement signed on Governors Island.

Sanctions imposed, numerous human rights violations reported

An agreement to resolve the political crisis in Haiti was signed on 3 July by the country's first democratically-elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in a September 1991 coup, and Lieutenant-General Raoul Cedras, Commander-in-Chief of Haiti's Armed Forces, after almost a week of talks held on Governors Island, New York, in the United States.

The pact, which sets out transition arrangements from a military to a civilian government, was completed after the Security Council had imposed on 16 June a stringent arms and oil embargo against Haiti.

Drafted by Dante Caputo, Special Envoy for Haiti of the Secretaries-General of the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS), the document calls for President Aristide to return to Haiti on 30 October 1993 and appoint a new Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to replace Lt.-Gen. Cedras. The President would also nominate a Prime Minister, to be confirmed by the legally reconstituted Parliament.

The parties agreed to hold a political dialogue, under UN/OAS auspices, to reach a political truce and create conditions for a peaceful transition of power, and to establish procedures to enable the Haitian Parliament to resume normal functioning.

The agreement further called for suspension of the Council embargo as soon as the new Prime Minister assumed office.

Resolution 841:

Haiti embargo

Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council on 16 June unanimously adopted resolution 841 (1993) detailing the terms of the embargo against Haiti. The sanctions entered into force on 23 June.

Under the resolution, all States are obliged to prevent the sale or supply by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft, of petroleum or petroleum products or arms and related materiel, including military vehicles, police equipment and spare parts, to any person or body in Haiti. They are also to prevent any activities by their nationals or in their territories which promoted or were calculated to promote such sale or supply.

States were to freeze all funds in the name of the Government of Haiti or of the de facto authorities, as well as those controlled directly or indirectly by them.

A Security Council Committee was also established to monitor compliance. Among other things, it was to authorize "on an exceptional case-by-case basis under a no-objection procedure", the importation to Haiti of petroleum products and propane cooking gas "in non-commercial quantities and only in barrels or bottles" for verified essential humanitarian needs.

Council President Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo of Spain said the adoption of the resolution was "warranted by the unique and exceptional situation in Haiti and should not be regarded as constituting a precedent".

The sanctions were to be lifted after the Prime Minister - nominated by President Aristide and confirmed by the Parliament - assumes power, it later agreed after consultations.

Joint mission

The General Assembly on 20 April had approved deployment of a joint International Civilian Mission to Haiti, composed of personnel from the UN and the OAS, to verify Haiti's compliance with its international human rights obligations.

In resolution 47/20 B, the Assembly stressed the need for an early return of President Aristide to resume his constitutional functions - as a "means to restore without further delay the democratic process in Haiti" - and reiterated that "any entity resulting from actions of the de facto regime", including the partial parliamentary elections in January, was illegitimate.

On 3 May, Colin Granderson of Trinidad and Tobago was named the Mission's Executive Director. Ian Martin of the United Kingdom, a former Secretary-General of Amnesty International, was appointed Director for Human Rights and Deputy to the Mission's Executive Director.

The Mission, comprised of some 141 members, on 3 June reported (A/47/960) it had observed numerous human rights violations, including "arbitrary detentions, systematic beatings and torture" by members of the armed forces or "persons operating at their instigation or with their tolerance". It had also been informed of "cases of arbitrary executions and deaths following torture inflicted while in detention".

The violations, it stated, were intended primarily to "restrict or prohibit the exercise of the freedoms of opinion and expression, assembly and peaceful association".

The joint Mission and Haiti's Armed Forces on 14 May agreed on the principle of establishing a mechanism to investigate human rights abuses, so that the Mission could submit urgent and grave cases of violations to the Armed Forces, which would announce the results of its own investigations.