12 January 2011 | News | Human rights
Square One
Haiti far from its reconstruction: international cooperation breaches exposed
Download: MP3 (2.5 Mb)
Exactly a year ago, Port au Prince, capital city of Haiti, was hit by an earthquake that measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, and resulted in the deaths of over 220,000 people, injuring over 300,000. The UN and several organizations are warning that the international community has not kept its promises and that the reconstruction of Haiti has not even begun.
Over 800 thousand people are still living in the camps settled after the earthquake, that caused over 2.3 million people to leave their homes in the poorest Latin American country, occupied by UN stabilization forces and hit by a cholera outbreak that killed thousands of people.
On Wednesday, several events to commemorate the victims of the earthquake are taking place, especially in Port-au Prince. There will be Evangelical and Catholic masses in several areas. Haiti’s President, René Preval, visited the mass graves in Saint Christophe, in Titanyen municipality, outside Port-au Prince. “On behalf of the Government, state institutions and Parliament, I’d like to express once again my condolences to the families of the victims of the earthquake”, said Preval.
In a country that continues to find victims after the catastrophe, the international community has not kept its promises. The UN Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) has asked the international community to be more involved with Haiti’s situation, that “continues to be catastrophic”, and insisted that the Caribbean country needs “support, not charity”.
In a press release issued by EFE, UNESCO’s Director General, Irina Bokova, said that “of the total amount of aid pledged, only a small fraction has been received.” “The international community has to live up to its moral obligations”, she said, and added that the “reconstruction has scarcely begun”.
UNESCO’ Special Envoy for Haiti, Michaëlle Jean, said “what the Haitian people require to surmount the disaster is long term investment in their social institutions and particularly in education and culture, the most vital building blocks for their future.”
Along similar lines, Aitor Zabalgogeazkoaha, Director General at International NGO Doctors without Borders (MSF), said “The reconstruction hasn’t even begun. The international community has to comply with the commitments taken with the Haitian people”, according to Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Doctors without Borders has 7.900 officers in the destroyed area, and has provided assistance to over 358,000 people. They have performed 16,500 surgeries and over 15,000 deliveries.
In addition, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, warned about the lack of a reconstruction plan in Haiti and said that the access to basic needs (water, sanitation, education, and medical care) by the people affected by the earthquake continues being under acceptable levels.
Only three weeks after the catastrophe of January 12, 2010, activist Camille Chalmers, from the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development, denounced to Real World Radio the military occupation of Haiti by the US and the imposition of the neoliberal model disguised as humanitarian aid. He also condemned the role of MINUSTAH, saying that the UN mission had been paralyzed and acted days after the earthquake.
The US military even prevented flights with humanitarian aid from landing in Port-au Prince’s airport during the two days it took them to take control of the airport to receive US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Also, the International Monetary Fund, far from annulling the foreign debt of Haiti generated during Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorship (1971-1986), imposed a new loan worth over 100 million dollars.
