Haiti Elections: Three Kreyol phrases to know

Se pa eleksyon se seleksyon - It’s not an election, it’s a selection

Mabouy - skulduggery, trickery

Nap swiv - We’re waiting to see what happens

Great online resource on Haitian culture and development

Check out this great online resource, Radyo Konesans Radio, on history, culture and development in Haiti, put together by Waterloo-based organization FIDA/Productive Cooperatives Haiti. I know a number of the people interviewed, and have spent time in Fon Batis working for FIDA as well as doing research for my MA thesis, so it’s fun to see familiar faces  and places on the site.

Not fun: seeing cases of cholera in Fon Batis show up on the Operational Biosuveillance site.

UN Peacekeepers in Haiti: Keeping peace, or perpetuating the status quo?

As protests against the UN peacekeeping mission known as MINUSTAH grow in Haiti, the UN is quick to dismiss them as being simply “politically motivated”, and suggests that protesters are simply being manipulated to create unrest before the upcoming presidential elections, rather than genuinely protesting again the presence of UN forces. Yet with documented incidents of rape and murder committed by some of the peacekeeping forces, their involvement in violently suppressing even peaceful demonstrations, and increasingly strong evidence that the cholera epidemic sweeping through the country was started by infected sewage leaking into the Artibonite River from a UN peacekeeping base, it’s not hard to see why many Haitians are so angry at the peacekeeping forces, and are calling on them to leave the country. In a recent report, Alexis Erkert Depp, the Port-au-Prince based policy analyst for Mennonite Central Committee in Haiti writes:

After two years of living and working in Haiti, I believe that MINUSTAH’s presence here helps to maintain a status quo that serves the economic elite and oppresses the majority of the population. The presence of more than 8,000 military troops in Haiti vilifies Haitians and does little to address the root causes of violence in this society.

Yet how to respond? Erkert Depp quotes Christian theologian Walter Wink, who argues that we need to  “find a third way, a way that is neither submission nor assault, flight nor fight, a way that can secure your human dignity and begin to change the power equation. … Jesus is not advocating nonviolence merely as a technique for outwitting the enemy, but as a just means of opposing the enemy in a way that holds open the possibility of the enemy’s becoming just also. Both sides must win.”

Violent protests against the UN troops ironically serve to justify their presence in Haiti all the more. It is an unfortunate reality that the more demonstrations against MINUSTAH cause civil unrest, the more the international community is likely to maintain, and potentially even increase, the presence of UN troops in Haiti in the quest to bring about “stability”.

Yet when we hear reports of violent protests by Haitians in the North American media, are we hearing the real story? Are the protests actually organized by thugs looking to create instability? Freelance reporter Ansel Herz, who visited protests in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, tells a different story:

Are protests against the UN meant to destabilize the country? Are Haitians who’ve taken to the streets being used, like puppets, by powerful politicians for their own ends? Are the protests violent?

The foreigners I’ve talked to say yes. A few American liberals living in Haiti tell me they fear the protests are violent and meant to cause chaos, echoing the statements of MINUSTAH and reporters like Watson. Some Haitians in the professional middle class don’t want to participate.

But most Haitians I’ve spoken with say no. They say this is the inevitable outcome when troops who operate in Haiti with seeming impunity may have introduced a deadly, misery-multiplying disease into the country. It’s an angry, popular movement – protesting however they can, emotions running high – against a five-year-old foreign occupation.

Haiti needs security. Food security, housing security, economic security, health security. But can military security provide any of that? So far it seems to be failing pretty miserably.

Cholera in Haiti: Real people, real stories

When epidemics like the cholera outbreak in Haiti flood the North American news with statistics of hospitalizations and fatalities, it’s easy to feel distanced from the real impact. And those statistics we do see are very under-reported; according to Biosurveillance, the real number of infections is most likely over 50 000 people, many of whom live in remote, rural areas with no access to hospitals or clinics. But behind all of the numbers are real people, made incredibly vulnerable by poverty.

Written by Emily Troutman, this sensitively written, yet hard-hitting article profiles the life and death of cholera victim Claudette Brianvil:

Sudden Death by Cholera a Mystery in Haiti

 

Cholera brought to Haiti by Nepali UN Troops?

The latest rumour

MINUSTAH in Haiti

coming out of Haiti about the cholera outbreak is that sewage from a Nepali UN peacekeepers base in Mirebalais leaked into the Artibonite River, sending cholera bacteria washing down the  river to St. Marc, and other towns on the way.

It might just turn out to be true. According to the World Health Organization, cholera hasn’t been seen in Haiti for almost a century. In  Nepal, a warning about a potential outbreak  in Kathmandu was put out by public health officials on September 23rd, just over a month ago now. Of course, the only way to find out is to compare samples from Haiti, Nepal, and the Nepali troops in Haiti.

The UN Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH is the French acronym) denies that it could be responsible for the outbreak. Their press release yesterday explained that the waste from the Nepali base’s septic tanks in Mirebalais is dumped at a municipality-approved site 250 metres away from a river. We’ll just have to wait and see what test results say, and see if the UN is right in denying responsibility.

Even before the outbreak of cholera and the rise of suspicion surrounding UN troops’ role in cholera’s sudden appearance, MINUSTAH and the 11,848 uniformed military and police troops faced heavy criticism from Haitians.

Many Haitians feel that MINUSTAH is an unwelcome, occupying force. They’re known for reacting violently to peaceful protests. Just a couple weeks ago protesters and journalists at a peaceful demonstration against the UN military presence in Haiti were assaulted by UN troops in Port-au-Prince.

In addition to Nepal, MINUSTAH’s  military personnel come from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, India, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Phillipines, Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, United States and Uruguay.

Police personnel are from Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, United States, Uruguay and Yemen.

If you look at the list, how many of these countries are known for having well-trained, human-rights respecting military and police that successfully ensure the rule of law domestically?

Apparently, it’s not really about modeling respect for human rights to the fledgling Haitian National Police, but is more about paying UN dues: poor countries can pay the UN in bodies instead of dollars by contributing peacekeeping troops to UN missions.

One friend I talked to about the UN presence here suggested that the Haitian government was happy to have the peacekeepers around because a police force paid for by the international community means that Haiti doesn’t have to invest money in a local police force. Does Haiti need stabilization and an enforced rule of law? Yes. Can MINUSTAH provide that? I don’t think so.

Is cholera another negative impact of the MINUSTAH mission? We’ll have to wait and see.

Cholera Prevention

Sad news coming out of my favourite Caribbean country this past week.

I have to say, I’m pretty disappointed with the international public health response to cholera in Haiti, and the implicit (sometimes explicit) blaming of the epidemic on the supposedly poor hygiene practices of individuals, rather than on systemic problems like the limited access of many Haitians to clean water.

According to a recent BBC article, the UN is focusing its efforts on treatment centres, mass distribution of soap, and hygiene lessons. The article says that  “Simple precautions including the use of soap in hand-washing were not familiar to most people”.

Oh really.

So why hasn’t there been a severe outbreak of cholera in Canada since 1832? Is it because we know how to wash our hands with soap? Based on the number of times I’ve seen people walk out of public bathrooms in Canada without washing their hands, I’m pretty sure it’s not because of our superior command of personal hygiene.

As this interesting article on cholera in Canada concludes, after battling massive outbreaks of the disease across the colony, it was only brought under control when it was realized that cholera can best be prevented by making clean drinking water accessible. Having clean drinking water and a sewage system is our best defense against the disease.

Without emphasis on building public infrastructure for clean water and sanitation in Haiti, and providing universal access to clean water for drinking and cooking, it is unlikely that cholera prevention programs in Haiti can do more than provide band-aid solutions, temporarily slowing the spread of the disease.

Want to respond to the cholera epidemic in Haiti?

1. Donate money to well-established, reputable health organizations in Haiti like Partners in Health, or Doctors Without Borders.

2. Write to your Member of Parliament, and encourage Canada to work with the government of Haiti to develop the infrastructure for country-wide access to clean water.

Mennonite Central Committee Haiti

This month, 10% of fees go to support the work of MCC Haiti. I’ve been connected to MCC Haiti for years – it’s the organization that my family worked for in Haiti when I was a kid. This past August, I led an MCC Ontario team to Haiti for two weeks to learn about the challenges facing the country, and lend a hand to one of MCC Haiti’s projects with displaced people in rural areas. Something I really appreciate about MCC Haiti is the organization’s commitment to supporting the vision of local organizations, and partnering wherever possible to support Haitian-led relief, peace, and development initiatives.

I’ve actually got a few speaking engagements to talk about Haiti and the work of MCC coming up: Women of Mennonite Church Eastern Fall Enrichment Day in Vineland on Oct. 23rd, Erb St. Mennonite Church in Waterloo on Oct. 31st, and Rouge Valley Mennonite Church in Markham on Nov. 7th.