Written by LHolland   

Two years ago I joined a group of speakers at the University of Denver to speak out about the earthquake in Haiti. I began with an overview of authoritarian rule in Haiti covering the two coups that undermined democracy and the rise of paramilitaries, human rights abuses and drug trafficking which followed. I also talked about the way US leaders have tended to promote market development rather than democracy in Haiti. Regarding the earthquake, I talked about how deforestation, weak housing regulations, and the sad reality of people living in shanties on barren hillsides had contributed to the devastating loss of some 250,000 lives.

All of the speakers were excited by how quickly and generously Americans responded to the crisis. But we were concerned that the donations wouldn’t end up where they were intended to go. Haiti has a long history of foreign intervention that includes aid, loans, and humanitarian relief. Yet it is poorer today than it was thirty years ago. The problem is that funds end up in the wrong hands. US backed aid programs, for instance, often require that goods and services be purchased from US manufacturers, even though farmers, small businesses and workers in Haiti can provide many of these. So we encouraged donors to look for relief agencies that buy goods and services locally and employ Haitian labor.

I also expressed the hope for real democratic development in Haiti including protection from violence and human rights violations.


Current Conditions in Haiti
Since the earthquake, many international agencies have been involved in the recovery. The UN created a large number of clean-up jobs so that half the debris has now been removed. The Red Cross has provided housing to over 100,000 people and clean water and sanitation to many communities. The World Bank and other organizations have recently designated funds for housing, neighborhood cleanup and grade school education.

But recovery remains painfully slow and has left far too many behind. Despite the expenditure of $2.38 billion, over 600,000 Haitians still live in the 1000 makeshift camps in the capital city. They are sheltered only by tents, tarps or bed sheets and live without running water, electricity, sewage systems or protection against crime. One study shows that an average of 112 people share a single camp latrine and only 18 percent of the camps have hand-washing facilities.

In addition, health conditions throughout the country are abysmal. Millions do not even have access to a toilet. The cholera epidemic has infected 475,000 people and taken the lives of at least 6,000. Survivors now claim that the UN is liable for the outbreak having sent troops to Haiti without adequate health screening, dumping untreated waste from one base into a tributary of Haiti’s main river, and failing to respond the epidemic.


Obstacles to Reconstruction
The greatest obstacle to recovery and adequate development is Haiti’s profound lack of sovereignty over its own affairs. The fact is that foreign interests have greater control over development than do Haitian citizens as a whole.

While this has been true for a long time in Haiti, the earthquake opened the door to even greater levels of foreign involvement. Immediately after it occurred, the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) was formed by the US State Department. The IHRC, made up of 17 voting members, was charged with administering relief and rebuilding the capital city and surrounding areas.

It’s important to know that a majority of the members on this commission were non-Haitians. This majority included representatives from each of the major international lenders – the IMF, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank. It also included representatives from donor countries Canada, France, Brazil and the US. Former US President Bill Clinton was not only a member but also co-president of the IHRC with Haiti’s former Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive. Only seven IHRC members, all government appointees, were Haitians.

Although the IHRC mandate expired last fall, Clinton has continued to manage Haiti’s economic development as head of the newly formed Presidential Advisory Council for Economic Development and Investment. The goal of the 32-member council is to shift from humanitarian relief to increasing foreign investment. To do this, the Advisory Council brings together former leaders of the donor countries and representatives of the IMF and other international banks much as IHRC had. The Council also includes a number of transnational business figures. While President Martelly fought with Parliament for six long months over who was to become prime minister, the Advisory Council moved decisively forward with plans to build resorts, and develop real estate and energy resources.

As for services, these are largely relegated to the 12,000 non-government organizations (NGOs) that operate throughout Haiti. In fact Haiti has been nicknamed “The Republic of NGOs” for having the highest concentration of NGOs in the world. Financial contributions from the US and around the world have flowed almost entirely into these NGOs and private contractors. Thus NGOs essentially run most services such as schools and hospitals.

Despite their good intentions, NGOs are no substitute for a responsive government. When services are funded and directed by outside interests, the public loses a vital link to its own government and the means of making it accountable. Without this vital connection, there is very little policy coordination regarding housing, transportation, sanitation, employment, education, the maintenance of public records and other public tasks. Leaders become indifferent to the needs of the larger population while playing host to the most powerful interests.


The Future of Development in Haiti
So what we see is that Haiti is still in a kind of colonial status where powerful interests gain while the larger population falls behind. The main difference between this and older forms of colonization is that there are many participants in the process. The most important decisions about development are now made by a consortium of interests – the IMF, the World Bank, leaders of donor countries and transnational businesses. All come together in the President’s Advisory Council while the poor who make up 80 percent of the population have no real voice in policy making.

Throughout the years, Haitians have struggled mightily to reform this lopsided power structure. This includes organizing, marching and speaking out for better government while facing death, disappearance and prolonged imprisonment. In the US, we can do our part by promoting democracy, opposing military intervention and condemning human rights violations so that Haitians may move forward to reclaim their sovereignty.