Haiti is a failed State and a weak and vulnerable society which must be resolved by Haitians

Bringing peace to Haiti demands an absolutely critical step: there must be justice for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse 

Democracy and Security in Haiti

Statement of the OAS General Secretariat on Haiti

  August 8, 2022

Democracy and Security

The institutional crisis that Haiti is experiencing right now is a direct result of the actions taken by the country's endogenous forces and by the international community.

The last 20 years of the international community's presence in Haiti has amounted to one of the worst and clearest failures implemented and executed within the framework of any international cooperation.

This is not to blame the individuals who, with a vocation for service and altruism, worked as cooperators and made their best efforts—in some cases giving their lives—for Haiti.  These persons deserve our greatest respect and remembrance.

Instead, this failure has to do with 20 years of erratic political strategy by an international community that was not capable of facilitating the construction of a single institution with the capacity to address the problems facing Haitians.  After 20 years, not a single institution is stronger than it was before.

It was under this umbrella provided by the international community that the criminal gangs that today lay siege to the country fermented and germinated, even as the process of deinstitutionalization and political crisis that we see today grew and took shape.

Then, seeing its failure, the international community left Haiti, leaving chaos, destruction, and violence behind.

Right now, it is absurd to think that in this context of destruction, the Haitians—left completely alone, polarized, and with very few resources—would be able to rebuild or build the kind of security, deinstitutionalization, and development project that could enable its 12 million inhabitants to once again live in peaceful coexistence: Without resources, in a climate of violence, without technological capabilities, without financial accumulation, without any of that today, they want us to believe a completely endogenous Haitian solution could prosper.  This is not so.

Without the basic conditions of democracy and security, the country today is suffering from the international community’s lack of ideas and real capacity, as well as from its own structural problems.  This is the international community that never knew if it should leave the MINUSTAH in place or remove it, an international community that thought that contributing money was the same as having ideas, an international community that thought that paying its own consultants would solve Haitians’ problems.  Obviously none of that was possible and none of this is possible.

Democracy

Building democracy requires citizens, strong institutions that must be constantly strengthened, and a political system with the capacity for dialogue, as well as honesty.  Essentially, it requires the branches of State government to be in place and with the independent capacity to act.  It requires the exercise of and full respect for liberties and fundamental guarantees (and for the State to ensure it) in the framework of the fullest possible exercise of economic and social rights, along with an electoral process that is trustworthy, fair, and transparent.

The exercise of power in keeping with the rule of law and administrative and institutional efficiency in providing solutions to Haitians’ problems are basic conditions for the functioning of the State that were never guaranteed by the international community in Haiti, that were never built by the international community in Haiti, and that Haiti fundamentally does not have.  We should be clear that what we are facing is, more or less, a failed State and a weak and vulnerable society.  The worst of all worlds: a weak State and a weak civil society.

This must be resolved by Haitians, there is no question about that.  But the international community has a role to play.

Haitian society is very vulnerable and polarized.  Its institutions are weak, its organizations are weak, and the path must be struck toward building them from zero, or even less than zero.

Without reducing polarization, without building capacities and bridges between Haitians, this will not be possible.  Without dialogue, it is impossible.

Building Haitian democracy means encouraging capacity for dialogue, which includes building mutual trust among the various social and political actors in Haiti.  Today, there is no system of checks and balances, neither politically nor socially.  On the contrary, violence is prevalent, as is the abuse of force internally, actions with criminal intent, failed institutions, and a lack of civil society capacity.

Bringing peace to the country demands an absolutely critical step: there must be justice for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.  Without shedding light on the truth and without justice, no progress can ever be made towards reconciliation and harmony.

To begin to address these issues, the following processes must be built up:

• An institutionalized and inclusive process of dialogue that includes all the political forces that can possibly be brought together for it.  Within that process, the international community can contribute resources and build bridges between the stakeholders to strengthen all of them and place them on a path towards building organizational and institutional capacities.
• A trustworthy, fair, transparent electoral process.
• An institutional security process for the country.

These processes require the cooperation of the international community, obviously in everything with regard to the necessary resources, whether financial, human, or material.

We would be fooling ourselves to think that any of this could be built without the support of the international community, that none of these processes are needed to ensure the country can find its way out of the crisis facing it and that still impacts the country’s political and socioeconomic outlook. This will not be possible without the international community paying the bill.  Not many members of the international community have the capacity to do so.  Therefore, the responsibility for paying this bill falls to only a few who must not and cannot delay in taking up their responsibility, as time is running out for Haiti, with everything that is happening simply worsening the situation.

Obviously, we should expect internal Haitian forces to oppose these three processes, to oppose the institutionalized dialogue because that process can have the advantage of bringing political stability to the country, which would seriously impact a number of interests that today prevail in Haiti.  Obviously, those forces will also oppose a trustworthy, fair, and transparent electoral process because the current ways and means of taking power have been completely different.  There will also certainly be opposition to developing an institutional security process for the country with a strong commitment of the international community because doing so would dismantle the current situation in which violence perpetrated by armed gangs and organized crime predominates.

When we look at Haiti’s current situation, we understand why there were internal forces—with external complicity—that wanted MINUSTAH withdrawn.  Doing so simply paved the way for a situation like the one we have today.

It is absolutely necessary to reverse the process of violence by implementing other institutional conditions and securing a different international commitment to bring the violence under control and disarm the armed gangs.  It is crucial to reign in the territorial operations of organized criminal groups.  But more of the human, financial, and material resources for this must come from the international community.  Haiti does not have the prepared and trained human resources.  It does not have the financial capacity, nor does it have the technical capacity to address the current security situation.  Taking another path would therefore be a complete distortion of reality.

Similar capacities must be developed to implement a process of dialogue leading to a free and fair electoral process.  We believe that the entire international community has a role to play, but it is crucial to concentrate all of the resources for these processes into a single institutionalized and centralized mechanism, not overlapping and ineffective volunteer efforts.

These processes are absolutely necessary, and it is crucial to launch them as soon as possible, with the dialogue process being the first one.  It should be assumed that the other two processes will be based on the first, not on completely external extemporaneous decisions not aligned with what the country’s social and political culture are capable of receiving and doing.  However, it is obvious that Haiti does not have the resources and that the resources have to be provided to Haiti through an institutionalized process by the international community with a strong monitoring component and capacity to combat corruption to prevent the resources from being diverted and misused.

Bringing peace to the country demands an absolutely critical step: there must be justice for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.  Without the truth being brought to light and without justice, no progress can ever be made towards reconciliation and harmony.

Based on the work done under these three processes, a new Constitution will have to be drafted that fixes the grave deficiencies and problems of the current Constitution.

• An autonomous, strong, and responsible Central Bank
• A strong, efficient, and independent justice system
• An educational system capable of providing real solutions to the needs of Haitian youth and children
• An incremental investment process toward providing work and jobs to Haitian men and women

Ignoring this need would mean completely ignoring reality.  Taking the approach of waiting for Haiti to develop its own capacities without international assistance would take years.  The country does not today, nor will it in the near future, have the conditions for accomplishing this alone.

Attempting to resolve the crisis and Haiti's serious problems without any of these elements would mean we are in the final phase of self-deception, which would not be so bad except for the fact that we are also deceiving the Haitian people into believing that we have a real solution for them.

As we continue to wait for the situation in Haiti to improve, the problems worsen.  According to UNICEF, many schools have been closed for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Attempts to reopen them have been frustrated by the criminal violence affecting communities throughout the country and the extortion to which school authorities are subjected.

The international community, international financial institutions, the multilateral system, and the international financial community of donor countries must make a decision: whether they want to industrialize Haiti sufficiently to ensure work for nine million Haitians, or whether it is economically more profitable to continue absorbing Haitian migrants and let host countries accommodate them as and how they can and in such economic conditions as they can offer.  This is a critical decision because on it depends whether the Haitian situation continues in a state of permanent crisis with increasingly tragic dimensions, or whether we can move toward a process of transformation in which we ensure sufficient investments on sustainable terms and, therefore, the social stability of the country.  It is necessary to ensure a strategy that includes the “what comes after?” aspect.  That includes the importance of the educational model and job security conditions.

Furthermore, Haiti's future prosperity depends on the development of its youth. Chronic malnutrition in children is irreversible, reducing their cognitive capacity by 40%. To build a sustainable future in Haiti, its human capital must be highly trained and able to compete in local and international job markets.  The current deficiencies in food security, caused by the low investment in agriculture and the difficulties of transporting food due to blockades imposed by criminal groups and poor infrastructure will only move the country further from its goal of eliminating extreme poverty.

In order to stop the academic backsliding and the malnutrition suffered by Haiti’s children as quickly as possible, the internal war must be ended.  We publicly reiterate our request for an end to armed violence in the country.

It is urgent to continue working to increase security and begin the democratization process.

Source

Michaelle Jean and UNICEF

By Jean H Charles



The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) may have made the wrong move in naming the brainy and attractive Canadian-Haitian Michaelle Jean, formerly the Governor General of Canada, as its representative in Haiti. She minced no words and wasted no time in letting the world know it is time to stop the successive failed experiments in Haiti.

During the year 2010, no country has benefited from so much publicity and marketing and goodwill as the Republic of Haiti. Yet the return for the Haitian people is so insignificant that proper research must be done to find out why a consortium of actors and actions keep contributing to bringing Haiti into an abyss so deep that light at the horizon cannot be seen.

January 12, 2010, was a defining moment for Haiti to be reborn from its recent and past ashes. In less than one minute, a formidable earthquake shook the land under the capital Port au Prince and destroyed lives and limb in a random pattern affecting some 1.5 million people and killing more than 300,000.

A proud and resilient nation that instructed the world about the way to human rights two hundred years ago has been engulfed in a national and international intrigue that now lasted two centuries. The last sixty years have been one of the most painful for the nation. I am a living witness of a country seeking its destiny but halted by dictators, military misfits, and petty demagogues clothed with democratic vestments in bed with an international community too cynical to be naïve about the caustic mix of the relationship.

The Haitian intellectuals -- those who should have led the masses -- have short-circuited the long march forward. Like the Israelites in the Bible they have escaped into Egypt. That Egypt was Canada for Michaelle Jean; it was the United States for me and my family. It has been the Dominican Republic, the Bahamas, France and Florida for others.

Luckily, a critical mass of Haitian intellectuals is returning home to lead the fight for a regime change that implies more than a masquerade election. It signifies the creation of a nation at the dimension of its initial aspiration; a country hospitable to all. The obstacles are many. In the past sixty years the ill governance of the Duvaliers, the Aristides and the Prevals has elevated mediocrity and stupidity as queen and squalor as king of Haiti.

During a cursory visit to Haiti, whether in the countryside or in the main cities, you will find the indices of no government, as well as a myriad of nongovernmental organizations like chicken heads seeking a proper mission. The main highway from Port au Prince to Cape Haitian is impracticable halfway from Gonaives. Desolation, misery lack of institutional support is the lot of the small towns. Bidonvilization, lack of electricity, no potable running water, and sporadic street cleaning is the expectations for the major cities. Port au Prince the capital is a ghost town at night and a hodgepodge of traffic jams and confusion during the day.

This canvas is framed with a mammoth United Nations occupation contingent, with the soldiers ready to shoot from a mounted vehicle or war tank. The only casualty for those soldiers is the wearing of the heavy helmet in 80-degree weather at the dawn of winter.

The international community, with the OAS as the lead agent, is pushing full speed for the futile exercise of election, pretending that democracy is the goal. With a population in abject poverty, uneducated and without hope, the present government is ready and able to buy each vote with a crisp 1,000 gourdes or the equivalent of US$25. For the millions who live under tents and in the hills of the countryside, this sum represents a winning lotto ticket.

This is democracy a la OAS and a la UN. Michaelle Jean, like her namesake St Michael, who chased Satan and the evil angels from heaven, might represent a Trojan horse thrown into the city ready to become a fierce advocate of true democracy in Haiti. From the international podium she may be needed on the national one as the CEO of CRHI, the Haiti Reconstruction Authority that has been dragging its feet on the speedy recovery process.

To apprehend the real problem of the country one has to superpose a triangle over the map of Haiti. The basis of the triangle is formed with a line that includes the 566 rural villages. The second layer represents the 142 small towns. The third layer constitutes the 10 major cities and the capital Port au Prince as the apex.

The rural villages constitute the structural basis of the triangle. They have not received funding for infrastructure and institutional buildings since the birth of the nation. Consequently, the internal migration to the cities has compromised the integrated development. Catastrophes, erosion, public health outbreak are constant companions that visit the nation regularly.

My organization – AIDNOH – has teamed up with Caritas to launch a project of (re)building in the north and the northeast part of Haiti. We have targeted six rural villages to bring about the rudiments of infrastructure and services such as school, health, economic development, youth leadership to root the citizens in their localities. There are 560 more rural villages to reach with the indices of good living! Starting Haiti on the right tract must go through that process.

Note:

A fund called the blue and red (the color of the Haitian flag) angel has been set up to that effect. It is seeking the tax exempt contribution of one thousand angels who will pledge $100 per month for the reconstruction of Haiti starting from the bottom up not the top down. We have already found one angel (Pat Schenck from upstate New York) as such we need 999 more. Would you subscribe to that worthy cause?

November 13, 2010

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Bahamas Blog International

Haiti and the international community

By Jean H Charles:


There is a tug of war going on, right now between the nationals of the Republic of Haiti and a sector of the international community. The citizens of Haiti, the candidates to the presidential election, the political parties, the civil society, the churches (with the exception of the Voodoo imam) are all in unison refusing to go to the poll under the baton of the current president and the current electoral board.

The international community led by Edmond Mulet, the UN resident in Haiti, is pushing full speed ahead for the election to take place on November 28, 2010, under the direction of the discredited principals. Who is the toro (the bull) in Haiti? The people of Haiti or the international community? This determination will soon come to a final decision. The cost of the election as set by the board is around 27 million dollars. The Haitian government has earmarked only 7 million, expecting the additional 20 million to come from the international community.

What are the issues behind the tug of war?

The present Haitian government for the past ten years (in spite of the presence of international observers) has exhibited a pattern of deception, fraud, strong-hand maneuvers, abuse of the state purse for politicking, even commanding execution killings to lead the result of the election to suit its political ambition.

The devastating January 12 earthquake has brought about a paradigm shift in the mind and the determination of the people and the political class in Haiti to bring about significant change in the way business is conducted in the country. It is clear that, six months after the disaster, the Haitian government has not risen up to the task of leading the way for the reconstruction of a new Haiti.

As such there is a line on the sand. Akin to 1800 when the former slaves refused to go back to the slave plantations under the command of Napoleon and his deputy Bonaparte, the Haitian people in 2010 are united, ready to fight, not to return to the status quo of the past, the culture of disrespect for the majority of the people, the culture of corruption with arrogance. If history is a guide that helps to pierce the future, I am predicting the Haitian people will have the upper hand in this tug of war.

What are the stakes?

The stakes are high, Haiti’s name and future is on the radar of the international press. Some 1.5 million people are under tents that are being tested by the inclement weather. Half a million people may have perished with inhumation in the ground or under the rubble without proper identification. Internal migration in and out of the city of Port au Prince, not by choice but by necessity, is widespread. The emotional stress of some 4 million, nay their physical being has not been addressed.

Rene Preval and the international institutions with crocodile tears on their faces request an election for the sake of political stability. Indeed, moderate free and fair elections took place in Haiti during the last twenty years only during the political transition -- Trouillot -- Latortue -- that led to Aristide and Preval governments.

An international community ready to bring solace to the Haitian people would welcome an enlightened transition that would provide coordination for the recovery, leadership for the reconstruction and equity for a free and fair presidential election.

When the Preval government has demonstrated that it is unable and unwilling to provide elementary first aid to the refugees of the earthquake, compounding its task with a mammoth crucial presidential, legislative and local sheriffs’ election is foolish at best, aiding and abetting a criminal enterprise at worst.

Already the liberty of the press has been compromised. The threats, the menaces have become stronger. Even a well known Haitian American of the caliber of Wyclef Jean has been a target for elimination because of his position that paints the true picture on the ground. Dr Tunep Delpe, a well known political leader, was saved from assassination through the diligence of some alert citizens. Social and political blogs have been closed because of genteel but persistent threat against the blogger.

What is the alternative?

Legitimacy has been the concern of those seeking the umbrella of political stability. The present Interim Haiti Reconstruction Committee, created to manage the business of rebuilding the country, is running on a slow line. Rene Preval, the Haitian president, is at best lukewarm, at worst suspicious of the committee. He took months to name an executive director.

When he did it was his buddy instead of the best economic mind that the country has produced. (No offense to my buddy!) The French Ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret, qualified the situation as “inexistent progress”. US lawmakers labeled the members of the Haitian government as “virtual incapacities”. Senator Richard Lugar of the US Senate characterized the Haitian president as “a self-destructive individual”. The ordinary citizen said the government is nowhere visible.

On the eve of the impending hurricane season, utmost care and attention should be focused on the at-risk population, numbered now at some three million people. The international community should have a hands-off attitude, when the Haitian people as a whole are putting in process a mechanism for denying legitimacy to the corrupt, inept and maybe criminal Haitian government.

It should have been the province of the court to make such a political decision. The Preval government has been so derelict in its duties and constitutional obligation that he has failed to name the Chief Judge for the past five years.

The Haitian Constitution has ample provision for a vacancy due to unexpected circumstances. The most senior judge of the Supreme Court shall run the executive office assisted by a prime minister of popular consensus.

I have already suggested names of individuals with high degree of competence, passion and equity ready to assist the international community and the Haitian people to help Haiti engage in the fast road of recovery for the welfare of the people, not the present bogged down politics of disaster profiteering mixed with arrogance and indifference towards those in distress.

Pierre D Sam with 20 years experience abroad with the FAO and twenty more years experience locally, with successive Haitian governments, as well as younger economic experts in food and environmental security such as Jean Erich Rene and Guichard Dore would fit jointly or individually the bill with elegance, expertise and competence.

A national strike was scheduled for this week, an atmospheric deformation filled with rain and hell is scheduled to hit Haiti hard this weekend. There has been demonstration on the street every day; time is of the essence to bring at least and at last well deserved solace to the resilient people of Haiti!

July 26, 2010

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