Haiti and the Ethics of Care

A minority to reckon with

2010 Presidential candidate Mirlande Manigat

Port-au-Prince, Haiti– Meet the would be future President of Haiti– Mirlande Manigat–one of only two women presidential candidates among 17 others engaged in a relentless pursuit of the crumbled Haitian palace.

The most recent survey by Haiti’s independent Economic Forum, released late last week, revealed that Manigat of the Assembly of Progressive National Democrats (RDNP) has widened her lead over engineer Jude Celestin– President René Préval‘s protégé– to eight points, 30% to 22%. These results could be indicative of a 180-degree turn around from the incompetence and corruption the Haitian political élite has come to represent in favor of the care ethics model. This late 20-century school of thought attempted to deviate from traditional gender-based theories and principles that had trivialized or ignored virtues culturally associated with women.

Although Haiti has never elected a woman president, the idea is not revolutionary. In fact, another woman—Justice Ertha Pascal-Trouillot —held the highest office from 1990 through 1991 as the provisional President of Haiti. She had only been in office nine months when, on Dec. 16, 1990, she oversaw the elections of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in what historians have called the first truly free elections in Haiti.

The Haitian electorate united under the banner of hope

Reflecting on these historical facts, political pundits wonder if it were a coincidence or simply a sense of misplaced nostalgia that the people of Haiti pushed Manigat passed her rivals at these late stages of the most critical elections of the country. When asked about her response to the cholera outbreak in a televised interview, she quickly replied: “I responded as a woman, a citizen, not as a candidate or politician.” She went on to emphasize the importance of not politicizing the cholera epidemic at the expense of the victims, in spite of the situation’s obvious political implications. Her populist, grandmotherly tone seemed to have resonated with Haitians, an electorate seeking a second coming of a messiah to restore their sovereignty and dignity.

Manigat is a well-respected, soft-spoken 70-year-old PhD scholar with an eye for fashion, but her opponents should not underestimate. She is ahead of Michel “Sweet Micky” Martely, arguably the most popular and genuine Haitian music star/entertainer who has been overtly critical of government throughout his career. Manigat is, in fact, not new to the political scene. She is a former first lady, wife of the 36^th president of Haiti, Leslie Francois Manigat who was overthrown in a coup on June 20 1988, four months after his inaugural address.

2010 presidential candidate Josette Bijou

The other half of the minority, independent Anne-Marie Josette Bijou, 69, is running on a reformist platform. In an interview with Pierre-Raymond Dumas of Le Nouvelliste, she declared, “I have a reputation that inspires confidence. In the current state of the country, we seek a person of this caliber, someone who is trusted in all sectors of national life as well as in the international community. I am undoubtedly this person, who is able to share her past and her experiences.” Dr. Bijou, as she prefers to be called, is also a well-respected scholar with an impressive 43-year resume in the public health, including a two-year term as the Public Health Minister of Haiti beginning in 2004. On the campaign trail, she promised to deliver a new Haiti by 2025 through strategic reforms, among those: education, health care, infrastructure and, most importantly a rupture in the country’s dysfunctional political culture.

Evidently, politics and governmental bureaucracy are not foreign to either of these two candidates, yet if one follows their rhetoric, they draw a sharp contrast between the reigning gender-based philosophy of governance, a history of epic failures, to introduced a softer, yet resounding voice of genuine concern, compassion and a sense of duty. That philosophy, not far removed from what male candidates are preaching in this election cycle, seems– at least for the time being—to have resonated with the electorate making the two women a minority to reckon with. While the care ethics approach might be a relatively new paradigm in Haitian politics, it would seem captivating enough to perhaps make history inciting the first election of a woman president of Haiti who will oversee some $10 billion in reconstruction aid pledged by international donors.

Rapadoo,

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Lions, Sheep and Protection

It is Haiti, It is rape, it is UN peacekeepers and it is nothing new.

Peacekeeping patrol

Port-au-Prince, Haiti– At a time when uncertainties about upcoming Haitian elections are high, when anxieties over the cholera epidemic are rampant and prevalent rumors identifying peacekeepers as epidemic originators persist, the humanitarian organization must allocate resources to combat emerging rape allegations.

The Washington Times reported Tuesday on emerging rape accusations of teenage girls by UN peacekeepers in Haiti, most notably in the city of Leogane, some 25 miles west of Port-au-Prince. According to the article, her mother forbade then 15-year-old Natasha from filing an official complaint about the crime. Now 17, she accused a Sri Lankan peacekeeper of raping her two years ago. Reporters withheld Natasha’s real name to protect her identity.

Moreover, six years ago, in 2004, similar rape accusations of another 15-year-old involving a Brazilian peacekeeper surfaced among 33 other cases, which prompted an investigation by the UN peacekeeping mission. Polin Aleandre articulated, « There are likely many more cases. » She is a social worker that claims five street girls ages 9 to 13 received sexual advances from peacekeepers in front of the national palace. « Sex has a huge stigma in Haiti, and rape even more so. People don’t talk about it at all, » Aleandre added.

Notably, a plurality of sexual abuse scandals stormed the Un peacekeeping mission in Africa in 2008. Among scores of victims was Elizabeth, a 13-year-old girl from Ivory Coast. She recounted her ordeals to BBC News, « They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me… I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing, » she said.

Similar patterns recorded in Southern Sudan, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi are explicitly highlighted in “No One to Turn To,” a report published by Save the Children Fund in 2008. In spite of renewed commitments by the UN in recent years to address this plaguing problem, these vulnerabilities have tarnished the image of the humanitarian organization, once a viable solution to global crisis.

Denying the allegations, U.N. spokesperson David Wimhurst declared, after conducting three investigations, no substantiated evidence became known in Natasha’s charges. “We take it very seriously, » he argued. « Clearly, the majority of our people are behaving themselves, and indeed, since some of these allegations don’t pan out, I would say, it’s not a huge problem. » Meanwhile, the Washington Times’ report indicated since January 2004, the United Nations has investigated 319 peacekeepers for accusations of sexual abuse or exploitation, resulting in the repatriation of 144 military personnel, 17 police officers and 18 civilian officials.

After its investigation, Save the Children Fund recommended better reporting mechanism and the strengthening of worldwide protection systems. However, some activists insist that some victims are either too afraid or too intimidated by the U.N. bureaucracy to come forward.

These circumstances have raised legitimate concerns in Haitian communities who, according to some reports, have lost an estimated 3,000 children monthly to the Dominican Republic’s lucrative human trafficking market since Jan. 12, 2010.

Rapadoo,

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Democracy at Gunpoint

Looming Tropical Storm Thomas

Provisional Electoral Council

Port-au-Prince, Haiti– Haitians will be electing a president, 10 Senators and 99 members of parliament on November 28, 2010, 16 short days from now. Democracy must prevail; the Haitian Constitution, international community and fundamental democratic principles necessitate such peaceful transfer of power. However commonsensical, dubious observers question the legitimacy and wisdom of the Provisional Electoral Council’s decision and persistence.

Cholera victim waiting for medical assistance

Free and fair elections are vital to the survival of any vibrant democracy, but under these circumstances, should we even talk about fairness and freedom. First, there was the apocalyptic catastrophe that virtually turned the capital, surrounding areas into a war zone, snatched more than 330,000 lives, and left millions limbless and/or homeless. Second, the rainy season showed no more sympathy than the magnitude 7.0 earthquakes did on January 12, sometimes so forceful as to have flooded or even blown away feeble temporary shelters housing the victims. More recently, a Cholera outbreak has claimed its share of destruction killing accumulating as many as 800 deaths, hospitalizing more than 12,100 victims.

Interestingly, while the findings are inconclusive, yahoo news reported Wednesday the source of the outbreak might be UN peacekeepers. According to the Associated Pressarticle, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) matched the Haitian cholera strand to strands found in South Asia, yet claimed that further investigation in the matter would derail efforts to fight the disease. Notably, Dr. Paul Farmer –a U.N. deputy special envoy to Haiti and expert on poverty and medicine– disagreed noting, « That sounds like politics to me, not science,” talking about the reluctance to unearth the roots of the outbreak. « Knowing where the point source is — or source, or sources — would seem to be a good enterprise in terms of public health, » he added.

Tropical storm Thomas delivered yet another devastating blow to the crippled nation, the latest of a tortuous series of phenomena that left little doubts about the impracticalities or the Haitian reality. At least 20 people lost their lives and thousands more made homeless due to massive flooding in the South

Aftermath of tropical storm Thomas

Western part of the country.

In all fairness to democracy, its ideals must live on and survive the darkest of natural and supernatural malice. Nevertheless, if sir democracy were wise, experience and logic would have revealed the improbabilities of a peaceful transfer of power, especially in an environment so ripe with uncertainties, anxiety and inconsistencies as Haiti.

Inarguably, the people of Haiti are courageous and have demonstrated, thus far, an unprecedented show of resiliency and restraint, absent any other alternatives. However, psychological strength does not translate to a readiness to reasonably elect a suitable president capable of leading them out of this hole. As demonstrated, since January 12, Haitians have been in survival mode witnessing their loved ones dying one after another. Therefore, engaging in any critical thinking process about the candidates and issues, required of an informed electorate, cannot be a priority. Nevertheless, Pierre-Louis Opont, director general of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, told Reuters, « On November 28, at 6 a.m., the polls will open.”

One of many voting signs encouraging voters to vote

Rather than a shortsighted quick fix, many have called for a more comprehensive approach to the 2010 elections. After all, as some loyalists have justifiably argued, if Haiti’s 206-year political history is any indication, its road to recovery is predictably inevitable.

Rapadoo,

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Haiti Cholera Toll at 800, Worry for U.S. (nlm.nih.gov)

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Raw Video: Tomas Floods Hard-hit Haiti