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,

Related Articles

• Haiti cholera epidemic: UN rejects accusations peacekeepers spread disease(telegraph.co.uk)
• Haiti cholera outbreak: Desperate and naked woman collapsed on streets(dailymail.co.uk)
• Haiti cholera spreads over border (bbc.co.uk)
• First cholera case confirmed in Dominican Republic as Haiti death toll passes 1k(dailymail.co.uk)
• Haiti rioters attack U.N. troops, one protester killed (reuters.com)

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,

Related Articles

Haiti Cholera Toll at 800, Worry for US: CDC Expert

Haiti Cholera Toll at 800, Worry for US: CDC Expert(health.usnews.com)

Haiti cholera toll at 800, worry for U.S.: CDC expert (reuters.com)

U.N. Asks for $164 Million in Aid As Haitian Cholera Outbreak Widens(blogs.wsj.com)

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

Haiti cholera outbreak reaches Port-au-Prince (guardian.co.uk)

« Cholera Outbreak Reaches Haitian Capital Port-au-Prince: Officials » and related posts (medindia.net)

Raw Video: Tomas Floods Hard-hit Haiti

Beginning of the End

Anti-rape Campaign

Nine months after doom’s day, the Haitian consciousness is perplexed, traumatized and scattered. Reality has settled in: there will neither be Moses nor his wand at the sea of debris. Sparks of progress are sporadic, but gradually painting a postmodern, post-quake impression. In addition, Haitians grow increasingly wary of parliament and presidential elections on Nov. 28, 2010, which could mean another opportunity for a power grab given the frail state of the country. There is growing unrest in the displacement camps as the residents grow anxious over land disputes in the capital while other parts of the country have yet to see any pragmatic recovery efforts.

Nevertheless, the vulnerable and voiceless victims received some good news in September when Edmund Mulet, head of the U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti, announced the anti-rape campaign. He noted there was a public relations campaign currently under way to teach people how to prevent and respond to rapes and other sexual attacks. Among its various target publics is the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which –Mulet noted– was undergoing additional training to handle rape and sexual violence at the camps.

Just over two years ago, on June 19, 2008, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adoptedResolution 1820 emphasizing, “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.” The text of the resolution affirmed the Council’s readiness to, where necessary, adopt steps to address systematic sexual violence deliberately targeting civilians, or as a part of a widespread campaign against civilian populations. However, it has taken nine months and scores of women and children victims before Haiti saw the emergence of an anti-rape campaign.

Arguably, Haiti is not a “war-ravaged” country, yet the apocalyptic catastrophes are not dissimilar: piles of rubble make up the landscape, millions displaced in unsecured camps and thousands of women and children victimized by assailants. Furthermore, there are thousands of foreign military personnel roaming the streets and a government struggling to find itself. Mulet acknowledged the nearly impossible odds his forces face. Only a 200-member U.N. police force maintains a permanent presence in six especially high-risk camps housing 135,000 people, he complained to the Associated Press. Even with a highly trained MINUSTAH, such ratio does little to protect the victims and may even encourage criminal behaviors.

While a public relation campaign and training are essential to raise awareness and eventually help eradicate the problem, many complained that the initiative was shortsighted. The plan offered no details about apprehension and prosecution of perpetrators. There was no mention of the role the legislative body or any human right legislation. He made no reference about any coping mechanism to aid the victims with their post traumatic ordeals, many of who are pregnant teens. In addition, foreign peacekeepers could not respond to violent situations with any degree of certainty because of language barriers, another deterrent to tangible solutions. As U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice argued, efforts to stop sexual and gender-based violence « must be part of a wider effort to empower women throughout the reconstruction process. » She did however describe the plan as a ”positive” step in the right direction.

In a recent turn of events, many now blame post-quake conditions and institutional weaknesses for the resurgence of gang activities that are typical of governmental instability and election seasons in Haiti. The Aspen Daily News reported the kidnapping – at gunpoint– of Gilbert Chenet, a 50-year-old engineer for Mercy & Sharing on Sept. 14. Chenet’s role, in the wake of the earthquake, has been instrumental to the Aspen-based nonprofit organization. He oversaw rehabilitative processes of the organization’s damaged schools and orphanages. Two days later, Chenet was released after his family raised and paid a ransom to the kidnappers.

These troubling developments may be indicative of future criminal behavioral trends. In addition to the women and children at the camps, violence could spill over into the relief community, actions that could pose a grave threat to an already slow recovery process. Hence, any plan addressing these atrocities must be robust and capable of halting perilous circumstances years after the foreign forces leave Haiti. U.N. Ambassador Philip Parham echoed those sentiments saying the U.N force « must continue to do its utmost to aid the development of local policing capabilities » so that the Haitian police force no longer relies on U.N. troops « as the main providers of security » in the country.

Resolution 1820 refers to rapes and gendered-based violence as “a tactic used to humiliate, dominate, instill fear, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group”.  It also stresses that such violence could significantly exacerbate conflicts and impede peace processes, or in the case of Haiti, derail the rebuilding process completely. With such strong language, many Haitians argued, the lack of an immediate response from the United Nations to increasing violence in displacement camps is unjustifiable.

Rapadoo,

Sweet Seeds: Zynga Raises $500K In Two Days To Build School In Haiti

Sweet Seeds: Zynga Raises $500K In Two Days To Build School In Haiti

Haiti gets tuition free online university | HULIQ

Haiti gets tuition free online university | HULIQ

Cultivating Haitian Hope

Beyond her displacement camps and their many obstacles, Haiti is taking some baby-steps towards her anticipated recovery. The long-awaited plans, surfacing gradually, offer a real glance into the paths that will lead the country away from its tumultuous past. While these steps may seem too insignificant for major news organizations to notice, Haitians whose lives depend on the successful completion of those projects applaud the initiatives.

Haiti Hope Project (HHP) is one such plan that brought together a coalition of businesses, government, and civil society partners to develop a sustainable mango industry in the country. Towards the end of March 2010, The Coca-Cola Company (CCC) and TechnoServe –a nonprofit organization– announced the project after a meeting held earlier in the month with Jean-Max Bellerive, the Prime Minister of Haiti. Many feel that Bellerive’s enthusiastic seal of approval of the Project hinted at new beginnings in Haitian politics and , perhaps, confirmed the government’s engagement and commitment to the development of Haiti’s economic infrastructure.

During their joint press release, the companies indicated that TechnoServe would implement the Project on the ground: a plan that would create new economic opportunities for 25,000 Haitian mango farmers and their families. The NGO has established a strong record of accomplishments in that field managing similar partnerships around the world –most notably– with banana, cashews, cocoa, and coffee.

In addition to Coca-Cola’s $3.5 million investment in HHP, INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (IDB) also pledged $3 million through its multilateral Investment Funds (MIF). « We are proud to join forces with The Coca-Cola Company in this endeavor, which we hope will become a model of how the private sector can play a critical role in Haiti’s recovery. We call on other corporations to follow their example, helping the Haitian people build a more prosperous future, » said Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB’s president and CEO.

Recently, HHP gained more momentum when it announced more partners that pledged financial support. Acting through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and in coordination with the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), the US Government publicly announced an initial investment of $1 million. Talking about the potential success of the HHP, Kenneth Merten –US ambassador to Haiti declared– it is « Empowering the people of Haiti and embracing their entrepreneurial spirit, while working in alignment with the Government of Haiti’s priorities, will be critical in helping Haiti build back better. »

Furthermore, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund also announced a contribution of $500,000 to support the formation and financing of mango producer groups, nurseries, and collection centers to help farmers. As a result, total investment in Haiti Hope Project has reached $8 million.

Largely under the radar however, is HHP’s insistence on an improved participation of women in the labor force during its implementation phase; a beginning many hope will create a paradigm shift from inherent gender-based inequities prevalent in Haiti’s business communities.

A world away, on the educational front, a 20-year plan to reinvent Haiti’s education systemfinally emerged. Critics of the Haitian government have argued, perhaps justifiably, “Talk and promises have been exceedingly more abundant than visible improvements.” However, the ambitious plan presented by the government and its foreign partners would provide free or nearly free education from kindergarten through the 12 grade.

Exposing pre-quake conditions, the Miami Herald revealed the disturbing realities of Haiti’s broken education system. Out of 800 babies born every day, a lucky seven eventually makes it into a university. Ninety percent of the schools are private and have little to no government oversight.

However, this long-term plan endorsed by the recovery commission included a $4.3 billion expenditure over a two-year period during which a new $15 million, 320-bed teaching hospital would be constructed in Mirebalais, a town in central Haiti.  The government would also build 625 new primary schools, literally tripling the number of publicly financed schools. It would also retrain 90 percent of the country’s teaching force — 50,000 people — to teach the new curriculum, and it would train 2,500 new teachers a year, many through a program patterned on Teach for America.

Like the HHP, the education plan is not a shortsighted initiative. The expertise of Paul Vallas, successful school reformist in both Chicago and post-Katrina New Orléans, brought a fresh perspective to Haiti’s educational system.

Vallas reasoned, « If you subsidize schools that are of higher quality, that are using the national curriculum, that have certified teachers that have higher quality instruction and that are either waiving their tuition or charging affordable tuition costs, that is where those parents will gravitate. » Many observers agreed that such a comprehensive approach could plant some seeds of intellect and hope in the promising future of the nation while generating a range of options for Haitians.

Rapadoo,

Dessalines' Children, A Plan to Build a New Education System in Haiti

Dessalines' Children, A Plan to Build a New Education System in Haiti

Haitian Women Fight Sexual Violence | RHRealityCheck.org

Haitian Women Fight Sexual Violence | RHRealityCheck.org

Beginning of the End

Corruption begets more corruption, the unscrupulous feasts, and the vulnerable loses the self.

“The mother came back, got her daughter and checked her daughter and she said, ‘her inside was so’ --she emphasized-- ‘opened.’  And then she asked the daughter, ‘what happened to you?’ And the daughter said, ‘while I went to the bathroom there was this man that held me and had sex with me’.”

To say “Beginning of the End,” is not to indulge misplaced nostalgia or sentimentality. That scenario, difficult as it might have been to read, have finally exposed an age-old concealed window into the stark realities of scores of Haitian women and children, Flore, in this particular instance. She is a 10-year-old girl who has been sexually assaulted three times in the camp where she lived with her mother.

The horror

Flore’s mom described her daughter’s ordeals through the reporting of Carla Murphy, a journalist covering the rebuilding process in Haiti. Murphy used the pseudo name “Flore” to protect the identity of the child.

The first man who ‘wasted’ her daughter, the mom explained, was a friend who asked for Flore to babysit his child while he went out.  She later found out that he repeatedly raped Flore when she watched his baby. The second attack came at the hands of a 22-year-old man, literally. She caught him red handed, his fingers inside of her daughter. Furious, she had him thrown in jail only to watch him roaming the same camp later. The aforementioned third episode, naively recounted by the child, occurred at night.

The cataclysmic earthquake has not only affected Haitian women disproportionately, but has also created new norms for them. Gender discrimination, and structural inequalities have literally reshaped their realities. In many instances, affected women have had to defend themselves, their children, and aging parents against sexual violence. A Human Rights Watch report highlighted a woman whose kidnappers took to an undisclosed location where she was “gagged, beaten repeatedly, and gang-raped for two to three days until she was finally able to escape.

The presence of an effective Haitian government to meet obvious systematic security needs is but an illusion and the UN response units are a scarce resource; hence, the rapists, pedophiles, and child traffickers alike have created their own version of the Wild West in the camps, which many have branded “breeding grounds for criminals.”

Abnormal Norms

 The dysfunctional judicial system, ineffectiveness of the police force, and an increased tolerance on the part of the victims have all but ensured the elusiveness of the culprits, condoned their sick behaviors, and perpetuated their vicious cyclical tendencies. In June 1999, 600 police officers --10 percent of the force-- were dismissed on human right violations, including sexual violence. Further characterization by Pierre Denize, Haiti’s Chief of Police then, unearthed the roots of the problem. “Haitian police force was the product of a society whose historical development was such that it did not recognize nor have any experience of an institutional human rights policy,” he expressed to the United Nations’ Commission of Human Rights. In addition, The Lancet published a chilling mortality study of Haiti, which revealed, in no small measures, that a staggering 35,000 women were raped between March 2004 and December 2006 in the capital alone during the instability that followed the ousting of President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Meanwhile, government officials have continually downplayed the presence of a systemic problem; hence, the barely noticeable –underreported-- empirical evidence has not done any justice to the victims. Nevertheless, the sharp increase of rape cases since Jan. 12^th of this year can barely be dismissed as random or sporadic acts. According to its July 19^th preliminary report, the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV) has informally tracked 230 rape cases in only 15 of the 1,300 camps. Moreover, a survey conducted in March 2010 by the University of Michigan revealed that 3 percent of women and girls living in displacement camps have been sexually assaulted, half of whom, minors.

Long Road Ahead

It has become abundantly clear that the atrocities against women and children in Haiti are a byproduct of systemic failures and increased vulnerabilities of the displacement camps. As one coalition of

Haitian civil society groups noted, “The extent of the disaster is certainly linked to the character of the colonial and Neo‐colonial State our country has inherited, and the imposition of neo‐liberal policies over the last three decades.”

Beyond its necessary legislative and judicial infrastructure, Haiti needs a mechanism for inclusive participation and interactive engagement of all stakeholders. That is, men, women, and children – rich or poor-- have to be an integral part of ongoing discussions and strategic planning. Transitioning from a status quo, which --for far too long-- has been insensitive to their ordeals, is a daunting task. 

Clearly, such an intergenerational initiative has to be spoon-fed to Haitians. Eventually, the increased knowledge will help remap the psychographics of the cultural consciousness. Ideological changes are complex and require elaborate skills and a great deal of time to materialize, as UNICEF’s 2010 report indicates. Moving too fast risks alienating the victims and/or provoking more aggression. Some women may even be reluctant to move away from the inhumane treatments that they have learned to recognize as a safe place.

Broader Perspective

Several NGO have rightfully called for Haiti’s leaders to prioritize their responses to remedy current atrocities. However, Haiti’s emergent political and social culture presents a rare opportunity to discover her sustainable roots and incite, in the context of evolutionary ideology, a psychological revolution in the malleable cognition of her youths.

Failure to design and implement an effective strategy with the participation of all Haitians would be inadequate and would exacerbate structural human rights infringements that pre‐date the earthquake. The devastating result would leave the most vulnerable members of Haitian society: women, children, and the poor in an even more fragile state.

Rapadoo,