Home

Recent Feature Articles

Klarreich and Polman in The Nation: The NGO Republic of Haiti

The NGO Republic of Haiti

By Kathie Klarreich and Linda Polman, The Nation, October 31, 2012
 
The wire fence that surrounds Haiti’s National Palace in the heart of the country’s capital has been covered, recently, with a green mesh. Inside, the multi-domed structure has been reduced to rubble, finally knocked down after it was all but destroyed by the country’s deadly 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010. The worst national disaster in the history of the Western Hemisphere, the temblor killed an estimated 200,000 people in just thirty-five seconds.
 
Read more
'Haiti Briefing' takes in-depth look at agriculture and food production

The following two articles are published in the October 2012 issue of Haiti Briefing, published by the Haiti Support Group in London, UK. The pdf of the issue (three pages) is attached.

Haiti's hunger games: Disastrous food policy bites hands that feed

Haiti Briefing, No.72, Oct 2012. Main Contributor: Phillip Wearne

One mamit (5.75lb tin) of rice? 150 Haitian Gourdes (about £2.24 or $3.57), up 50% since July. Corn meal? At 100 Gourdes per mamit, that has doubled in the past year. Beans? Well, they are only 210 Gourdes, a mere 40% increase.

It is a measure of the scale of the food price crisis that Haitians are now using the word goudougoudou - their imitation of the sound of ground rumbling in the 2010 earthquake - to denote hunger pains. Soaring food prices mean the hungriest country in the Americas is getting hungrier.

Read more
Clintons and celebrities in Haiti on Oct 22 to showcase Caracol Industrial Park

Clintons land in Haiti to showcase industrial park

By Trenton Daniel and Josh Lederman, Associated Press, Oct 23, 2012
CARACOL, Haiti (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton encouraged foreigners to invest in Haiti as she and her husband Bill led a star-studded delegation gathered Monday to inaugurate a new industrial park at the center of U.S. efforts to help the country rebuild after the 2010 earthquake.

See further below: 'Celebrities and Foreign Officials Tout Caracol, While Report Finds 95% of Factories Fail to Pay Minimum Wage', by CEPR.

Read more
Art of Haiti at show in Nottingham, England
Car parts and human skulls – art of Haiti on show

Haiti is often known for poverty, oppression and natural disasters, but the largest exhibition of its art ever staged in n the UK aims to balance out perceptions of the country.

By Mark Brown, Arts Correspondent, The Guardian (UK), Oct 22, 2012

Read more
Public support grows for threatened human rights attorney Mario Joseph in Haiti
[Please refer to the original article for complete links to sources and related documents.]

Read more
OXFAM: Haiti must redouble efforts to boost agriculture; cannot afford to fail
With 60 percent of Haitians relying on farming to feed their families, a revitalized sector is absolutely crucial to long-term growth
 
By Oxfam, published October 15, 2012
Plans and programs to improve the Haitian agriculture sector since the 2010 earthquake have been insufficient, says international organization Oxfam in a new report. Efforts by the Haitian government and the international community have fallen short of revitalizing the sector, improving conditions for small-scale local farmers, or recognizing the important role of women in agriculture.
Read more
International delegation challenges UN officials on renewal of Haiti occupation

By Kim Ives, published in Haiti Liberte, Oct 17, 2012

On October 12, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to renew for one more year the foreign military occupation of Haiti known as the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti, or MINUSTAH, which has been deployed in Haiti since June 1, 2004.

However, the Haitian people, and increasingly people throughout Latin America, are calling for UN troops to immediately leave Haiti

Read more
Anti-Martelly uprisings sweep Haiti

By Yves Pierre-Louis & Kim Ives, published in the weekly Haiti Liberté, Sept 19, 2012

Demonstrations erupted across Haiti this past week as deep-seated anger against the government of President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe is now surging into the streets on a daily basis. Marches, picket lines, a mock tribunal, and a

Read more
Haitian civil society organizations call for MINUSTAH withdrawal

The following announcement is posted to the Mennonite Central Committee (United Nations) website, reporting on a letter to the UN Security Council by Haitian human rights organizations and the MCC, concerning the future of MINUSTAH, letter dated Sept 10, 2012. A weblink to the letter is here. It is attached below as a pdf.

Read more
UN official: Despite progress, Haiti facing challenges on justice reform and poverty

Published on UN News Center, Sept 17, 2012

Several decades following the beginning of Canada's assistance to "police and justice reform" in Haiti, and following the claimed successes of housing rental subsidy (camp clearance) programs this year such as "16/6" that are financed by Canada, the following is how a UN human rights expert sums up the human rights situation in Haiti. His report should prompt Canadian media and elected officials to begin to examine the human rights situation in Haiti and voice the appropriate concern. Key parts of the following article are highlighted. --CHAN

Read more