Johanna Mendelson Forman

Subjectsemocracy and government International politics Haiti latin america democracy & power american power & the world institutions & government

The existing levels of human insecurity in Haiti make the country’s post-disaster recovery even more difficult. All the more important that the world gets the response right and makes a sustained commitment, says Johanna Mendelson Forman.

About the author
Johanna Mendelson Forman is senior program officer for peace, security and human rights at the United Nations Foundation.

In the thirty seconds that it took for an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale to devastate Port au Prince on 12 January 2010, the fate of this small Caribbean nation of 10 million people became the rest of the world’s concern. The estimated death-toll of more than 200,000, with injuries to perhaps double that number, give point to the journalist Nicholas Kristof’s remark that “today, we are all Haitians”.

The graphic satellite images and news broadcasts that followed have conveyed the vast scale of destruction, the desperation of an already poor people on the edge of survival – and thus the degree of sustained effort that will be needed in the weeks and months ahead.

The sudden loss of 2% of any population (and damage to very many more) is overwhelming, but Haiti’s experience is worsened by the fact that most of those killed were in and around the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince. A city built to accommodate 50,000 inhabitants, its population had reached almost 3 million as a result of urban in-migration - a factor that itself underscores the lack of opportunity in the rest of country, where poor infrastructure, deforestation, and extreme poverty have made even subsistence living virtually impossible.

Even more daunting is that 75% of Haiti’s population lives on less than $2 a day, and 56% (4.5 million people) on less than $1 per day. Any recovery from disaster is difficult, but for Haiti it will require a complete rethinking of how to do development. If the mantra before the earthquake hit was to help Haitians go “from misery to poverty”, it is hard to find the words that will characterise this attempt to build a new nation. The former United States president Bill Clinton, now the United Nations special envoy to Haiti, argued that the task now is to “build back better.” But in these desperate circumstances, what will “better” consist of?

A state of failure

Haiti has endured many natural tragedies. In June 1770, an earthquake levelled Port-au-Prince; in May 1842, the northern city of Cap Hatien was destroyed, and 10,000 people killed; in 2008, a triple assault of hurricanes tore apart the city of Gonaive. Haiti’s citizens have experienced the full spectrum of disasters in a nation already suffering from weak infrastructure, a lack of administrative capacity, and extreme corruption at all levels of government. Haiti was in this sense a “failed state” long before the term became part of the political language of the post-cold-war era.

Haiti’s independence from France in 1804 marked a high point in western as well as national history as the only successful slave revolt ever mounted in the Americas. The revolt inflicted grave financial harm to France’s empire, causing it to lose two-thirds of its world trade and culminating in Napoleon Bonaparte’s sale of Louisiana to the United States for the sum of $15 million. The treatment of Haiti and its people in this era is representative of a longer history marked by the international community’s consistent prejudice against and exclusion of Haiti; the various foreign-inspired attempts to mould Haiti into a cohesive state have neglected to address the political, social and economic problems that are at the root of its near-failure in the first place.

In a country where institutions did not provide justice, education, or health benefits to the majority, Haitian leaders were never able to lay the foundation for democratic rule. The various attempts at participatory elections only led to a reinforcement of corruption and the entrenchment of repressive security forces that confined political power to a wealthy elite.

In 1990, a United States-led multinational force was deployed to help monitor Haiti’s first democratic elections, which were won by Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas movement. In 2004, Haiti was on the verge of state failure after the government succumbed to mob violence that forced President Aristide’s departure from office.

Both the interventions and the disasters have continued. The United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) remained in the country even after the democratic elections of February 2006 that brought a new president, René Préval, to office; and a series of hurricanes in 2008 inflicted great damage. Yet the year before the earthquake of January 2010 also brought a degree of optimism. The UN mandate for Minustah was renewed in October 2009, amid recognition that - despite problems - the 9,000 UN peacekeepers and civilian police were helping to lay the foundation of public security. Indeed, the earthquake has also had a severe impact on the UN in Haiti: the destruction of its headquarters and the largest loss of life in any mission in its history (around sixty-one personnel killed, including thirty-one senior officials) means that the UN will also have to replenish its own field-staff if it is going to continue its valuable role in Haiti’s future.

It was in this more secure and stable environment that attracted over 400 potential investors to attend a conference in October 2009 led by Bill Clinton to examine the potential for a public-private partnership approach to develop Haiti. René Préval’s government had scheduled legislative elections for February 2010. Many considered that Haitian politics had moved from a more inchoate set of political alliances to a growing movement toward the political centre. The business community in particular sensed that this was a pivotal moment in Haiti’s history where a commitment to better governance and a new flow of capital could Haiti toward a brighter future. The economist Paul Collier, who had been recruited by the UN to assess the potential for Haiti’s development, even suggested that Haiti possessed assets - its geographic location in a region where the size of the US market was a definite plus in attracting more businesses to invest - that gave it the chance of a brighter future.

After tragedy, recovery

Haiti has become the scene of a tremendous humanitarian operation that is attempting to cope with formidable infrastructure challenges that have made coordination of assistance after this disaster one of the most complex in the recent history of humanitarianism.
The United Nations and the United States, with the help of the European Union, Canada, Brazil, the Organisation of American States (OAS), and scores of other countries have sent disaster assistance; over 24,000 US soldiers have been deployed to deliver aid and provide logistical support; UN peacekeepers are also helping to move food and water and to provide shelter; a great variety of NGOs – Haitian and international, those already on the ground and those arriving with doctors, nurses and engineers – are providing comfort and alleviating suffering to the best they can.

At a policy level, the international community is seeking to formulate a coherent agenda for Haiti. A conference for the larger donor community was convened in Montreal on 25 January 2010 - following a pre-meeting in the Dominican Republic - to coordinate efforts and plan longer-term assistance, attended by representatives of twenty nation-states, the UN, and the World Bank. The Montreal gathering agreed to hold a major conference on Haiti’s future at the United Nations in New York in March 2010.

But as the awesome scope of the disaster and of Haitians’ human-security needs are established in the wake of the nightmare of 12 January, it is crucial that the mobilisation of mercy is sustained and a dynamic of longer-term recovery encouraged.

The cost of Haiti’s rebuilding is being urgently discussed. At the Dominican Republic meeting, a $10-billion, five-year assistance-programme was proposed; the Montreal conference heard comparable sums being suggested. But while money will surely flow into Haiti, there is the danger that the US and other actors will be faced with newer emergencies that distract donors from Haiti and leave the country and its reconstruction incomplete. This is the risk of any externally driven nation-building, and it also points to the new direction that is needed if Haiti is to recover and rebuild. For the process of recovery will have to be driven by Haitians themselves: by its elected government (despite its own losses of infrastructure and its weak state), by its impoverished but resilient and creative people, and by the more than 1 million Haitians of the diaspora (who contribute an astounding 40%-plus to Haiti’s GDP).

There is some encouragement here that the Dominican Republic may prove to be both one of the greatest proponents of the rebuilding of its Hispaniola neighbour and one of the largest beneficiaries. The Dominican Republic’s president, Leonel Fernández, understands how important Haiti’s reconstruction is to his country’s own future; and the republic’s other political and business leaders see the potential enormous influx of funds for post-earthquake recovery as a potential source of investment and growth. Much of the sourcing of materials, supplies and technical assistance for Haiti in coming months will come from the Dominican Republic. This alone could be a major economic stimulus; more importantly, it could lead to the political, social, and economic reconciliation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic that has long eluded these countries. There are great challenges and great opportunities here.

The belief that something positive may emerge from Haiti’s suffering is also supported by the Barack Obama administration’s rapid response and mobilisation of humanitarian assistance – evident in the immediate commitment of $100 million in aid, the rapid dispatch of secretary of state Hillary Clinton to Haiti, and the logistical support of US military assets. There is a sharp contrast here with the response of the George W Bush administration to hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the failure to relieve the plight of New Orleans’s poor and deprived citizens received global attention.

The reaction of this United States administration to the Haiti disaster reinforces its overall commitment to a multilateralist approach. In relation to international relations and to humanitarian assistance alike, such an approach is central to any effective global policy of engagement in the 21st century.

What Next for Haiti’s Reconstruction?

By Johanna Mendelson Forman


Q1: What is the current situation on the ground in Haiti?

A1: It has been almost two months since a catastrophic magnitude 7.3 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince. Since that time, Haiti has become the focus of global attention as an overwhelming outpouring of international goodwill has resulted in unprecedented donations to support the victims of the quake. Over $895 million has been raised through private channels, and total U.S. government humanitarian assistance to date (March 1) has totaled $712,727,890 (includes USAID and DOD figures). One-third of the Haitian population has been affected in some way by the earthquake. There were 700,000 displaced persons in Port-au-Prince. As the rainy season approaches, the primary need is for shelter since there are large populations living in two massive tent cities with no proper sanitation and tremendous overcrowding. In addition, there is a high likelihood of epidemic diseases such as typhoid and cholera spreading in the next six to eight weeks due to poor sanitation conditions. Standing water from the coming rains will also increase the incidence of malaria. USAID, along with the United Nations and hundreds of international nongovernmental organizations, are working to resolve these priority humanitarian needs. The clock is ticking, however, as spring rains will start this month, and hurricane season officially begins in May.

Q2: What can we expect when the international donor community convenes at the United Nations at the end of March?

A2: The UN meeting in March will follow up on the initial road map to recovery that donors and multilateral lending institutions and the government of Haiti developed in Canada on January 25. Specifically, the meeting at the United Nations will include a donor pledging session on March 28 and a larger event on March 31 to consider a framework for long-term sustained support for Haiti’s rebuilding. Discussions will focus on a multi-donor trust fund to provide the medium-term (5-year) and longer-term (10-year) resources that Haiti’s prime minister says are essential to bring the country back to where it was before the earthquake, to improve vital infrastructure and social services, and to attract foreign investment to the country. Whatever format this trust fund takes, it must include the government of Haiti, the United Nations, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank in order to allow for the harmonization of activities, to provide a transparent fiduciary mechanism for all donors to monitor the allocation of resources, and to provide ongoing accountability of funds for the reconstruction effort. Central to the future success of any effort will be to learn from past lessons and ensure that Haitian voices—its government, civil society, and the private sector—are heard as rebuilding goes forward.

Q3: How can we ensure that the government of Haiti remains a vital part of the planning for reconstruction?

A3: Haiti does have a legitimate working government that is engaged in the reconstruction planning. It will need assistance to carry out the complex projects that will be supported with international funds. Right after the earthquake, the Haitian government formed six committees to manage the details of reconstruction, including committees dedicated to sanitation and engineering. President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive are actively working with the donor community to revise a reconstruction plan and seek sustainable projects in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, and energy. In addition, a post-disaster needs assessment is still incomplete, but is essential to determine the timing and priorities for each of the affected regions of the country. Preval has also designated his minister of tourism, Patrick Delatour, as chief of reconstruction. A proposal to create a Haitian Development Authority, led by the government of Haiti, but including international donors and Haitians, is also under consideration since a legitimate institution to make decisions about rebuilding will be needed once the terms of the current legislators end in spring 2010. Action on this type of arrangement should be a priority and one outcome of the March donors meeting.

Groups Engaged in Haiti Reconstruction

Group of Friends of Haiti: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay

Other major donors and key regional and multilateral partners engaged in Haiti: European Union, Japan, Spain

Neighboring Caribbean country: Dominican Republic

International organizations: Caribbean Development Bank, CARICOM, Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, United Nations, World Bank
Johanna Mendelson Forman is a senior associate with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Critical Questions is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).
© 2010 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
From left, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President Rene Preval of Haiti and former president Bill Clinton on Wednesday at United Nations.

By REUTERS
Published: March 31, 2010


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - International donors met Wednesday to pledge up to $4 billion to Haiti, the first step in a worldwide effort to rebuild the country after January's catastrophic earthquake.

"What we envision today is wholesale national renewal, a sweeping exercise in nation-building on a scale and scope not seen in generations," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, opening a one-day conference of some 120 countries, international organizations and aid agencies.

Ban called for quick donations in response to a U.N. request for $1.4 billion in immediate humanitarian assistance. So far, the request has only been half funded, fueling fears that the rainy season will compound the disaster for some 1.2 million Haitians left homeless by the Jan. 12 quake.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, co-host of Wednesday's meeting, said the United States would pledge $1.15 billion for long-term recovery, which she said must be planned and executed by Haiti's government.

"We also have to pledge our best efforts to do better ourselves, to offer our support in a smarter way, a more effective way that produces real results for the people of Haiti," Clinton said.

Clinton was joined on the dais by her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti who will coordinate relief efforts for the country.

The U.N. meeting aims to fund a Haitian government recovery plan that includes decentralizing the economy to create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people.

Haitian President Rene Preval said it was time to "dream of a new Haiti" and that the international response to the challenge could be a model for future disasters.

HUGE TASK AHEAD

Aid agencies say the task is huge. Haiti, already the poorest country in the western hemisphere, saw as many as 300,000 people killed in the magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which crippled the government and caused damage estimated at between $8 and $14 billion.

In Port-au-Prince, overnight rains Wednesday pounded crowded survivor encampments, soaking the fragile shelters and turning dusty alleys to mud.

"We didn't have a good night," said Marie-Therese Jasme as she joined hundreds of others in a central Port-au-Prince square jostling for blankets being handed out by U.S. troops.

Ban said the new Haitian Recovery Commission would aim to channel $3.9 billion into programs in the next 18 months, launching a broader project to improve basic health, sanitation, education and housing services.

"Our aim is not to rebuild, but to build back better," Ban said, echoing repeated calls by aid agencies and others to finally lift Haiti out of poverty.

The European Union and a coalition of U.S.-based humanitarian groups have indicated they are likely to pledge more than $2.7 billion, while governments around the world have also started announcing pledges.

The United Nations is also urging countries to support rebuilding Haiti's government capacity after all but one of the country's ministries were destroyed and almost a third of civil servants killed.

Donors and aid partners insist that Haiti directs the reconstruction, but monitoring mechanisms are being included. The World Bank is due to act as "fiscal agent" of a Multi-Donors Trust Fund.

Skepticism on Pledges for Haiti

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: March 31, 2010


UNITED NATIONS — An international effort to finance the reconstruction of Haiti attracted billions of dollars in pledges at a conference here on Wednesday, but the very size of the outpouring raised questions about whether the commitments would be met and how fast the financial support could help salve the needs of the Haitian people.

“Now it comes down to implementation,” said Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general. “We must make sure that Haiti gets the money it needs when it needs it.”

The pledges, from 59 nations or international organizations, add up to nearly $5.3 billion over the next two years, and a total of $9.9 billion for three years or more, Mr. Ban said. It was unclear how much of that constituted new money and how much had been allocated before, but Haiti itself had sought initial pledges of $3.9 billion, and Mr. Ban set the target at $11.5 billion over the next decade.

The United States was among the largest single donors, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton committing to $1.15 billion on top of the more than $900 million already spent.

“Aid is important, but aid has never saved a country,” Mrs. Clinton said, noting that the Haitians would have to do the work with the help of the international community.

Haitians remain skeptical because millions of dollars were pledged in the past for hurricane relief, but only a fraction was actually paid.

Donors said the scale of this disaster — a magnitude-7 earthquake that flattened Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas on Jan. 12 — was different.

“All those others did not come after an earthquake, an earthquake that was a shocking and brutal event for the rest of the world,” said Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, in an interview. Indeed, some of the smaller pledges came from far-flung countries like Mali, which said it would give $200,000, and Montenegro, which pledged $10,000.

Yet anger mounts among Haitians who hear about billions in aid while hundreds of thousands of them still struggle for earthquake relief.

Georges B. Sassine, a Haitian businessman with a delegation presenting its own reconstruction plan, said that his countrymen were waiting to hear that things were moving, that “x, y and z are going to start now.” It was a message echoed by members of the Haitian diaspora, nongovernmental organizations and others, a cross section of society allowed to address the gathering; even for a United Nations conference, it was a wide array.

The money is supposed to be funneled into a multinational fund supervised by the World Bank, and then doled out through projects agreed to by an interim reconstruction commission consisting of Haitians and the largest donors. Former President Bill Clinton and the Haitian prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, are to lead the commission.

Aid experts point to the lack of adequate shelter, a critical issue for safety and public health, as a sign that the sluggish aid response in some sectors must speed up, particularly as hurricane season approaches.

“There is mud and dirt everywhere, and a plastic sheet and a tarp is not going to do it,” said William G. O’Neill, a Haiti expert at the Social Science Research Council in New York and a periodic consultant for the United Nations mission. “That just didn’t sink in for some reason.” Donors should have started shipping temporary houses months ago, he said.

The speed at which the world’s attention can shift was underscored at a news conference by a sudden raft of questions about possible new Security Council negotiations over Iran sanctions.

Despairing the change in focus, Haiti’s president, René Préval, cracked, “Do I need to develop a nuclear program for Haiti so that we come back to talking about Haiti?”

The first time he ever shown the balls to say something meaningful this drunk! There are no excuses why there should still be impoverished slums and shanty towns in the world!
What do you think-> http://bit.ly/9ywPKQ <-of these here for Haiti.