| Another Haiti IS Possible
(Here follows a digest/paraphrased translation of the document’s final recommendations from the original version in French. Produced for the UK Inter-agency group on Haiti by Anne McConnell and Charles Arthur.) Haiti is not looking for sympathy, but is relying on the true solidarity of friendly nations who know how to listen to her and who understand that her real desire is for the right to exist. More than anything, this country wants to leave behind her long history of dependence and take control of her own destiny. * * *
All participants in grassroots and democratic movements in Haiti are driven by the conviction that Haiti can determine its own future. Rebuilding Haiti for us means: Today our organisations call on its international partners, notably the EU, to support the following:
I. CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS1. Creation of physical security by backing government initiatives to disarm illegal and irregular groups, prevent the trafficking of arms, and strengthen the police force (PNH). A fundamental demand of Haitian society is for the right to life. A state based on the rule of law is a pre-requisite for all forms of reconstruction.2. Reintegration of members of disarmed illegal groups, particularly disaffected youth. 3. Strengthen the capacity of existing human rights organisations, with a focus on both the monitoring of violations in general and a national campaign against violence against women in particular. We ask that the EU to encourage and support the Haitian government in: 4. Strengthening the Office for the Protection of Citizens (OPCC) as an independent and constitutional institution guaranteeing citizens’ rights when these are compromised by the State. 5. Guaranteeing an independent judiciary by strengthening the legitimacy and credibility of judicial officials, and making the justice system accessible to all citizens, as well as facilitating the acquisition of basic identity documents for all individuals.
II. ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS1. Debt relief and cancellation. It a scandal that the repayment of arrears accumulated in recent decades is included in the Interim Co-operation Framework. We ask EU member states, specifically Spain, Italy and France, to cancel bilateral debts. We also ask the EU for a debt repayment moratorium of at least seven years, with immediate effect, and the instigation of a citizen’s audit that will reveal the illegitimacy of a large portion of this debt. Liberated funds can then be invested in priority areas, such as education, health and rural infrastructure.
We call on the EU and its member states to:
3. Support the strengthening of the Haitian state so it can guarantee the economic, social and cultural rights of its citizens, notably:
• Improved education standards and better access to education for all.
III. FOOD SECURITY AND LESS RELIANCE ON IMPORTSWe ask the EU and its member states to:1. Put agriculture, fishing, and the raising of livestock at the centre of a local and national development process, based on sustainable agricultural systems that respect the environment and generate income and employment. Such a process requires a clear food security policy aiming to: • strengthen the state institutions that will carry out policies and programmes supporting the peasant-farming sector. • provide better agricultural vocational training for young people. • strengthen the commercial chain through the different stages of agricultural production (production, storage, processing, local, national and international marketing, etc.). 2. Support the development of the production system by putting in place infrastructure and services (roads, irrigation, electricity, storage, credit, etc.) 3. Encourage policies that promote the development of Haitian agriculture, specifically by supporting agreements at a regional level regarding customs regulations/tariffs (working through CARICOM and MERCOSUR), so as to minimise unfair competition. 4. Put a stop to and condemn the practise of subsidising exports to countries in the South.
ConclusionAt the level of international relations, it would be useful to establish more direct dialogue between countries, free from the usual twists and turns of relations between funders, financial institutions, and their beneficiaries. The latter are often overwhelmed by the fear of losing funding if they do not agree to certain conditions.In general, we, Haitian organisations, are asking the EU, its member states, and national governments for their active involvement in monitoring all these recommendations. The support we are looking for is linked primarily to the construction of a state based on rights, where the Haitian government and parliament, along with the organised sectors of civil society, develop and begin to execute a workable and global framework for development.
NOTES:The Coordination Europe Haiti (CoEH) is a network of 36 European organisations engaged with Haiti – NGOs from Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The Coordination Europe Haiti (CoEH) welcomed the following delegates to Europe for engagements between 25 November and 10 December 2004: These are the 50 organisations that, theoretically at least, are part of the Coordination Haiti Europe (CoHE), the platform that has assembled to coordinate advocacy approaches in tandem with the European NGO platform, the Coordinaton Europe Haiti (CoEH):
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