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<div class="entry-date"><big><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/07/how-the-international-community-failed-haiti/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/07/how-the-international-community-failed-haiti/</a><br>
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January 07, 2013
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big>Hundreds of Thousands Homeless in
Haiti Three Years After the Earthquake Despite Billions in Aid Funneled
to NGOs, Contractors and Internationals</big></div>
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<h1 class="article-title">How the International Community Failed Haiti</h1>
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<div class="mainauthorstyle"><big>by BILL QUIGLEY and AMBER RAMANAUSKAS</big></div>
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<p><big>Despite billions in aid which were supposed to go to the
Haitian people, hundreds of thousands are still homeless, living in
shanty tent camps as the effects from the earthquake of January 12,
2010 remain.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>The earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010 killing,
according to Oxfam International, 250,000 people and injuring another
300,000. 360,000 Haitians are still displaced and living hand to mouth
in 496 tent camps across the country according to the International
Organization of Migration. Most eat only one meal a day.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Cholera followed the earthquake. Now widely blamed on poor
sanitation by UN troops, it has claimed 7,750 lives and sickened over a
half a million. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and
their Haitian partner Bureau des Avocats Internationaux have filed
legal claims against the UN on behalf of thousands of cholera victims.
Recently the Haitian government likewise demanded over $2 billion from
the international community to address the scourge of cholera.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
with 55 percent of the population living below the poverty line of
$1.25 a day. About 60 percent of the population is engaged in
agriculture, the primary source of income in rural areas. Haiti
imports more than 55 percent of its food. The average Haitian eats
only 73 percent of the daily minimum recommended by the World Health
Organization. Even before the earthquake 40 percent of households (3.8
million people) were undernourished and 3 of 10 children suffered from
chronic malnutrition.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>In November 2012, Hurricane Sandy leveled yet another severe
blow to the hemisphere’s poorest country. Wind and twenty inches of
rain from Hurricane Sandy killed over 50 people, damaged dozens of
cholera centers, and badly hurt already struggling farming communities.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Despite an outpouring of global compassion, some estimate as
high as $3 billion in individual donations and another $6 billion in
governmental assistance, too little has changed. Part of the problem
is that the international community and non-government organizations
(Haiti has sometimes been called the Republic of NGOs) has bypassed
Haitian non-governmental agencies and the Haitian government itself.
The Center for Global Development analysis of where they money went
concluded that overall less than 10% went to the government of Haiti
and less than 1% went to Haitian organizations and businesses. A full
one-third of the humanitarian funding for Haiti was actually returned
to donor countries to reimburse them for their own civil and military
work in the country and the majority of the rest went to international
NGOs and private contractors.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>With hundreds of thousands of people still displaced, the
international community has built less than 5000 new homes. Despite
the fact that crime and murder are low in Haiti (Haiti had a murder
rate of 6.9 of every hundred thousand, while New Orleans has a rate of
58), huge amounts of money are spent on a UN force which many Haitians
do not want. The annual budget of the United Nations “peacekeeping”
mission, MINUSTAH for 2012-2013 or $644 million would pay for the
construction of more than 58,000 homes at $11,000 per home.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>There are many stories of projects hatched by big names in the
international community into which millions of donated dollars were
poured only to be abandoned because the result was of no use to the
Haitian people. For example, internationals created a model housing
community in Zoranje. A two million dollar project built 60 houses
which now sit abandoned according to Haiti Grassroots Watch.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Deborah Sontag in the <em>New York Times</em> tells the
stories of many other bungles in a critical article which reported only
a very small percentage of the funds have been focused on creating
permanent housing for the hundreds of thousands displaced. Many expect
200,000 will be still in displacement camps a year from now.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>The majority of the hundreds of thousands of people still
displaced by the earthquake have no other housing options. Those who
were renters cannot find places to stay because there is a dramatic
shortage of rental housing. Many of those who owned homes before the
earthquake have been forced to move back into their despite the fact
that these homes are unsafe. A survey by USAID found that housing
options are so few that people have moved back into over 50,000 “red”
buildings which engineers said should be demolished.</big></p>
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<p><big>One new program, 16/6, promises to pay a one-time $500 maximum
rental subsidy for a family to relocate from tent camps but this
program will only benefit a tiny percentage of the displaced population
because it is currently available only for about 5% of the people
displaced. It is limited to those living in the 6 most visible public
camps in Port au Prince. With the housing shortage in Port-au-Prince
there are few places available to rent even with a subsidy.</big></p>
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<p><big>Most of the people living under tents are on private property
and are subjected to official and private violence in forced evictions
according to Oxfam. Over 60,000 have been forcibly evicted from over
150 tent camps with little legal protection. Oxfam reports many in
camps fear leaving their camps to seek work or food worried that their
tents and belongings will be destroyed in their absence.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Dozens of Haitian human rights organizations and international
allies are organizing against forced evictions in a campaign called
Under Tents Haiti.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>The fact that these problems remain despite billions in aid is
mostly the result of the failure of the international community to
connect with Haitian civil society and to work with the Haitian
government. Certainly the Haitian government has demonstrated problems
but how can a nation be expected to grow unless it leads its own
reconstruction? Likewise, Haitian civil society, its churches, its
human rights and community organizations, can be real partners in the
rebuilding of the country. But the international community has to take
the time to work in a respectful relationship with Haiti. Or else the
disasters of the earthquake and hurricanes will keep hammering our
sisters and brothers in Haiti, the people in our hemisphere who have
already been victimized far too frequently.</big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big><strong><em><strong>Bill Quigley</strong></em></strong><em> is
a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New
Orleans and Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional
Rights. <em><em><em><em><em><em><em>He is a contributor to </em></em></em></em></em></em></em><em><em><em><em><em><em><em><a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1849351104/counterpunchmaga"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Hopeless:
Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion</a> (AK Press). </em></em></em></em></em></em></em>You
can reach Bill at </em><em><a href="mailto:quigley77@gmail.com">quigley77@gmail.com</a> </em></big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big><strong>Amber Ramanauskas</strong> is a lawyer and human rights
researcher. She can be reached at: <a
href="mailto:gintarerama@gmail.com">gintarerama@gmail.com</a></big></p>
<big></big>
<p><big>Thanks to Sophia Mire and Vladimir Laguerre for their help. A
copy of this article with full sources is available.</big></p>
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