by The Guardian
The UN forces came to police the 92% of Haitian voters who had electedPresident Aristide and protested about his overthrow by a US coup. They were never "heroes" – except to the elite "cocooned in luxury and indifference" who backed the coup (Heroes to zeros, 17 November 2010).
Before accusations of having brought cholera to Haiti (many believe intentionally), UN troops stood accused of murdering and raping Aristide supporters. According to the Lancet (UN peacekeepers in Haiti, 2 September 2006): "In just 22 months – from the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to the end of 2005 – 8,000 people were murdered and 35,000 women sexually assaulted." While "criminals" were blamed, "police, armed forces, paramilitaries and foreign soldiers were also implicated".
You have got some things right: Haiti is a "republic of NGOs"; "aidtourism" does hinder reconstruction; and subsidised US imports were responsible for "destroying home-grown agriculture". (Bill Clinton apologised for the starvation his policies inflicted). But your claim that US troops are "popular and many people want them back", and the fact that US-financed elections on 28 November exclude Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party from the ballot, disregard the will of a people who, despite every obstacle, continue to let their will be known.
Twice before, in April and June 2009, 90% of the Haitian electorate boycotted US-funded elections which illegally excluded Fanmi Lavalas. In June 2010, Haitians brought to the US Social Forum a petition signed by over 20,000 female earthquake survivors demanding Aristide's return from forced exile. If Aristide were home, Haitians would not be at the mercy of NGOs and others for whom they are merely a business opportunity.
Selma James and Nina Lopez
London
Major Aid Organizations "Duped Donors" and "Failed Haiti" Group Charges
"Cholera should not be spreading in Haiti."
The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) released an online petition today, targeting leaders of major disaster relief and aid organizations for failing to do more to prevent the cholera outbreak in Haiti ten months after a devastating earthquake killed up to 300,000 and left 1.5 million homeless. Major relief organizations raised billions of dollars, while telling the public that their relief efforts included water and sanitation work. With half of the funds raised still in the bank, DAP says that aid organizations failed to use the funds with the same urgency conveyed to donors, and that a cholera epidemic was avoidable.
Executive Director Ben Smilowitz says the failure of aid organizations to respond quickly to the epidemic is different from donor nations promising aid that never materialized.
"Donors have been duped. They generously donated in response to urgent appeals to save lives and help the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake. Now, after billions in cash was raised, earthquake survivors are dying of cholera because conditions are so poor and the donated money is sitting in the bank. This is not what donors had in mind and it underscores the importance of transparency and accountability in relief and aid situations," Smilowitz said yesterday in a phone interview.
The petition targets the leadership of major aid organizations by name, accusing them of "not doing their jobs" and allowing the epidemic to become a major threat. Quoting the Chronicle of Philanthropy, DAP named major charities involved in sanitation and water projects.
Each of these organizations stated that they worked on Water and Sanitation after the Haiti earthquake. As of July 2010 - six months after the Haiti earthquake, American Red Cross raised $464 million and spent $117 million; Catholic Relief Services raised $140.8 million and spent $30.6 million; Oxfam America raised $29 million and spent $11 million; Salvation Army raised $20.5 million and spent $6.8 million; Food for the Poor raised $20.5 million and spent $10.7 million; Mercy Corps raised $14.9 million and spent almost $2.9 million; International Medical Corps raised $13 million and spent $4.5 million. World Vision raised $44 million ($192,000,000 worldwide) and spent $56 million worldwide and CARE raised $18.2 million and spent $9.6 million worldwide. It is unclear how much World Vision and CARE spent in Haiti, since they did not provide that information.
When asked about the skewed World Vision numbers, Smilowitz said that "these groups try to make their numbers look as impressive as possible. The bottom line is that they did not clearly answer the question about how much money World Vision raised and spent in Haiti."
"The international community and Haitian government failed to sufficiently invest in clean water and sanitation after the quake. Now, living conditions are so deplorable and infrastructure so poor, the situation is ripe for the cholera epidemic. The cholera death toll is expected to soar into the thousands," the DAP petition says.
The petition also quotes World Health Organization (WHO) documents which say cholera outbreaks are "closely linked to inadequate environmental management" and that "typical at-risk areas include peri-urban slums, where basic infrastructure is not available, as well as camps for internally displaced people or refugees, where minimum requirements of clean water and sanitation are not met."
Pan American Health Organization epidemiologists have said the disease has not peaked and will likely worsen and spread. 270,000 may be affected in the coming years.
On November 17, the Ministère de la Sante Publique et de la Population (MSPP) reported that the cumulative number of hospital admissions and deaths due to cholera as of November 15 as 18,382 and 1110, respectively.
Six months after the Haiti earthquake, Disaster Accountability Project released a report detailing a "shocking lack of transparency" in Haiti relief operations.
The Disaster Accountability Project (DAP) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving disaster management systems through policy research and advocacy, promoting transparency and engaging citizens to become more involved in preparedness and relief, and helping to ensure that people know what is happening on the ground during a disaster.
DAP was founded in 2007 in reaction to the response to Hurricane Katrina.
A toll-free hotline (866-9-TIP-DAP) is available as a public service for disaster survivors, workers and volunteers to report critical gaps in disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery services or planning.
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