Constitutional Amendments Give Haitians Abroad More RightsBy Bryan Schaaf on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
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Associated Press By Evens Sanon
Haitians living abroad will gain the right to own land and run for lower levels of office under an amended version of the Caribbean nation's constitution published Tuesday. The move comes more than a year after Haitian legislators tried to change the old constitution to allow for dual nationality, which has long held up questions of land ownership and bids for public office. President Michel Martelly revoked that change just before it became official by being published in the National Gazette.
It is unclear why Martelly halted the earlier effort to allow Haitians dual nationality, but he is now switching course because of international pressure. An estimated 2 million Haitians living in the United States, Canada and elsewhere have long wanted a greater say in the political affairs of their homeland. "The matter of the dual nationality that was creating division between the diaspora and people here in Haiti, that's been resolved," Martelly told reporters at the National Palace as diplomats and lawmakers looked on. "All Haitians are Haitians."
The newly published constitution brought a mixture of surprise and hope to one Haitian leader outside of the country, Marleine Bastien. "I think it was way overdue," Bastien, the founder and executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, said by telephone. "It shows that (Martelly) understands the great positive impact that the diaspora can play in the future of Haiti." Haitians living abroad contribute 25 percent of the country's gross domestic product with remittances sent to relatives back home to a struggling country heavily dependent upon international aid.
Martelly on Tuesday also announced that a woman was named director to a newly formed election panel as part of a requirement that ensures 30 percent of government employees be women but didn't name her. The eight other members have yet to be named. The new electoral council that was also created by the amended constitution is to oversee elections to fill the seats of 10 senators whose terms expired in May after a vote wasn't held in time. It's unclear when the government will organize elections for the empty senate seats, as well as mayoral posts. The formation of the new electoral panel comes after last week's arrest of six former election officials on charges of misappropriating government property that included laptops and memory cards.
Martelly fired all nine members of the electoral council in December, and ordered them to return any government property still in their possession. Members of the earlier council, appointed by former President Rene Preval, oversaw an election that was so marred with fraud and irregularities that it almost cost Martelly the presidency. The next elections will be critical to the Martelly administration as it tries to encourage reconstruction efforts following a devastating 2010 earthquake. Martelly has few supporters in either house of Parliament, and his first year in office was marked by sparring with legislators.
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Revamped Haitian Constitution Comes Into Effect (6/20/2012)
NTN/Latin American News
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Haitian President Michel Joseph Martelly welcomed the troubled country's revamped constitution in front of foreign dignitaries at a ceremony in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday (June 20). Publishing an amended version of the constitution earlier this week, the re-worked document grants voting rights to Haitians with dual citizenship and sets up new political institutions. However, the changes to the constitution have been a long time coming. The amendments were approved shortly before Martelly took office in May 2011 but were withdrawn after members of Parliament said the version sent to the president for publication contained errors. Martelly admitted the new constitution has been a source of division in Haiti.
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"Today, the nation is completely divided on the validity and the authenticity of the text version of the amended 1987 Constitution published in the official newspaper "Le Moniteur" and the necessity to publish once again the amended Constitution or simply to reproduce the one that is already done despite material errors," he said. Haiti reverted to its original 1987 constitution until the corrected version was finally published. With some two million Haitians living abroad the constitution resolves a longstanding political issue. Citizens who hold one or several foreign passports to vote and be eligible for appointment to cabinet posts and other administrative and political positions that could previously only be filled by Haitians who had never become citizens of another country. "And this long work that put an end on the question of double nationalities for a numbers of our citizen leaving abroad for so many years," added Martelly.
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Other amendments would also create a constitutional court to resolve conflicts between Parliament and the executive branch of government and establish a new permanent electoral council to oversee elections. They also will require that at least 30 percent of government jobs be held by women. However, opposition to the amendments remain with high-profile senator Steven Benoit alleging fraud in the re-worked constitution's vote. "Once again I voted against but the vast majority I voted for so I had no choice but to, once again, recognise that I have lost and the majority had won. But, the only problem is there was some fraud. I mean some of the articles that were voted were not the articles that were published in Le Jornal le Monitor," declared Benoit.
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Controversy over the amendments continues despite President Martelly telling media all three branches of government - the executive, parliament and judicial - had agreed to the publication of a final version of the amendments. "If normally the president had said, had given orders for the amendment to be published in the official paper, which is the the 'Monitor' it should be out today. If it is out today we will be under the amendment constitution so it is still the same condition of 1987 with lots of amendments," added Benoit. Despite the amendments some constitutional limitations still remain in the document with Haitians who hold foreign passports still not be eligible for four key government positions - president, prime minister, senator or member of the lower house of Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. Haitians living abroad send home up to $2 billion in remittances annually to support their relatives, contributing about 20 percent of Haiti's GDP.
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