The Trump Administration has announced it will end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in 2019 meaning they must return by then or face deportation.  While such status is meant to be temporary, Haitians have integrated, are working, and part of their American communities.  It is clear that the Haitian government does not have the capacity to reintegrate tens of thousands of its citizens - particularly given the impact of Hurricane Matthew and the ongoing cholera outbreak.  This could further destablise Haiti. The full article the Miami Herald's Jacqueline Charles follows. 

The United Kingdom and the United States are blocking the re-purposing of leftover UN funds already designated for Haiti that could potentially support woefully under-resourced cholera response programming.  As the United Nations now acknowledges, although only as of last year, UN Peacekeeping Forces brought cholera to Haiti.  The epidemic affected hundreds of thousands of Haitians and killed 10,000.  To not allow unused funds to the cholera effort is both misugided and mean-spirited.  Friends of Haiti in both the United States and the United Kingdom should make their voices heard to their elected officials on this important issue.  The full article in The Guardian follow.  

Haiti and the Dominican Republic have always had a complicated relationship.  Much of this is due to different interpetrations of, and not coming to terms with, historical events.  One such event was the "Parsley Massacre" of 1937 during which the Dominican military executed both Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent.  It is unclear how many were killed during the massacre.  An article by NPR contributors Marlon Bishop and Tatiana Fernandez on the impact of the massace for families on both sides of the border dollows. 

On October 5th, the UN Peacekeeping Force in Haiti (MINUSTAH) concluded after thirteeen years and was replaced with a force of 1,300 international civilian police officers.  While MINUSTAH did help stabilise the country during a fragile period, its efforts were marred by, as in so many other countries, sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers. In addition, UN reluctance to take responsibility for the still ongoing cholera epidemic caused by peacekeepers is shameful. The emphasis now is on buiilding Haiti's law enforcement capacity.  The full article by Al Jazeera follows and is accompanied by a short video regarding the MINUSTAH transition. 

As the United States has stepped back from humanitarian leadership, Canada and Mexico have stepped up.  Rather than deporting Haitains who had become stranded in Mexico trying to reach the United States, the Mexican government has offered them one year renewable visas allowing them to work.  This has benefitted the Haitian migrants and it has also benefitted Mexico, which now has a new and manageable pool of very hard workers. It is a good example of solidartiy in a world that is sorely in need of more of it.  The full article by AP journalist Elliot Spagat follows. 

Haitians are increasingly seeking asylum in Canada for fear of being deported when a six month Temporary Protected Status extension concludes on January 22nd .  According to the Miami Herald copied below, the Montreal City Council estimates that half of the 6,500 asylum seekers arriving since January are Haitian.  In the United States, civil society groups continue to advocate for another extension.

Haiti has long had a sanitation problem, being one of a very small number of countries where sanitation worsened over the last twenty five years.  Port au Prince, its largest city, has no central sewage system and is unlikely to ever have one.  There are other models for sewage management but implementing them without good governance, the rule of law, and a well-informed public is, as with anything else, challenging.  However, there are champions for improving sanitation both within and outside the Haitian government. The full NPR article by Rebecca Hersher follows. 

Haiti's infant mortality rate remains the highest in the western hemisphere.  This is due in part to a lack of accessible health care facilities with sufficient staffing, training, and equipment.  With funding from Every Mother Counts, Midwives for Haiti have been training skilled birth atttendants (midwives) to asist mothers during delivery.  Ideally, every Haitian mother could deliver in a facility staffed by health care professionals available to them twenty four hours a day.  That's isn't the reality for most Haitian mothers, making the work of skilled birth attendents critical for them and their babies.  Take a look at the full Washington Post photo essay to learn more. 

Linked and copied below is a BBC article about yet another effort by the Haitian government to re-create a military force. The reasons given are job creation, disaster response, and border patrol.  Costa Rica also does not have a military and is able to patrol its borders and respond to disasters through civilian institutions.  In addition, Costa Rica creates jobs by encouraging investment.  Given the sordid history of the Haitian military, donors would much prefer that Haiti continues to focus on strengthening the national police force.  Recreating the military could very well result in more instability and uncertainty - as was the case in the past. 

Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym MSF, has released a report on sexual violence in Haiti. Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a human rights and a public health issue as it can cause mental trauma, unwanted pregnancies, and transmission of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.  Stigma remains intense in Haiti due to lack of access to justice and survivor-centered health care.  In 2015, MSF opened a clinic in Port-au-Prince that specializes in providing health and psychological support to GBV survivors.  Take a look at the report (available in English and French with summary below), and if you would like to support MSF, you can do so here.