ICRC

No matter how bad insecurity ever has been, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has always maintained an important presence in Haiti.  With approximately eighty percent of Port-au-Prince being under gang control, the ICRC must maintain constant communication with many of the 300 gangs and manage their ever-shifting alliances in order to provide assistance to the most vulnerable.  In response to Haiti's worsening situation, ICRC intends to increase its humanitarian efforts including by expanding training for emergency health staff, ambulance services, and support to over-burdened health care facilities in insecure neighborhoods.  The full BBC article by Vanessa Buschschlüter is linked and follows. 

The Haitian Government has announced a commission to examine the country's prisons, which have long known to be over-crowded and unsafe.  Due to Haiti's weak justice system, most prisoners have not been convicted of crimes but are instead being held in pre-trial detention. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and other organizations have for many years tried to improve conditions in the prisons but lasting change requires governmental committment, planning, and resources.  For more information on Haiti, visit the World Prison Brief.  The full article by AP reported David McFadden follows. 

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) is mandated to release annual country-specific human rights reports that address individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 2015 report for Haiti is linked and copied below. There have been some modest improvements from last year - for example in improving oversight of the police.  However, there is a long way to go in reforming the justice system, corrections, and protecting the rights of women, children, and the disabled. Post your thoughts about human rights in Haiti below.  

Each year, the U.S. State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor  is mandated to release country specific human rights reports that address individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The 2010 Human Rights Report for Haiti, attached and copied below, indicates much remains to be done.  Protecting human rights is a critical element of governance and one which the new administration must take on as institutions and infrastructure are reformed and reconstructed.   Protecting human rights will help Haiti become a country that is more fair and just for the whole population, not just the rich and powerful.

Haiti is in the midst of a cholera outbreak, the origin of which is and may remain unclear.  We live in a mobile world and the source could be Africa, Asia, South America, or it may have already been in the environment.  Where it came from is less important than the fact that Haiti, and especially the poorest of the poor, will always be vulnerable without clean water, adequate sanitation, and good hygiene.  This is an update on the current cholera emergency and a reflection on actions that can prevent this from happening again.

By most accounts, the Haitian Government responded well to Gustav.  The Haitian Ministry of Interior’s Office of Civil Protection (DPC) played an active role, gathering information and establishing shelters nationwide. However, Hanna overwhelmed the country's capacity and produced a national catastrophe  that was exacerbated by Ike.  The storms affected 600,000 people in nine of ten departments. Of them, the UN is reporting that 331 people have died and 70,000 people remain in shelters.  Relief has been slow because of damaged infrastructure but it is arriving.