By Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice
The scale of the devastation in Haiti as a result of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on 12 January calls for immediate and sustained action by all of us. I am in London at the moment and am involved in raising funds here for the relief effort. This is a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. Now is the time for prayer and action. Please give generously.
It is important that the world responds to address Haiti’s immediate need for safe drinking water, food, shelter, medical supplies/support, clothing and sanitation facilities and so on. Before the earthquake, Haiti was considered to be the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. More than 80% of the people in Haiti live below the poverty line and 54% live in abject poverty.
The CIA Factbook states that “Haiti suffers from high inflation, a lack of investment because of insecurity and limited infrastructure, and a severe trade deficit. In 2005, Haitipaid its arrears to the World Bank, paving the way for reengagement with the Bank. Haiti is expected to receive debt forgiveness for about $525 million of its debt through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative by mid-2009. The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability.”
At the end of December 2008, Haiti’s external debt was estimated at US $1.817 billion. If $525 million was ‘forgiven’ by mid-2009, this still leaves a huge amount to be re-paid. In light of the current disaster, I urge the powers that be to ‘forgive’ all of Haiti’s external debt so that the country will have a chance to use funds/aid to re-build its infrastructure at a higher standard than that which existed, and to improve the quality of life of its citizens.
Pope Benedict XVI’s statement in Charity in Truth is pertinent here. He said that “as society becomes ever more globalized, it makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers… Openness to God makes us open toward our brothers and sisters, and toward an understanding of life as a joyful task to be accomplished in a sprit of solidarity.”
He urges us to promote authentic integral human development which means the development of all dimensions of the human person and of each person. If we are to leave no one behind, now is the time for us in TT to urge CARICOM leaders and other world leaders who are involved in the relief efforts in Haiti, to collaborate in drawing up a plan of action that takes into account short, medium and long term strategies to facilitate sustainable development in Haiti.
Social justice demands that we promote human dignity. As food prices rose, the world stood by watching many Haitians eating pies/biscuits made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening. The situation then was dire. Now, after the earthquake it is significantly worse. The media beams into our homes sights and sounds that are heart-rending. One watches as bodies are unceremoniously dumped in mass graves – along with ‘trash’.
Ironically, many of those who have survived the earthquake are now making their way back to rural areas from which they had come seeking jobs. Raffique Shah’s article on 17 January is instructive. He said that:
“As a corollary to transforming the (Haitian) economy, the IMF dictated that growing rice and other foods that could be imported more cheaply from the US made no sense. In one blow, the IMF killed agriculture, forcing farmers to abandon rural, productive lands and seek elusive, low-paid jobs in the cities. That accounts for the huge number of hovels around the cities that crumbled when the earthquake struck. It also was partly responsible for denuding the countryside of everything green, hence exposing the soil to unimaginable erosion that sticks out like a sore thumb for those who have seen Haiti.”
If we are to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, we must address questions such as that posed by Dom Helder Camara: “Why do the poor have no food?”
Let us pray that relief and rehabilitation efforts in the months/years to come also include genuine consultation with the people of Haiti about their needs.
