4th April
Human Rights Group Calls for Cancellation Of Haiti's Debts By Vanessa C. Rolle
A new local human rights group is calling for the "immediate"
cancellation of Haiti's debts to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The World Bank and other lenders.
The Bahamas Human Rights Network (BHRN), headed by attorney Elsworth Johnson, also challenges the Bahamian government to use its international influence to encourage lenders to eradicate that country's debt completely.
In an interview with the Bahama Journal on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson pleaded on Haiti's behalf for that nation to have a new start.
"Almost everything is tied to finance. For proper education in Haiti, you need money. If you want a proper judicial system in Haiti so that they can have some confidence in the system, you need financing. If you want a proper police system in Haiti, you need financing. If you want a proper defence system and infrastructure, you need financing," he said.
The funds that Haiti borrowed in the past continue to be used to fund their debts, but not to create better living conditions Mr. Johnson added.
He also noted that the IMF gave debt relief to Haiti in 2006 by approving it for participation in its Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) that would apply to its World Bank debt. The HIPC is a "process" contingent upon Haiti's compliance with specific conditions that would take until 2009 to come to fruition.
Just this past weekend, the Board of Governors of the IDB approved 100% debt relief for Haiti, which also hangs upon Haiti's compliance with the HIPC.
Even though these efforts are a step in the right direction, Mr. Johnson added, the Bahamas Human Rights Network is concerned about Haiti's ability to wait for two more years for its compliance to be completed and to receive 100% debt cancellation.
"The average Haitian does not want to leave Haiti. They have a genuine love for their community. It's just like the average Bahamian who goes away to get his degree and decides he doesn't want to come home because of some of the things he sees happening," Mr. Johnson said.
"These people want to be in Haiti. So if we can work along with our Haitian brothers and sisters, we wouldn't have people taking such trips…more than 700 miles on a leaky boat to get to The Bahamas, and to the U.S. All we are asking is that the same way you treat other persons, that you cease and desist the discriminating attitude towards Haiti."
He said that the significant contributions that Haiti has made in history and to the future of the region, calls for its sister countries in the Caribbean to stand in the gap for it.
"Their needs are basic. They come here sometimes just because they want to go to the hospital. People jump on the boat sometimes not because they want to come to The Bahamas, but they think that they can get surgeries here. We can put that in Haiti and there can be that need for that person who is seeking medical treatment not to leave," Mr. Johnson said.
In the interim, Haiti will continue to pay $62 million per year to service its debts – which are funds that can be used to facilitate better health and educational systems, according to Mr. Johnson.
The continued economic stress, he said, can only aggravate the existing social and political turmoil that still exists.
The Bahamas Human Rights Network believes that without funding to address these issues, countries such as The Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and the United States would have a continued influx of Haitian migrants to their shores.
"Haiti has been paying a price for more than 200 years and it wasn't even a mistake. I am happy for their valiant effort when they defeated the French, the Spanish and the Americans; and that is what they are paying for. We have to bring an end to that," Mr. Johnson said.
In more recent times, given that approximately half of Haiti's debt was incurred through loans made to the Duvalier regime and other dictatorships that used the funds to finance lavish lifestyles and establish repressive regimes, "the BHRN believes that it is an unconscionable policy to allow the people of Haiti to continue to suffer under weight of such debt."