In a new article in the Northwestern Journal of Human Rights, former IJDH staff attorney Sandra Wisner of the University of Toronto and IJDH Executive Director Brian Concannon explain how unaccountable foreign interference in Haiti has created a vicious cycle of entrenched debt and aid dependence and violated Haitians’ human rights.
As Wisner and Concannon describe in “Debt and Dependence: Foreign Interference in Haiti and the Importance of Non-State Actor Accountability,” Haiti has faced foreign-imposed, colonialist policies and practices since its independence. The racially discriminatory “independence debt” extorted by France in 1825 forced Haiti to take on additional debt and made it vulnerable to further foreign interference, including almost two decades of US occupation until 1934 and harmful US and French influence over the country’s economy and natural environment. In the latter part of the twentieth century, international financial institutions (IFIs) like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank began to interfere, imposing conditional lending policies that limited Haiti’s spending on health, education, and infrastructure. This stunted Haiti’s development and forced it into a cycle of aid dependence, which further entrenched both Haiti’s unsustainable debt burden and the power imbalance between Haiti and its foreign lenders. Meanwhile, foreign corporations took advantage of IFI-imposed policies to exploit Haitian workers.
Foreign interference in Haiti continues today, and its impacts have been catastrophic. Through these policies, foreign actors have ensured that Haiti remains impoverished and politically unstable. It has been unable to soundly develop its economy and democratic institutions. As a result, many Haitians today remain unable to enjoy their rights to water, a healthy environment, an adequate standard of living, social security, education, health, and political participation.
Through their colonialist policies and practices, powerful countries, the IFIs they influence, and corporations have violated Haitians’ human rights and hampered Haiti’s own ability to safeguard and advance them. In doing so, these foreign actors have breached their human rights obligations under international law. As for the way forward, Wisner and Concannon call for accountability: “Reforming and strengthening accountability and oversight measures is critical to both providing redress for past harms and ensuring that future involvement from [foreign actors] in Haiti aligns with international legal obligations regarding human rights and Haiti’s autonomy.”
Read “Debt and Dependence” Now
For more on unaccountable foreign interference in Haiti, visit https://www.ijdh.org/our-work/accountability/economic-justice/.