MATTHEW, the hurricane of the century
REUTERS
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A powerful Hurricane Matthew moved slowly Sunday across the Caribbean Sea on a track that authorities warned could trigger devastation in parts of Haiti.
The storm had winds of 145 mph (230 kph) as it moved northwest and the center was expected to pass across or very close to the southwestern tip of Haiti late Monday before reaching Cuba, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. Forecasters said the southern Haitian countryside around Les Cayes could see the worst of it.
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On Sunday, the United States began to evacuate by air hundreds of people from their naval base in Guantánamo Bay, in Cuba, while Hurricane Matthew approached the island and its neighbors - Jamaica and Haiti.
The U.S. Navy specified that 700 wives and children of the soldiers based in Guantánamo, were going to be evacuated towards Florida.
"The rest of the military and civilian staff will stay on site to help in the aftermath of the storm," said the U.S. in a press release.
Meteorologists consider that Matthew, which was generating winds blowing up to 240 kph, to be the most powerful hurricane to have formed in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix, in 2007.
The Alarming evolution of cholera in the country
Over the first 8 months of 2016, cholera experienced an alarming evolution in Haiti compared to the same period in 2015. The number of new cases seen during the last 16 epidemiological weeks - from May 15th till September 3rd, 2016, remained high among new cases seen over the same period in 2014 and 2015. An average of 18 municipalities were on red alert and 10 others on orange alert throughout August 2016. Without a doubt, the heavy rain in May also had an impact on the evolution of the epidemic, as well as the reduction of funds available for projects to fight the disease, which forced humanitarian organizations to reduce the human resources and the number of mobile units which provided rapid intervention.
From January till August, 2016 there were 27,742 new cases of cholera, an increase 27 % in comparison to that same period in 2015. There were 255 deaths, an increase of 33 % compared to the same period in 2015.
From October, 2010 till August, 2016 there were 790,000 total cases and 9,243 deaths.
At the level of financing the national plan that calls for 2.1 billion dollar from 2012 to 2022 has been financed at a rate of 18 %. The 2016 humanitarian plan (HRP) which called 20.3 million dollar has been financed at 42 %.
The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) specifies that if the global sub-financing of the national plan persists, the elimination of the disease will be reached in 2022, while a sub-financing of the HRP, can hinder an appropriate control of the disease in 2017.
The OCHA indicates that cholera is persisting because of a number of factors. Among them, the under-financing of the National Plan of Elimination of the disease, the inadequate access to drinking water and water purification, the lack of access to quality medical care, the lack of knowledge of sociocultural factors linked to this problem, the strong density of the population and the mobility towards urban areas.
The United Nations wants to mobilize 181 million dollars to improve the response to the cholera epidemic
Last Thursday, Dr. Nabarro special advisor at the United Nations for sustainable development, which negotiates with the Haitian government and donors regarding the cholera epidemic, indicated that the UN set a goal of mobilizing 181 million dollar over 3 years to improve the immediate response the epidemic in Haiti. He underlined that “The most urgent is to finance the response the cholera, because the new cases increased this year (in 2016 by 27 % or 27,742 cases from January till August, 2016 and 33 % more of deaths 255 fatalities) compared to the same period of 2015.
Dr. Nabarro added that such an amount should be mobilized in favor of the victims of the disease and their families, specifying that discussion are continuing and that Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, should announce at the end of October a set of the measures to be undertaken.
High-level Meeting on the repatriation of Haitians
Last Friday at the National Palace a high-level meeting took place between President Jocelerme Privert, and government officials including the Office of National Migration (ONM), the Office of Identification (ONI), the National Commission to Fight Against Human Trafficking (CNLTP), the Ministry of the Interior and Regions (MICT), the Ministry of Social Affairs, and Work (MAST), and the international authorities: the International Organization of the Migration (OIM), the American Embassy, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) regarding the repatriation process of Haitian migrants.
The Head of State was very worried about the threat of massive deportations of thousands of fellow countrymen with irregular immigration status in foreign countries. He said he was ready to mobilize all of the national institutions concerned, as well as necessary financial and material resources to receive our fellow countrymen with respect and dignity. This is a sudden concern for the president, following the decision of the United States to restart the regular deportation of Haitians who migrate irregularly. Prior to this, after more than 6 months in power, the Haitian government had done nothing to welcome the more than 50,000 countrymen who have been repatriated from the Dominican Republic.
During this meeting, the Commission in charge of welcoming and repatriated presented its budget to Privert.
Jonas Cofy, the Managing director of MAST, and President of this Commission announced that he was going to lead an awareness campaign to discourage our fellow countrymen to venture on secret journeys that put their lives in danger. Besides, the main parties involved made a commitment to use all measures to facilitate reintegration in the country, identify and work on the dismantling of the networks of boatmen and traffickers of human being.
U.S. to boost Haitian deportations, but Haiti may not take them
Reuters - By Julia Edwards | WASHINGTON
The United States, responding to a surge in Haitian immigrants, will end special protections for them dating back to a 2010 earthquake that devastated that nation, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Thursday.
In a move that could send many back to an impoverished and violent country, the United States would now take steps to deport newly arrived Haitian migrants who do not have a case for seeking asylum, according to Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
More than 5,000 Haitian immigrants have entered the United States without visas this fiscal year through Oct. 1, said Department of Homeland Security officials, up from 339 in fiscal year 2015.
Deportations could be difficult if Haiti remains reluctant to issue documents needed to take back its residents.
"Haiti has not always issued travel documents as quickly as we would like," one official said. "Having said that, we are hopeful that they will live up to their international obligations and issue travel documents for people that have received the full measure of due process."
U.S. immigration authorities along the Mexico-California border have struggled to find enough resources to interview and temporarily detain Haitian migrants, most of whom are traveling from Brazil.
Many Haitians who found work in Brazil through a visa program offered after the earthquake are starting to leave because of Brazil's economic downturn and the shrinking work opportunities caused by the end of the summer Olympics.
Haitians who have been in the United States since January 12, 2011 and have Temporary Protected Status granted to earthquake victims will not be subject to deportation, Johnson said in a statement.
"The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State are working with the Government of Haiti and other key partners to resume removals in as humane and minimally disruptive a manner as possible," Johnson said.
Haitians who arrive on Thursday or later will be subject to "expedited removal" in which they are detained and ordered deported if they do not have a credible claim to asylum, Department of Homeland Security officials said.
Under previous protections, only Haitians who have been convicted of a serious crime or pose a national security threat have been ordered deported.
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and David Gregorio)
Canadian officials feeling 'intense frustration' with Haiti's 'kleptocracy'
By Evan Dyer, CBC News Posted: Sep 25, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 27, 2016 2:21 PM ET
CBC News - When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosted his U.S. and Mexican counterparts in Ottawa in June, the three countries' foreign ministers found a topic they could all agree on, according to Canadian officials.
Everyone has had it with Haiti.
The earthquake that levelled much of capital city Port-au-Prince in 2010, killing at least 200,000 people, triggered the largest outpouring of Canadian private charity ever directed overseas: $221 million.
Since the quake, Canada has sent about $1.2 billion to Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, including $11 million to help pay for its failed presidential election last October. Per capita, Canadians have given more to Haiti in recent years than any other country.
But donor fatigue may finally be setting in for Haiti's most loyal backer, and the corruption and dysfunction of Haiti's ruling elite is mostly to blame.
From its place as the top recipient of Canadian aid in 2010, Haiti fell to 16th in 2015, with new favourite Ukraine getting more than five times as much.
Democracy delayed
Next month Haiti will attempt to rerun last year's national election.
The October vote failed to produce a winner after opposition parties claimed it was marred by widespread fraud, including hundreds of thousands of "zombie votes." Opposition mobs attacked polling stations, overwhelming Haitian police and forcing the cancellation of the second round of voting.
But the foreign donors who paid for the election — and who dispatched 408 observers to watch it — said it was clean.
"They tossed out the results from a perfectly good election," says Jim Morrell, executive director of the Haiti Democracy Project in Washington D.C. His organization provided 208 of those 408 observers.
The 200 observers from the Organization of American States, paid for mostly by the U.S., Canada and Brazil, agreed: the election was clean by Haitian standards and the results should have stood.
However, faced with a fait accompli, the foreign donors reluctantly agreed to try again when Haiti promised a rerun in January. But two days before it was to take place, Haiti postponed it again, setting yet another date in April.
By this point, Haiti was being ruled by an unelected interim president. When Haiti once again announced it was not ready to open the polls, donors' patience began to run out.
"Canada deplores the fact that the elections, scheduled to take place on April 24, have been cancelled for the third time," said Canada's Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion at the time.
With the latest rerun just around the corner, on Oct. 9, it's not clear what has changed, except that Haiti will have a whole lot less Canadian assistance.
Canada: No new money for elections
Haiti went into last year's presidential election with a fund of about $100 million from foreign donors to pay for it. The U.S. and Canada provided about half of that money.
Canada has told Haiti it will have to use whatever money is left over from that to pay for next month's rerun. (Global Affairs Canada, the federal body that leads Canada's international development and humanitarian assistance efforts, estimates that $6.3 million remains in the fund.)
It's also looking doubtful Canada will provide observers this time.
"We are currently assessing our potential support for the OAS Electoral Observation Mission," says Jessica Seguin of Global Affairs Canada. "Canada urges Haitian political actors to assume their responsibility to the Haitian people by completing impartial, transparent and credible elections within the established timeline."
It's a dramatic change from past elections, which Canada has always been there to scrutinize. In 2006, Canada's then-chief electoral officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, personally led a team of Canadian observers to Haiti. One of them, Cheickh Bangoura of Ottawa, was shot in the arm carrying out his duties in Port-au-Prince, but was back at his post observing the vote the next day.
In private, senior government sources say Ottawa may yet relent and provide some token assistance, but with the clear message that Canada is fed up with Haiti's leaders playing political games on the donor's dime.
"At the end we may make some small contribution," says a senior official with the Trudeau government. "But mainly because we don't want to spite ourselves," he added, pointing out that if Haiti descends further into chaos the fallout could end up costing Canada even more.
Disillusioned by corruption
A major factor in Canada's disillusionment with aid to Haiti has been the ruling elite's penchant for violence and venality.
"It goes to the behaviour and opportunism of the political class," says Morrell. "Typically a president arrives in power with one idea, to hold power and aggrandize power. They don't really represent anyone but themselves."
Political parties in Haiti are organized around personalities and patronage, rather than ideology, which former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide once described as being like a hat you can put on and take off.
'You have no choice, because otherwise the money will just go into the pockets of people who are building the mansions.'
The Haitian government has criticized Canada for channeling its aid money through foreign NGOs, rather than through the Haitian government.
One senior Canadian official says Canada has little choice, describing Haiti's system of government as a "kleptocracy."
Morell admits that approach has failed to build capacity within the government. "But you have no choice, because otherwise the money will just go into the pockets of the people who are building the mansions. That's why we keep coming back to elections. That's why we've chosen to make our investment in building Haitian democracy.
"Over time, if given real choices, Haitians would choose the more competent people from among them."
Morrell says it's sad that Canada is pulling back from assisting Haiti, but also understandable.
"They need some tough love," he says.