Violence erupts at budget opposition protest in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - 01 October 2017 - 01H40
Demonstrators in Haiti took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Saturday for an opposition-backed protest against the government budget, which many believe hurts the nation's poorest.
The unpopular budget, released in July, will come into effect on October 1 -- with opponents of President Jovenel Moses concerned poorer families will suffer tax increases.
After three hours, violence erupted on the sidelines of the peaceful procession of around 2,000 people as it arrived in the affluent area of Petionville.
Protesters dispersed from the march -- the latest in a series of demonstrations this month -- breaking shop windows and targeting vehicles and media covering the event with stones.
Some demanding the removal of Moses said they threw stones to demonstrate the issue had escalated past the point of no return.
"We need someone in power who can help the poorest people to survive, not once again favor the richest," protester Rene Sanon Fils, parading on Saturday by motorcycle, told AFP.
"If today Jovenel refuses to listen to reason, we will take our challenge to another level. Notice to everyone for the coming week: sharpen your machetes, we will tear off those that are only weeds," he warned.
During the second half of the march, demonstrators also blocked traffic using barricades made of stones and garbage.
Police were forced to use tear gas grenades to contain the violence, denounced by the political parties who organized the protest.
Opposition lawmakers have decried the budget for fiscal year 2017-2018, saying it would balloon Haiti's debt.
The Chilean company LAW was forbidden to land at the airport in Port-au-Prince. Angry travelers were obliged to return home
At Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport last Wednesday, several hundred Haitians were unable to embark their flight to Chile because of a decision by the Office of National Service Civil Aviation (OFNAC), to refuse the authorization of landing to a Chilean plane from the LAW airline.
The decision, which angered passengers, forced the Police to intervene and prevent the situation from escalating even more. The travelers, frustrated from having waited in vain, returned home while waiting for explanations.
This decision follows a dispute which has been dragging for months, between the ONAC and its Chilean counterpart, which categorically refused, last May, to increase the number of flights by Dynamic Air Ways, a Haitian company traveling to Chile.
In the meantime, the people in charge at OFNAC, those in public works and the Chilean Ambassador in Port-au-Prince have addressed the situation, but no solution has been reached. However, on the Haitian side, a moratorium was given to the company Law to pressure the Chilean authorities to revise its position.
New ambassador of Canada accredited in Haiti
Mr. André Frenette was accredited as Canada’s newest Ambassador in Haiti on September 5th of this year.
During his first message to the Haitian people, he highlighted a few points:
"In June, 2017 Canada launched its new international aid policy, placing equality of gender, and strengthening the power of women at the heart of its program for development. We stress the development of a stable, prosperous and fair Haitian State, which can provide to the Haitian people, particularly to women and girls, healthcare and education, as well as economic outlets.
Haiti remains at the heart of Canada’s international priorities, and it is with great pride that I declare: “Nou la Ayiti!"
World Trade Center Haiti
Mr. Jean-Claude P. Cantave
Executive Director and Treasurer
World Trade Center Haiti
Dear Mr. Cantave,
Subject: Invitation to participate at the 7th Global Economic Summit on ‘Global Value Chains: Accelerating SME Growth and Development’
(February 22-24, 2018 at Mumbai, India)
We are pleased to invite World Trade Center Haiti to participate in the 7th edition of the Global Economic Summit on ‘Global Value Chains: Accelerating SME Growth and Development’ from February 22-24, 2018 at World Trade Centre Mumbai. This Summit is jointly organized by World Trade Centre Mumbai and All India Association of Industries (AIAI). The highlights of the three-day Summit are Conference, Exhibition, B2B Meetings, industry/ field visit and release of Handbook on GVCs.
International trade is increasingly being driven by trade in value added goods and intermediate goods as well as trade in services. In this age of globalization, production and services network has transcended national boundaries and the entire world has become one integrated value chain. Companies across the world increasingly prefer to source intermediate goods and services from suppliers and service providers in foreign countries to gain cost efficiency and productivity.
The 7th edition of the Global Economic Summit will stimulate a multi-dimensional discussion on the opportunities and challenges for SMEs in connecting with the Global Value Chains. The Summit will discuss the significance of GVCs in attaining sustainable development goals, emerging opportunities for SMEs in the GVC, imperatives of access to finance, infrastructure and logistics services, government policies as catalyst for GVCs, GVCs in the age of technological revolution.
We look forward to your positive response and thank you in anticipation.
Best regards,
Vijay Kalantri
Board Director – World Trade Center Association, New York
UN Fund for Sexual Abuse Victims Grows to $1.5 Million
A U.N. fund to help victims of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and U.N. staff has now grown to $1.5 million following contributions from 10 more countries including Sri Lanka, whose troops were implicated in a three-year-long child sex ring in Haiti.
By KRISTA LARSON, Associated Press
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A U.N. fund to help victims of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and U.N. staff has now grown to $1.5 million following contributions from 10 more countries including Sri Lanka, whose troops were implicated in a child sex ring in Haiti.
Critics called the fund "tiny" and said it would only provide general support services rather than payouts to individual victims.
The U.N. Department of Field Support made the announcement Wednesday in New York, a week after a special session was held on the sidelines of the annual General Assembly to address the scourge of sexual violence by U.N. staff and peacekeepers in missions around the world. It was the most detailed accounting to date made public about the fund's contributors.
The new contributions to the trust fund, which had previously been estimated at about $500,000, will initially be used to boost services for victims in Congo, according to the announcement. Projects are also expected in several of the other countries with high numbers of allegations: Central African Republic, Haiti and Liberia.
"These contributions reinforce the Secretary-General's clear commitment to putting the rights and dignity of victims first," it said.
While some young women have managed to confirm paternity in cases of abuse and exploitation by U.N. staff or peacekeepers, individual payments are rare and even then can take years to receive.
The $1.5 million special U.N. fund is limited in scope, emphasized Paula Donovan, co-director of AIDS-Free World, which has investigated U.N. sexual abuses through its Code Blue Campaign.
"Let's be clear: This 'trust fund' is not what it appears to be. It provides no funds to individual victims," she said Thursday. "Instead, it is a tiny pot of money to be dispersed by the United Nations to fund organizations that provide generalized services in a fraction of the affected communities."
A recent year-long investigation by The Associated Press found that more than 700 of the approximately 2,000 allegations of sexual misconduct since 2004 had taken place in Congo, an enormous African country that is home to the world's largest U.N. peacekeeping mission.
The AP investigation found that the U.N. failed to meet many of its pledges to help victims, some of whom have been lost to a sprawling bureaucracy. Cases have disappeared, or have been handed off to the peacekeepers' home countries — which often do nothing with them.
Justice is even more elusive, because the cases are referred to the alleged perpetrators' home countries. The AP found that even after a U.N. investigation discovered a three-year child sex ring involving Sri Lankan peacekeepers in Haiti, Sri Lanka prosecuted no one.
The South Asian country was among the 10 announced as contributors Thursday though it was not immediately clear how much the nation may have donated as no breakdown was made public. The announcement also noted that $102,000 of the money comes from withholding payments to alleged perpetrators in cases where complaints were substantiated.
Other new contributors to the fund whose peacekeepers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct include Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan. Albania, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal and Switzerland also have made unspecified donations, joining Bhutan, Cyprus, India, Japan and Norway, the U.N. said.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Antiracist lesson of a general of the US Air Forces Academy to his pupils
In front of 4,000 pupils, lieutenant-general Jay Silveria of the US Air Force Academy made a speech advocating respect after discovering a racist incident at the academy’s prep school. The video of his speech was shared by numerous Americans through social media.
It was strong message which was sent to the students of the United States Air force Academy (USAFA). After the discovery of an insult for racist character ("Go home nigger") was written on a board of this prestigious military academy, the superintendent, lieutenant-general Jay Silveria, held a press conference for about 5 minutes to promote the values of respect and tolerance.
In front of 4,000 silent pupils, lieutenant-general Silveria showed himself categorical: "This kind of behavior does not have its place in the school, it does not have its place in the USAFA, and it does not have its place in the Air Force of the United States. […] I have already said it: the zone of dignity and respect is my red line. Allow me to be clear, it will not be crossed without important repercussions."
The outcry is now general
A more unpopular Executive would be hard to find!!! And the rumbling of discontent against the administration is growing at an exponential speed!!!
Last Friday, there were multiple demonstrations against the government’s criminal budget and its penalizing approach. This is true in every corner of Haiti: Petit Goave, Arcahaie, Cap-Haïtien, and even in Trou du Nord, thus in JoMo’s home turf. This is more than symbolic and significant!!!
Are the days of this government counted? This will depend on the president’s morbid stubbornness in his delivery "I have spoken and that's all there is to it"!!!