LAW Airline suspends Chile-Haiti flights
The Santiago Time
SANTIAGO – The Chilean airline, LAW (Latin American Wings) has temporarily suspended the flights between Port-au-Prince and Chile, after Haitians have been declared illegal or unqualified by the Chilean authorities to enter or remain in Chilean territory.
In 2017, more than 100,000 Haitians arrived in Chile with a valid 90-day tourist visa but reports suggest more than 80% remained illegally in Chile beyond this time, to escape economic problems and lack of work in Haiti. A situation that had already been discussed with Jovenel Moïse by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet during her official visit to Haiti.
The flight suspension, which started on Monday, will be valid for a period of 15 days.
LAW says it has always acted responsibly in Haiti, informing passengers of their duties, rights and documentation required to travel and stay in Chile. “However, since massive declaration of inadmissibility of foreign citizens causes inconvenience for both the airport and the agencies that sold the tickets, we consider that this measure will help mitigate these effects…” the airline said in a statement.
GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
CONTACT: Rob Marus, Communications Director: (202) 724-5646;
Marrisa Geller, Public Affairs Specialist: (202) 724-5448;
District Residents Can Seek Compensation from $586 Million Western Union Fund for Fraud Victims Until May 31
Fund Related to Separate Settlement D.C. and States Reached Over Fraud-Induced Transfers
WASHINGTON, D. C. – Attorney General Karl A. Racine announced today that District residents who were deceived into sending payments to scammers using Western Union’s wire transfer service have until May 31, 2018 to apply for compensation from a $586 million fund administered by the Department of Justice’s Victim Asset Recovery Program.
This fund is the result of a multi-state settlement between the District, all 50 states and Western Union that was first announced in 2017. District residents may be eligible to receive compensation if they were a victim of a fraud-induced transfer using Western Union between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017.
“Our office is committed to protecting consumers from the multiple methods that scammers use to obtain their funds,” said Attorney General Racine. “In this case, Western Union failed to oversee its agents with sufficient care. That made it easier for scammers posing as family members in need -- or offering fake sweepstakes prizes and job opportunities -- to swindle consumers in the District. I’m pleased that District residents can now apply to recover some of the funds they lost.”
District residents who have already reported to Western Union, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), or to the D.C. Office of the Attorney General (OAG) that they had been the victims of a scam using Western Union will receive a form in the mail from the claims administrator, Gilardi & Co. The form will have a Claim ID and a PIN number to use when filing a claim online via the FTC’s website here. Gilardi was hired by Justice Department, which is responsible for returning victims’ money as part of its settlement with Western Union.
Filing a claim is free, so consumers should not pay anyone to file a claim on their behalf. No one associated with the claims process will ever call to ask for consumers’ bank account or credit card number.
If you did not receive a claim form in the mail but believe you may have an eligible claim, please visithttp://www.westernunionremission.com or call 1-844-319-2124 for more information on how to file a claim. All completed claims forms must be mailed back to the settlement administrator by May 31, 2018.
Protecting Consumers from Fraud
If you are a District resident and think you may have been the victim of any kind of fraud, call OAG’s Consumer Protection Hotline at (202) 442-9828, send an email to
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Double whammy for humanitarian aid in wake of Oxfam scandal
By Aline Robert | EURACTIV.fr | translated by Freya Kirk
EU aid for the health sector in the Dominican Republic could be called into question following the Oxfam scandal in neighbouring Haiti.
EURACTIV.fr reports.
In the Ramon Matias Mella hospital in Dajabon, a small town in the north of the Dominican Republic, close to the border with Haiti, the medical services largely relies on international donors, especially by way of projects.
These projects span several years and work with local partners – in this case the ministry of health – to try to prioritise the poorest areas of the country, notably next to the border with Haiti.
Following the September 2017 hurricanes, and droughts caused by El Nino, the country now fears “the big one”, an earthquake which seismologists predict in the north of the country and that will probably cause a large-scale tsunami that could largely destroy the tourist infrastructure in the east and south of the country.
“We can not fund the upgrading of our hospitals ourselves. We need to find funding abroad,” said Dr. Jose Luis Cruz Raposo in charge of risk management at the Dominican’s Republic Health Ministry.
The Safe Hospitals programme, a WHO project funded by the European Commission (DG ECHO), and then taken over by the Spanish development agency (AECID), aimed at organising the resilience of hospitals facing natural disasters, has ended two year ago.
The WHO and European logos have now disappeared in Dajabon. However, cross-border cooperation has remained: keeping the relationship between the two countries somehow cohabitating on the island, is the top priority for international donors, who are also hoping that trade can promote the development of the country.
Here, the Dominican hospital compensates the lack of medical services on the other side of the border. In Ounaminthe, medical care is free regardless of the patient’s nationality, Haitian women account for 80% of births. If it wasn’t for this hospital on the other side of the river, these women would have to drive 4 hours to reach the nearest hospital on their side of the border.
Despite a capacity of only a few beds, the hospital also handles traffic accidents, dengue and malaria cases, but also 403 HIV-positive patients, a third of whom follow antiretroviral treatment. Staff training and the involvement of the entire local community under the framework of the aid programme has allowed this small hospital to better organise itself in the event of a natural disaster.
“For example, in the emergency room patients are classified according to urgency: a red label is a vital emergency, yellow or green means it can wait, and black means that the patient has died,” summarised Gregorio Gutiérrez of the Health Ministry.
Cross-border cooperation – a priority
Some twenty to thirty meters from the hospital, the Dajabon River is both a porous border and an open-air wash-house, despite its muddy water.
More than half of Dominicans and three-quarters of Haitians don’t have access to running water and sanitation, creating a melting pot for epidemics. Following the 2011 earthquake in Haiti, cholera spread well beyond the border.
A little further south of the Monte-Cristi Province, the Mao regional hospital is handling more and more leptospirosis cases, a disease spread by rats (the incidence of which has increased because of global warming).
Here too, the hospital has significantly benefitted from the Safe Hospitals programme, allowing the hospital to improve its resiliency rating.
“Before, we had sanitation problems. We redid the plumbing, installed air conditioning and redesigned the patient reception,” said Aristides Bernard, the hospital’s director.
Of the 110 patients treated every day at the hospital, 17% are from Haiti, even though the facilities are situated 60km from the border.
Most of the emergencies result from motorbike accidents, so much so that the hospital now has specific designated area for those patients. The renovation also allowed the construction of a specific building reserved for AIDS patients and is currently caring for 1,500 of them.
The importance of international Institutions and NGO’s
European Humanitarian aid totalling €2 billion per year is based half on international and national institutions and the other half on NGO’s. “ These are key actors on the ground, we would not be able to do anything without them,” said Hilaire Avirl, in charge of DG ECHO’s communication for South America.
Part of this funding is now at risk in the Dominican Republic. Oxfam is currently the main partner of EU humanitarian aid, and focuses on the prevention and management of disasters and climate risk.
Its neighbour Haiti, has already decided to sever ties with the NGO after the revelation of cases of sexual exploitation on its territory by members of the NGO. In the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere, the EU as the main donor is pondering its future ties with the organisation and others concerned by the same problem.
EU warns charities after Oxfam sex scandal
The EU on Monday ordered Oxfam to explain itself over a 2011 prostitution scandal in Haiti, warning charities that the bloc would cut their funding if they breached ethical standards.
“The problem is that Oxfam did not warn us” of cases of sexual exploitation, said Gianluca Grippa, head of the EU delegation to the Dominican Republic.
But faced with destitution and the real risks to the population, the Caribbean is one of many areas prompting the development sector to defend the NGO.
“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater: it is essential to renew our (vigilant) trust towards an actor as essential on the world scale as Oxfam, particularly against inequality,” stated Gaël Giraud, chief economist at the French Agency for Development, on Twitter.