‘Left in Misery’: UN Peacekeepers Fathered, Abandoned Hundreds of Babies in Haiti
Personnel enlisted in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) fathered hundreds of babies during their deployment and abandoned the young mothers after being informed of the unexpected pregnancies, a new report published Tuesday by researchers and academics revealed.
MINUSTAH, which is known as one of the longest-running missions by the agency, ran from 2004 to 2017. It was originally launched in an effort to aid Haitian institutions with organized crime and political instability; however, its objective was later broadened after the 2010 earthquake and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, which caused billions of dollars in damages and left hundreds dead.
Published in the Conversation, the findings revealed that out of 2,500 Haitians interviewed by a trained research team, 265 locals who live in communities surrounding the UN’s 10 bases in the Caribbean country had stories about children fathered by peacekeepers.
“The narratives reveal how girls as young as 11 were sexually abused and impregnated by peacekeepers and then, as one man put it, ‘left in misery’ to raise their children alone, often because the fathers are repatriated once the pregnancy becomes known,” reads the report.
“In many cases, the power differential between foreign peacekeepers and local populations allows foreigners, knowingly or unknowingly, to exploit local women and girls. The prevalence of transactional sex in our data underscores the significance of the structural imbalances – peacekeepers have access to some of the resources that are desired or needed by the local population, and so they are in a strong position to exchange those for sex.”
Researchers were made aware of several instances of UN peacekeepers, either uniformed or non-uniformed personnel, engaging in sexual exploitation in which either money was given to the women or services were carried out in exchange for food. Other cases included violent sexual encounters and consensual sexual relationships between local women and girls and peacekeepers.
“All day, I heard women who are complaining about the sexual violence that MINUSTAH did to them,” a male community member from Cité Soleil told researchers. “And they had given them AIDS through sexual violence. There are also some of them who are pregnant.”
In regard to cases of sexual violence, researchers stated in their report that such instances proved to be a “minority of reported sexual encounters,” and that the victims included not only women and girls, but also men and boys.
The case of a 14-year-old girl identified by the pseudonym Marie was highlighted in the study. Researchers discovered that she was impregnated by a Brazilian peacekeeper, and that soon after the individual was informed of the pregnancy, he returned to Brazil.
Left to deal with the pregnancy alone, the teenager was ultimately forced to leave her home and relocate to a relative’s house. “Her child is now four, and Marie has yet to receive any support from the Brazilian military, an NGO, the UN or the Haitian state. Marie provides what she can for her son but she cannot afford to send him to school,” the report states, noting that the teenager earns only 26 cents per hour.
In a “few extreme cases,” some of the new mothers wound up engaging in sexual relationships with other peacekeepers in an effort to provide for their children.
A spokesperson for UN Peacekeeping told the Times in a statement that while global missions “are making steady progress” to prevent abuses, “much remains to be done.”
“All categories of personnel are vetted against a prior history of misconduct while serving in the United Nations. Perpetrators are barred from future recruitment with us,” reads the statement. “We have removed or repatriated both individuals and units where we deemed it appropriate and will continue to do so."
Academics involved in the research put forth three key recommendations to halt the current environment. They include, but are not limited to: training for UN personnel that focuses on understanding the power differentials in fragile peacekeeping economies; ending the UN’s practice of repatriating personnel implicated in cases of sexual exploitation or abuse; and allowing the UN’s Victims’ Rights Advocate to effectively work on the victims’ behalf and address problems at a “structural level.”
The latest research comes nearly two years after it was revealed that Oxfam, a charitable organization founded in the UK, had worked to cover up the sexual exploitation of Haitians by the agency’s employees.
Weeks after suspicious death, Haiti gay rights activist still not buried
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
DECEMBER 19, 2019 02:08 PM
Charlot Jeudy, a prominent gay rights activist in Haiti and founder of the LGBTQ advocacy group Kouraj, was found dead on Monday, Nov. 25 in the Caradeux neighborhood of Haiti’s capital.
More than three weeks after his death, Jeudy still has not been buried and no autopsy has been performed to find the cause of his death.
Jeudy, 35, was the leader and founder of Kouraj, or Courage, the country’s leading LGBTI advocacy group. He also was a member of the Global Fund’s Country Coordinating Mechanism in Haiti, which is chaired by the country’s first lady. The Global Fund fights to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by getting life-saving treatment to vulnerable populations.
According to Kouraj, Haiti’s chief government prosecutor had requested that the investigative arm of the Haiti National Police, the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police, investigate the death after receiving a request from lawyers representing Jeudy’s family. The same prosecutor also asked the justice minister to provide the financial resources so that an autopsy could be done.
A Haiti police official said an investigation is underway. Kouraj, however, said weeks after the request was made for the justice ministry to provide the coroner’s office with the financial means to perform the autopsy, “nothing is being done.”
“Despite many testimonies from the embassies, international institutions and even the Haitian president, the prospect of a serious investigation to clarify the circumstances of this sudden death have been buried in the cemetery of the Haitian justice system,” the statement said. “Forensic science is only a facade in this country.”
New Caracol power plant slated for construction in January
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and USAID will be funding the construction of a new power plant at the Caracol Industrial Park. IDB will contribute $16.5 million to the project, while USAID will contribute $6.1 million. Construction is expected to start in January.
Electricity project for Cap-Haitien
As part of the "Northern Department Electrification Program Evenson Calixte, General Director of the National Authority for the Regulation of the Energy Sector announced the construction of a 40-megawatt power natural gas plant and 16 Mw of solar electricity in Cap-Haitien.
He explained that this gas power plant, which will require the renovation of regional grids, will supply electricity to the communes of Cap-Haïtien, Plaine-du-Nord, Limbé, Bas-Limbé, Acul-du-Nord, Port-Margot, and Grande-Rivière-du-Nord.
Haitians in America: Young Haitian American Speaks On Being A Chess Master
By Bianca Silva
Haitian Times
Joshua Colas has risen through the ranks in chess since he began playing as a child, becoming international master-elect and has participated in numerous world youth championships from Brazil to Greece. At the age of 12, he became the youngest African American to receive the rank of national master.
Recently, Colas traveled to Sunrise, Florida to visit middle school students, a juvenile justice center and a public event where kids can learn how to play chess in support of the Sunrise Center for Excellence in Chess, a community program of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation.
Colas is also a third-year student at Webster University majoring in Business Administration and Finance.
U.S. sending more food aid to Haiti to reach 100,000 people in need
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
The U.S. Agency for International Development is providing additional food aid to Haiti, and is making sure it gets to those in greatest need by donating an additional $1 million to the U.N. World Food Program to support its ongoing humanitarian operations.
“We feel that’s our moral obligation and that’s what we need to do in the short term,” said USAID Administrator Mark Green, who also announced $10 million to improve the Caribbean’s ability to prepare for, and recover from, natural disasters.
The extra 2,200 metric tons of emergency food aid for Haiti will reach approximately 100,000 people and arrive in the country in the coming weeks, USAID said. Last month, the agency tapped 2,000 metric tons of pre-positioned hurricane stocks of rice, green peas and cooking oil in Haiti for WFP to distribute after early warning systems showed that a growing number of Haitians, 3.47 million, were facing either a food crisis or emergency due to the wave of sustained anti-government protests, sporadic violence and political gridlock.
Speaking with the Miami Herald before heading back to Washington on Monday, Green, who also visited Barbados, said it was clear from his Haiti visit that the current “man-made disaster driven by politicians on all sides” and hitting Haiti in the form of corruption and violent unrest is creating “extraordinarily challenging situations.” Transportation routes have been disrupted. Schools have been shuttered and businesses have been unable to get parts out of customs, much less to markets.
“We are looking for ways to repair some of the damage that is a growing problem with this last unrest and the political stalemate,” Green said. The fact that “young Haitian youths hungry to try and make their way in the world,” have been denied access to the classroom for months, “is a terrible loss, a terrible setback.”
Once Haiti’s largest donor, USAID is not immune from criticism. During a recent congressional hearing on Haiti by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, activists criticized the effectiveness of some of its programs while calling for a re-examination, and questioning the impact of giving food aid in a country that should be growing agriculture.
Green said the strategy for Haiti must look at the short, medium and long-term. And in the short-term, he said, Haitians are hungry and they need food. In the long-term, they are looking at how to spur job growth and encourage investment in Haiti, where the economy has been suffering. But for both, political stability is critical.
- • “I tried to explain to some people that I met that there’s this American myth that says ‘American businesses are big risk takers,’ ” Green said. “No. They want to see stability. If they see instability, if they see roads blocked on a lingering basis, that’s a problem. If they see port operations such that their goods, going in or out, are mired at the port for weeks on end, that’s a problem.