Rights Based Approach Critical to Haiti’s Recovery
As news reports and video continue to reveal the extent of devastation Haiti suffered during the massive earthquake on January 12th, people from around the world are opening their purses to help the impoverished survivors of the 150,000 Haitians killed. At the onset of most natural disasters, fundraising is high and effective, but this is only a starting point. The provision of monies for rebuilding along with food, medicine, and other necessary supplies must be accompanied by a human rights approach to ensure that those most affected by the quake do not suffer further.
Regardless of where they strike, natural disasters bring destruction and devastation; however, when they occur in a developing country, those affected are left all the more vulnerable to human rights violations. Not only is it important to protect survivors’ basic needs for food, water, and shelter, but aid groups and governments must also act to protect their rights to safety, freedom from slavery and discrimination as well as other universal human rights.
Focused and specific efforts must especially be made to protect the rights of children and young women in Haiti in addition to meeting their basic needs. According to Amnesty International Haiti researcher Gerardo Ducos, “the current situation of lawlessness in Haiti and the increased vulnerability of women and children creates the perfect environment for human rights abuses and crimes such as rape and sexual abuse to take place undetected and go unpunished. . . protecting vulnerable groups from sexual violence is as important as providing them with relief”.
Before the earthquake in Haiti, child trafficking, slavery, and sexual violence against young girls were serious issues plaguing the country. Amnesty International reported that in 2007 more than 100,000 girls between the ages of 16 and 17 were working as domestic servants and were particularly vulnerable to domestic and sexual violence. After the earthquake, these poor and marginalized girls face greater risk of exploitation. With families separated or displaced, and the authorities’ focus shifted to sifting through the rubble, these unprotected young girls become easy prey.
The children of Haiti also face greater risk during this time of upheaval. An immediate threat presents itself in the form of child and organ traffickers. With many of these children orphaned by the quake, their abductions go unnoticed. The less tangible, but very real threat to Haitian children is the emotional impact of the disaster. Many children watched their parents scream in pain beneath the debris, as well as came near death themselves. Recovery requires more than rebuilding—counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder should be at the top of the bill for children’s aid groups. These children are definitely entitled to grow up with full bellies, but even more so to live life without trepidation at the mention of the word ‘earthquake’.
Another danger is that some children who are quickly adopted by well-intentioned parents from abroad are not actually orphaned at all, but simply separated from their families. Peter Uvin points out, in his book Human Rights and Development, that without a human rights based approach “development assistance, even if successful in achieving its own technical goals, has often accommodated, contributed, or spawned dynamics of inequality, corruption, and social exclusion”. In an article on “Human Rights and Natural Disaster: The Indian Ocean Tsunami”, Hope Lewis makes a similar point when she writes that in the wake of 2004 tsunami, the UN and other humanitarian agencies “realized that even the best–intentioned recovery efforts too easily can fall prey to apathy, ‘disaster fatigue’, political manipulations, or even outright discrimination”. Accordingly, there must be some accountability among development and aid agencies at work in Haiti in order to prevent these groups from doing more damage than good on a path paved with good intentions.
Haiti was already a country fighting the grasp of poverty, and an earthquake of this magnitude makes their struggle all the more difficult. To ensure recovery, attention and aid must be given not only to the basic needs of the people but also to the needs of their spirit.
Works Cited
“Haiti: Overcoming Poverty and Abuse: Protecting Girls in Domestic Service in Haiti.” (2009). Amnesty International. 07 Feb. 2010 http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR36/004/2009/en.
“Protection of Human Rights Must Accompany Relief Efforts in Haiti”. (2010) Amnesty International. 07 Feb. 2010. < http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/protection-human-rights-must-accompany-relief-efforts-haiti-20100115>.
Uvin, Peter. Human Rights and Development. Connecticut: Kumarian Press, 2004.
Lewis, Hope. “Human Rights and Natural Disaster: The Indian Ocean Tsunami.” Human Rights 33.4 (2006) :12-16.
© 2010, ElizabethGilbert. All rights reserved.