New Survey Shows Residents of Haiti’s Capital Have Negative View of UN Troops and Feel They Should Compensate Victims of Cholera

For Immediate Release: February 15, 2012

Contact: Prof. Mark Schuller: mschuller@york.cuny.edu; 718-262-2611

Jamaica, NY – As a United Nations Security Council delegation visits Haiti to review the mandate of over 10,000 UN troops stationed there, a newly published survey indicates that a majority of residents of Haiti’s capital have a negative opinion of these troops, available here: http://ijdh.org/archives/25111. The survey of over 800 households throughout Port-au-Prince shows that less than a quarter of respondents considered that the presence of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (or MINUSTAH) is a “good thing” while a majority feel that the troops aren’t providing adequate security.  A large percentage (43.9%) of respondents believed that MINUSTAH agents are or have been engaged in criminal activities such as violence, theft and rape. 

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A Year of Cholera from the United Nations

By: Etant Dupain, Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye                      

Nothing can replace the lives of the 6,500 people dead from a cholera epidemic that MINUSTAH (the United Nations peacekeepers) brought to Haiti. More than 400,000 have already been infected while 600,000 people are still living in displacement camps without access to services for their basic needs, such as sanitation and potable water.

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Heavy Rains Ravage Haiti’s Capital as Hurricane Season Approaches

June 9, 2011

 Immediate Action Necessary to Stop Preventable Deaths and Injuries

Thunderstorms dumped more than six inches on Haiti earlier this week, leaving more than 20 people dead and many more missing as the hurricane season begins. More bad weather is in the forecast. People’s poorly constructed homes, made from tarps, tents, and sheets were swept away as their camps flooded, leaving the most vulnerable groups – particularly women, children and the elderly – at great risk. Those in sturdier transitional housing are not experiencing the same grave danger as the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who remain in flimsy “shelter” almost eighteen months after the catastrophic earthquake.

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Haiti: The Rain Keeps Coming

May 6, 2011 TransAfrica Forum is alarmed about the conditions of Haiti’s earthquake survivors at the onset of the rainy season in Haiti. Almost 700,000 people remain internally displaced in officially recognized IDP camps following the January 2010 earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of additional people remain in informal settlements, in neighborhoods, in unsafe housing, and with friends and family. Tarps and tents distributed in the months after the quake are now fraying or destroyed after more than a year of exposure to the tropical sun, wind and rain. For people made homeless by the earthquake, lack of secure housing is compounded by the daily struggle to access basic water and sanitation services.

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Haiti One Year After the Earthquake

MELINDA MILES, 011-509-3855-8861, mmiles@transafricaforum.org, http://LetHaitiLive.org
Founder and director of Let Haiti Live, a project of TransAfrica Forum, Miles has been doing relief and advocacy work on Haiti for more than a decade. She said today: "One year after Haiti's devastating earthquake, there are over 1 million IDP's [internally displaced persons], over 3,600 have died from a cholera epidemic and women and girls remain highly vulnerable to rape and violence in IDP camps. Despite all this, only 38 percent of the $1.4 billion Americans donated for relief, and only 63.6 percent of $2.01 billion pledged by 55 top donor countries, has actually been spent. Less than 20,000 transitional shelters out of the year one goal of 125,000 have been built -- among all NGOs and agencies combined. The next step for Haiti's elections, meanwhile, remains in doubt following news of conflicting analyses of vote counts: while a leaked report by the Organization of American States suggests removing the government-backed candidate from the run-off, an independent analysis of all the vote tally sheets finds that it is impossible to determine who should advance to a second round.

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