HAITI
Mark Brown, Yorkshire and Humberside region B&EMM rep, reports on an eye-opening fundraiser for earthquake victims
‘Overwhelming evidence’ points to UN peacekeepers as the source of cholera in Haiti camps (bottom).
Where did Haiti charity money go? The FBU was a joint sponsor of a solidarity event for Haiti at TUC Congress House in London in January this year that commemorated the second anniversary of the disastrous earthquake that hit the country in January 2010. The event began with factual information about what the population of the poorest country in the western hemisphere has been going through. A short film – “Where Did the Money Go?” – showed how the money that has been donated to many charities has done little to help the poverty stricken population. Concerns have been raised about charities’ expenses and how charity workers behave in the country, living in luxury hotels while the people they are there to help are across the street in tents struggling to survive. The film was very informative. Later we took part in a discussion with Mario
Joseph, a civil rights lawyer from Haiti. Mr Joseph has worked on behalf of the Haitian poor for many years and informed us how the UN peacekeeping forces from Nepal introduced cholera into Haiti. He has been gathering evidence with a view to taking legal action against the UN.
Epidemic
He claims that the cholera that UN peacekeepers introduced to Haiti in October 2010 has led to Haitians’ rights to health and life being violated with over 26,000 sick and 200 dead in just one month and over 7,000 dead and 500,000 sickened since the epidemic started. The UN declines to provide the medical treatment and clean water necessary to control the epidemic and refuses to allow the victims their day in court. A UN report confirmed that “overwhelming evidence” points to peacekeepers of the UN Stabilization Mission to
PICTURES: JESS HURD/ REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK
Haiti (MINUSTAH) as the source of the cholera. The report cites the mission’s failure to test peacekeepers deployed from cholera epidemic zones abroad and waste disposal practices that allowed raw sewage to flow into Haiti’s largest river system. The UN refuses to accept responsibility for the epidemic, claiming that other factors, including Haiti’s poor water and healthcare systems were responsible. But those factors were well known at the time the UN made the decisions about testing troops deployed from cholera zones and maintaining its waste disposal system and were a basis for the UN exercising greater care, not an excuse for negligence. We then saw a documentary – “Baseball In A Time Of Cholera” – about a young boy’s life and how cholera has affected him and his family. The second part of the event was a concert of world music. We heard Eri Okan, a
Brazilian group playing lively carnival music. Alexander D Great and Debra Romain are a calypso duo – Debra plays the steel pan and Alexander the guitar. Carmen Rodney sang gospel acapella and we then had another short address from Mario Joseph, who also requested two minutes silence to commemorate the time the earthquake struck Haiti.
Lively
After that we heard from Akala, Ashebar and the African Revolution, an African drum-based group that got the crowd going with some upbeat, lively music. We finished with Zena the soul singer and David the human beatbox. Overall the event was well attended and I hope the fundraising was positive. The information presented certainly raised my awareness of the situation in Haiti since the disaster. ■■To show your support got to www.haitijustice.org and sign the petition. Summer 2012 Advisor 5