In the past month since I posted last, I have been working lots, travelling lots and have lots of blog posts started but not published. Need to get back onto them. In the meantime, I was asked by my MA university to write an article about my work in Haiti for the inaugural edition of their Alumni newsletter. What an honour! So for those who are interested, I publish it again below!
Link to the whole newsletter here.
I remember
that day vividly. It was a Tuesday, and I had just returned home from the
Senate house library where I was preparing for our lecture and seminar in Securing
Human Rights the next day. I turned on my computer to relax a little before
bed, and opened up the BBC news website. As the site loaded a breaking news
headline popped up: “Haiti
devastated by massive earthquake.” As soon as I saw that, my heart jumped
and I knew. This was the last thing Haiti needed.
Prior to
the earthquake, Haiti’s
history is filled with coup d’états, hurricanes, dictators, occupations, and a
constant stream of human rights violations. As the well-advertised statistic
says, Haiti
is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere with over two-thirds of its
population living on less than $2 per day. An earthquake of this scale, with
the epicentre located only 25km away from its populous capital city, Port-au-Prince, had just set Haiti even further back on the
development ladder.
As an
American attempting to learn French, not Spanish, I had always had a particular
interest in the nation, being one of the largest French-speaking nations in the
Western hemisphere. With previous work experience working in the relief
department of a large NGO, when the earthquake struck, I wanted to go. I read
everything I could about the response; I blogged
on the topic; I even communicated to my previous manager about what the chances
were of me going. But as it was the middle of the year for the MA in
Understanding and Securing Human Rights, I knew it was not the right time. Yet.
I first
arrived in Haiti
on 10 December 2010, only a week after walking across the stage to receive my MA
in Human Rights degree. At the time, Haiti
was approaching the one year anniversary of the earthquake, a massive cholera
epidemic had struck the country, the election process was in a stalemate marred
by fraud and violence, and two of Haiti’s ex-presidents in exile had
just returned to the country, which spurred questions on their return and what
it would mean to the country. To put it succinctly, it was a mess. In the
almost two-and-a-half years since the earthquake though, it is evident that the
country has taken quite a few steps forward to “build back better,” now having
a somewhat functioning government, IDP camps disappearing, a cholera epidemic
that exists but is more manageable, and NGOs returning to long-term development
projects. Complete recovery and stability, however, still yet remain elusive;
the situation here can change overnight.
I have
lived in Haiti
off-and-on since graduation, working mostly with a few humanitarian
organisations with donors and reporting, and implementing assessments, and
project monitoring and evaluation. While none of these positions have worked
directly in the human rights field, the knowledge and skills I gained of human
rights through the MA course has been very influential in the roles, as I am
working to develop proposals, write reports, conduct assessments, and engage
with donors, beneficiaries, and the UN and other NGOs here.
Working
out in the field undeniably gives an interesting insight to the field of human
rights and the work of NGOs. It is definitely difficult work! I appreciate how
much the international community attempts to integrate human rights principles
into the development of their projects and their organisational strategies,
particularly the principles of impartiality, participation, accountability and
advocacy. But just because we attempt it, doesn’t mean it’s easy, especially in
an emergency response. Participation and advocacy take a long time, and it is
hard to encourage duty-bearers to take responsibility if the government is
non-functional! However, I have seen first hand how essential these principles
are to respect and dignify the communities we are working with. For example, communities
love being able to contribute to the design of their own shelters; the sense of
pride is astounding when meeting with small business owners who have been able
to bring their businesses back to life through partnering with our
organisation!
However,
the realities of the field, the realities of living in a developing country do
bring to light how much further we have to go. How can we assure the effective
implementation of a rights-based approach in an emergency response that needs
to be implemented quickly? How do we hold a government accountable to their
human rights obligations if it can barely function on its own? How can one
change a societal perspective of power that leads to feelings of entitlement
and selfishness?
Being
field-based, I get to see the fruition of the work that we are doing, the
projects we are designing and implementing, the impact we are making to the
lives of those who are vulnerable and it is the best part of being out here.
But I also see how much further we have to go. The work of human rights is a
long, difficult, complicated process and I can only be thankful for the role I
am allowed to play to uphold these important principles and the contribution I
can make to give others the opportunity to live a life that is “free and equal
in dignity and rights,” as the UDHR says. I know I will keep working and striving
to reach this difficult and lofty goal.
Human
Rights in Haiti
Resources:
·
Measuring
the way forward in Haiti:
Grounding disaster relief in the legal framework of human rights, Amanda M. Klasing, P. Scott Moses, and Margaret L.
Satterthwaite:
