Foreign aid in Haiti

Foreign Aid in Haiti

The natural disaster that struck Haiti at the beginning of 2010 can be considered as an important international crisis from several points-of-view. Natural disasters are phenomena which can hardly be controlled, regardless of the nation it hits or the technology invented in the last decades. Notwithstanding the advancement of technology and informational systems, it is very difficult to predict events as those which took place in Haiti in January 2010. Despite of these aspects, the response given to this crisis is in fact the result of the thirty years of failure in foreign aid from the international community.

According to news media, the death toll of the Haiti disaster hit 212,000 deaths, as of February 2010 (CNN, 2010). However, the total number of victims remains untold and it is possible that an official figure that would express the true magnitude of the disaster will never be known. However, aside from the human tragedy which left hundreds of thousands of families without shelter or assistance, there is also a global "tragedy." The international community, even though it responded to the cry for help, failed to take full control of rescue operations and of relief measures. Despite the efforts to raise money for those in need and to try to ensure a complex response mechanism, these ideas failed dramatically.

This present research proposal basis its hypothesis on the reality which is currently developing in Haiti. Almost all relief efforts along the last thirty years are considered to have severe shortcomings and while they managed to attract important financial resources, there are left without a satisfying use. The practical example of the earthquake response will prove that indeed there was a lack of efficiency of the aid received from Haiti in the last thirty years.

Currently, only 41% of those in need of emergency shelter have the materials needed for building one. According to the UN, help is needed for another year in order to ensure that Haiti is moving in the right direction towards recovery (UN News Center, 2010). Through the exemplification of the 2010 Haiti response, the present paper will prove that, even if help has been provided for Haiti to a certain extent, in comparison to the expectations, it can be said that relief aid in Haiti in the last thirty years has failed.

Elements to be taken into account and literature review

The problems that led to this situation are numerous. They deal with organizational matters, with coordination, with willingness to support in a humanitarian crisis, but most importantly the problems arrive from a complete lack of coordination at the global level. In this sense, the present research proposal will argue that the current situation in Haiti and the failure of rescue operations and relief is caused by poor aid administration and aid distribution, a lack of government ownership of program, donors' failures and the ineffective donor assistance strategies, aid suspensions and donor driven projects.

In order to assume the importance of this subject for the study of international relations and for the way in which the world is prepared or not to deal with humanitarian disasters at such a large scale, it is essential that the issues mentioned above to be developed to a certain extent. However, in order to offer consistency to the presentation of the subject, the literature review will be included in the brief analysis of the points mentioned above. In this manner, the issues which are presented as part of the structure of the research can be considered more efficiently in the literature review.

Aid is crucial in matters such as the earthquake in Haiti, in the same manner as it is crucial for the smaller scale earthquake in Chile, whose aftermaths are unfolding at the moment. The administration of aid, especially when this aid is provided, is therefore essential. It can make the difference between survival and perishing. However, in the case of the Haiti earthquake, the poor administration of the aid was considerable. The media, as unofficially the forth power in a democratic state, covered these aspects to a large extent. Important in this sense are the wide coverage from news broadcasters such as CNN, BBC, or Euro News. In this sense, their special programs on the way in which aid relief was carried out can be considered as an important source of information. CNN in particular offers continuous coverage, both in news bulletins and on its online editions on how aid relief benefited or not the Haiti crisis. More precisely, reports from the site of the earthquake presented the situation as disastrous (CNN, 2010). However, at the same time, such reports from the media also stress different statements from policy makers such as Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, or the Chief of the Pentagon, who, despite the appealing words of support for the Haitian people, were, at least in the beginning, reserved in their full commitment for Haiti. In this sense, it is important to underline the statement of the Head of the Pentagon who according to CNN, "at the Pentagon, the U.S. military said humanitarian aid was being prepared for shipping, but it was not yet clear where or how it would be sent. AU.S. aviation source said the control tower at the Port-au-Prince international airport collapsed, possibly hindering efforts to fly relief supplies into the country" (CNN, 2010).

This is an important issue to point out and at the same time to investigate further. In situations such as the one in Haiti, the first hours and days after the natural catastrophe, the aid is crucial because it comes to the rescue of people who are left without home, shelter, water, or food. Most importantly, there are people who are trapped under collapsed buildings and any intervention could save lives. Indeed, immediate help came from organizations such as the Red Cross; however, they lack the infrastructure and in the end the financial capacity to help everybody affected by the catastrophe.

The issue of aid administration is important also from the point-of-view of the resources deployed. Although the international community set up special lines for donations and financial aid, in the first days of the aftermath, the Haiti situation was in desperate need of physical help which in many situations lacked. This can be considered as a poor management of rescue operations.

Another important aspect which could point out the failure of the way in which the Haiti situation was handled is the issue of the Haitian government. More precisely, when a situation such as this arises, it is important that the central government in the state be prepared for managing the rescue efforts in the state. However, in the case of Haiti, the rescue operations had no central line of command, an element which made the coordination of operations difficult and inefficient. Even so, this aspect is not the result of an immediate crisis of government, but it has its roots in the difficult history of Haiti in recent decades and in particular in recent years.

For the purpose of cohesion of the presentation, it is important to point out the trying times experienced by the Haitian population and state. In this sense, the United Nations, in its online notes, presentations, and reports, represents a worthy and comprehensive source of information and analysis. More precisely, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti represented the international community's response to the instability in the country, starting from 1993 (UNSMIH, 2010). However, once President Aristide left the country in 2004, the UN received mandate to organize a follow up mission in support of the democratization of the country and to ensure a safe path towards democracy. The resolutions expressed in this sense are important to point out the situation existing in the country.

Haiti is considered one of the poorest countries in the world, ranked very low in the statistics from the Human Development reports. More precisely, it ranks 149 in the world, with an unemployment rate of almost 75% (Human Development Index, 2010). Moreover, statistics from the same source provide an alarming figure for the GDP. In this sense, while the biggest GDP, that of Lichtenstein was for 2005 of almost $90,000, in Haiti, it does not reach $1,500 (Human Development Index, 2010). Statistics such as these could conclude to a very precarious situation for the population of Haiti. However, they also reveal the degrading state of the government.

The lack of a powerful central government is described not only in figures but also in facts such as the ones presented by the United Nations in their reports, as well as other monitoring agencies and organizations. In this sense, it is important to have in mind reports such as the one presented by the Secretary General in 2004 on the situation in Haiti and the Interim Report on the UN Mission in Haiti, in August 2004, in which the background and the measures to be taken were outlined and the partial results of the Mission were presented, respectively.

After 2004, the situation in the country worsened not necessarily form the point-of-view of the developments that were taking place in the country, but of the perspectives the country had for the future. Although the UN Mission was present in the region and tried to ensure a safe passage from a regime which lacked all regard for democracy, human rights, or economic development, the perspectives and the time frame instituted for these were not optimistic. Indeed, the UN aims to secure a strong, coherent, and secure form of government through its missions and interventions. However, the most important element for a state is to provide a strong central government that would deal with organization matters, with management of aid relief in situations such as the one in Haiti. Still, given the political turmoil experienced by the country it is difficult to be able to manage such an operation. Therefore, from this point-of-view, it is fair to say that an important element in the failure of the aid relief actions was the lack of a strong government organization.

Another crucial issue to be taken into account when discussing the matter of aid relief and the way in which the Haitian problem was dealt with, is the failure of donors to assist in the relief. However this is not an issue solely related to the events that took place in January 2010, but an aspect which is the result of previous actions taken for support of the Haitian government and people. In this sense, the research will take into account the way in which all donors intervened in Haiti financially from 2004 and even earlier.

The literature in this regard is rather comprehensive because it was a subject of great debate. For instance, F De Terry and Adam Gardner Buss write an interesting book on the way in which the donors failed to assist Haiti in its problems. However, the authors point out that in fact it was not necessarily the problem of the way in which donors acted but rather the matter of the way in which Haiti adapted to change and of its political history. In this sense they argue that "even if foreign assistance had been well conceived, well financed, and well executed, it would have been difficult to realize unqualified successes in Haiti, given the magnitude of the problems to be overcome. Haiti's political history was too in part responsible for creating and perpetuating poverty and for encouraging a legacy of poor public administration" (De Terry and Gardner, 2008). This is a good source for information and analysis concerning the history of foreign aid to Haiti. Yet another source of information regarding the way in which foreign aid failed or not in Haiti in the last decade is the report from the Academy of International Affairs which in its conclusions also offers advice and possible new paths of development.

Also, donors failed because there was no prior organization of the state, an organization which was supported with billon of dollars in the past to be constructed. The United States offered for several years aid to reconstruct a functional judicial system, a proper public administration, investments which also related to the infrastructure of these areas of assistance. However, at the moment of the earthquake, the situation in the country was chaotic, with thieves running on the streets, with looting, and crime. For a country which is supposed to have benefited from such an important help from the U.S., France, or Canada, there are serious questions on the way in which these donors were effective.

At the same time however, a proper analysis will have to also consider the response of donors to the current situation in Haiti. From this point-of-view, it is important to take into account the almost 3 billion dollars in aid given or promised to Haiti following the earthquake (CNN, 2010). An interesting question is what happened to this money and how they will be spent.

Donors failed because there was no organization, on the one hand. According to Reuters, "world leaders have pledged massive assistance to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake killed as many as 200,000 people, but five days into the crisis aid distribution was still random, chaotic and minimal." (Cawthorne and Bremer, 2010).

It is important to stress that donors failed in their actions also because there was no immediate plan for reconstruction. Better said, even if the interventions on the site were or were not satisfying, a plan to ensure people decent way of life and supplies was essential. In this sense, it is difficult to consider, after months from the disaster, that financial aid will be ensured for plans to reconstruct.

At the end of March 2010, a donor meeting is planned in New York with the aim or raising money for a Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Recovery Framework (PDNA) which aims to raise funds for ensuring a good development of the agricultural sector. It is important to bear in mind that the agricultural sector is essential for the well being of the Haitian people as the population relies on agriculture for survival. However, there is a question which will be asked eventually. To what extent will this aid be used differently from the ones provided years ago? There is a lot of literature on the matter to be able to answer such a question. This is not related necessarily to the case in mind, but parallels can be made with other disasters that took place along the years, such as aid relief with Hurricane Katrina in order to offer a comprehensive answer. In any case, this would be an important aspect to be taken into account. Also, it should be borne in mine the tragedy that is taking place in Chile who will need support as well. Thus, how will donors manage the two situations in parallel and which will be the choices for foreign aid given in these cases?

Finally, the issue of aid suspension may be an important aspect regarding the way in which donors acted on the matter. There are voices who suggested that given the nature of the disaster and the Chilean disaster, aid should be at one point suspended. On the other hand, the UN announced, by presenting the initiative regarding the agricultural relief aid, that aid should continue up to 2011 (UN, 2010). However, the fact that there are opinions who believe that aid is necessary only to a certain point can offer a sign of doubt on the way in which donors perceive this action.

Methodology

All there are important points to be taken into account and essential questions to answer. However, this endeavor cannot be achieved without a proper methodology. The purpose of the research is both descriptive and analytical. In this sense, the research will be done having in mind several perspectives.