Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Recommendations for Haiti

Here's a list of recommendations for Canadian policy towards Haiti from the House of Commons Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development:

RECOMMENDATION 1
As part of a clear policy framework on Canada’s role in fragile states, the Government should set out concrete objectives, focusing on the Millennium Development Goals and anti-corruption activities, for Canadian “whole of government” interventions in recipient states. Thereafter, the Government should table in Parliament annual progress reports detailing by country the funds expended and results achieved in the stated objectives.

Well, whatever. Here's a link to the UN's "Millenium Development Goals." All quite wonderful, seriously. My bitterness is that this hypocritical gang (excepting Alexa, who has said some sensible things) puts out these recommendations when they clearly have been acting in such a way as to deprive Haitians of proper development. Annual progress reports to Parliament, sure, whatever.

RECOMMENDATION 2
The Government should, as part of its long-term assistance plan for Haiti, table in Parliament a report on Canada’s assistance to Haiti at the end of the current extended mandate of the Interim Cooperation Framework in 2007. The report should provide concrete details on all actions taken to correct flaws identified in donor evaluations — such as the 2004 CIDA study for the OECD — and should also provide concrete details of results from Canadian aid to Haiti in terms of meeting the Millennium Development Goals, in order to develop the future model for parliamentary reporting.


So, in other words, now that we devastated the country's economy by withholding crucial aid in response to a bogus electoral crisis, sent the democratically-elected president packing and replaced him with an interim regime of thieves and murderers, tried desperately to destroy the base of the party with the widest support across the country, and tried desperately to conduct a fraudulent election of our own, ... we're now going to list our "accomplishments" annually, and provide mention of our occasional screw-ups. ("We tried to fund some innocuous 'civil society' groups but they turned out to be pro-union activists, so we had to shoot them all.")

RECOMMENDATION 3
In the area of security, the Committee agrees that MINUSTAH must have clear authoritative direction and a clear mandate to disarm criminal gangs. Canada must work with international partners and Haitians to facilitate the preeminent need of Haiti for normalization and security in all areas. Canada should also consider increasing its contribution to the UN Mission during the period of its renewed mandate.


In regard to police reform, Canada should make a greater contribution over the next two to three years to the establishment and training of a professional politically neutral national police, taking into account lessons learned from its past Haitian police reform
program.

MINUSTAH must be given even clearer authorization to enter Haitian slums and kill anyone who has armed themselves against us, MINUSTAH, criminal psychopathic killers armed and funded by us, and the newly trained Haitian police. Regarding the Haitian police, ... "taking into account lessons learned from its past Haitian police reform program," I'd really like to be a fly on the wall in such a meeting. We seem to have done a miserable job of training a politically neutral police force in the past. Absolutely miserable. God knows what the fuck we've really been trying to do.

RECOMMENDATION 4
In the area of justice and corrections, considering that impunity still prevails across the entire country, Canada should work closely with Haitian authorities and international partners on putting an end to impunity, on establishing a national system of human rights protections, on the training of judges and on the reform of the prison system.

Yeah. When Hell freezes over. I recall that Aristide's alleged behaviour required putting Haiti through the wringer and financing a coup against him. Our interim government's arbitrary imprisonments, and murders have produced no such similar actions on our part. Complete and utter hypocrisy. I take it we'll remove the non-existent "immunity" of Aristide's supporters, perhaps to give MINUSTAH and the "Little Machete Gang" carte blanche to go after them with extreme prejudice.

RECOMMENDATION 5
Canada should work with international partners and the new Haitian government to ensure that the establishment of an economic plan, job creation and tangible improvements for Haiti’s poor are an immediate priority of development plans. Overall development strategy should also pay particular attention to: rural and local development, including agricultural production and food security; basic education for children; the empowerment of women; the formation of strong civil society and labour organizations; and the creation of a climate conducive to private-sector investment.


In view of the degree to which the environment in Haiti has deteriorated, Canada must work with its international partners and the new Haitian government to ensure that priority is also given to solving the serious environmental problems Haiti is facing, such
as deforestation causing severe flooding, shoreline pollution and the accumulation of garbage in the streets of towns and villages, to name just a few.

Interesting. "Establishment of an economic plan," ... that must mean neo-liberalism. "Job creation," ... that must mean neo-liberalism, tax-cuts and deregulation of labour markets. "Tangible improvements for Haiti’s poor," ... that must mean whatever sweatshop jobs are created under a neo-liberal economic plan.

"Agricultural production and food security," ... shit, here's a no-brainer you evil-minded fuckheads: stop dumping subsidized rice on the Haitians, while forbidding democratically-elected governments from subsidizing their own farmers. Actually, ... par for the course with everything, ... I wish the shit-heads who wrote these recommendations could just shut-the-fuck up and leave the people of Haiti alone.

All of this crap about helping the poor, building labour movements, or empowering women would be deluded crapola, if it wasn't for the fact that the evidence from our past actions has conclusively shown that we what the exact opposite for the people of Haiti than the lovely words that are printed here.

RECOMMENDATION 6
Canada should ensure that the voting infrastructures put in place are maintained and consolidated. With that in mind, it should provide more support, both financial and logistical, in order to ensure that the municipal elections, including those scheduled for December 2006, go ahead. These elections are essential in safeguarding all the work that has been done and ensuring that the government is not tempted to appoint mayors and thus perpetuate a situation that in the past was one of the biggest sources of corruption in Haiti.


Beyond continued electoral assistance; the Committee strongly supports long-term Canadian involvement in building sustainable institutions of democracy and good governance in Haiti. In particular, Canada should strive to strengthen Haiti’s parliamentary system to help enhance true voter representation of constituent communities in the national Parliament.

Bullshit. We helped ensure that the Presidential Elections were fraudulent. We worked to disenfranchise the people of Haiti, not empower them. Our past actions reveal these words to be lies.

RECOMMENDATION 7
As part of the policy statements called for in Recommendations 1 and 2, Canada should formally commit to a “whole of government” strategy for Haiti that envisages involvement for at least 10 years and that indicates long-term funding — beyond the five-year allocations already announced in July 2006 — will be available to fully support this strategy.


Consideration must be given to the cancellation of Haiti’s multilateral and bilateral debt, which totaled some (US) $1.3 billion in 2005, of which the Haitian government is faced
with payments of some (US) $60 million per year. Canada should work with other countries and international organizations towards the objective of canceling Haiti’s debt, in conjunction with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.


Canada should also work with and lend support to civil society organizations. A long-term aid strategy for Haiti must include both government and civil society.

Now that Aristide is gone, now that MINUSTAH is there to continue to suppress popular action of the Haitian people for their own autonomy and dignity, ... now we can supposedly start thinking about cancelling the foreign debts of a country that's been abused and exploited for over a century. Either that, or as in so many other things, we're lying.

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