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- [00:00]
A
It's been about one month since a tragic earthquake leveled an island, an economy, a society, and a community. Hi, I'm Justin Guest, and welcome to the government department hot seat. With us today to discuss the state of development in Haiti is Dr. Neleemah Gulrajani. Thank you very much for being here. Well, let's get started. There's about $1.3 billion pledged to Haiti worldwide right now. So the problem seems like it's not funding. What is the big hindrance in Haiti in getting them back up on their feet?
- [00:30]
B
Well, I think the problem really facing Haiti is one where we have a natural disaster that's basically occurred on top of what's been a man made disaster, a developmentally kind of man made disaster. We have a country that has suffered from endemic corruption. We have a country that lacked sort of proper public services. And the impact of the earthquake was largely more severe than it would have been because of that man made development disaster. I mean, your question sort of suggests that we need to think about what's next. We have the money. Yes. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the challenge was a logistical one. Now we're looking at maybe less so a logistical one and more an infrastructure one. I mean, partly a logistics one, but the aid is getting there, water is getting there, medical supplies are getting there. The question is, how does one rebuild Haiti? I think there are certain things we can do or lessons we've learned from previous natural disasters, including the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, that might help us think about how to rebuild Haiti. I think the first thing is we need some kind of temporary quantity coordinating body. The US has sort of played that function in the immediate aftermath. But now, one month on, we need to think seriously about who plays that role, whether it's the international community, whether it's purely a kind of a single government. What role do Haitians play in that coordinating role? After that, we need to think about rebuilding some key infrastructure, particularly housing. We are going into the rainy season in Haiti, and you have close to a million people living in tents, not all of which are waterproof. So figuring out how to house these people in durable housing over the course of the rainy season is sort of an immediate, well, medium term challenge, I guess the next few months. Water and hygiene, generally kind of sanitation services are also another problem. We're finding increasing infectious diseases spreading in these camps. And so thinking about how one provides sanitation to these people who are literally homeless is another sort of challenge. In the long run, we need to think about services like developing the Kind of health infrastructure. We've had stopgap measures up until now to provide health services or kind of emergency services really. But thinking about sort of long term provision of health services for many amputees, many people who will have sort of chronic conditions or conditions for the rest of their lives is another one we need to think about. And then law and justice, I think is also really important. We have a situation where the prison collapsed. So a lot of people, some might argue maybe weren't tried in a just manner, but nonetheless, I'm sure some who have been, who are roaming free. We had a country that was previously a transit point for the drugs industry into the US Whether this decimates that industry or not is another question. But I think thinking about the provision of law and justice and police services, the police force lost half of its force in the, in the earthquake.
- [03:57]
A
Well, these are some very daunting challenges ahead of us, and none of them seem very easily remedied. What organizations, what donor organizations would you say are best positioned to help? Who should people give to given these challenges?
- [04:10]
B
Yeah, I mean, Haiti was a donor darling, what we call a donor darling. Loved by donors. Even prior to the earthquake, its state capacity was quite weak and a variety of non governmental organizations sprung up as beneficiaries of official foreign assistance. And so you often have organizations that have sprung up. Well, in this context of this humanitarian disaster, you have a slew of organizations who've rushed to the scene even more than the organizations you had working previously in Haiti. I think you need to think about an organization in terms of the capacity it has on the ground and the length of the history it has working in Haiti. I think those are two key determinants. There are a couple of organizations, if you were to ask me names, whom I could mention, but I think you need to make sure that the organization has a long history in Haiti and is working on the ground and has been working on the ground for a number of years.
- [05:08]
A
So which organizations did you have in mind?
- [05:10]
B
Oxfam has had a long operation in Haiti. Another organization is called Partners in health, American based NGO that for the last 30 years has been trying to provide health services to Haitians. And those are the kinds of organizations that I think can. Can use the money to the greatest effect because they know the people, they know the way the country works.
- [05:35]
A
Well, speaking of the people, ultimately any resolution will have to come in partnership with the Haitian people. What can we expect of the citizens and political leaders of Haiti?
- [05:44]
B
Yeah, I mean, I think if you again, go back to the tsunami in 2004, the success in terms of rebuilding Sri Lanka, Aceh and so on was largely attributed to the determination of the local populace and the conviction that these were places that could be rebuilt. And so I think one needs to consider the Haitian role in any kind of reconstruction or rebuilding effort. What role can they play? I think the first one is demanding responsible governance that will be in the medium term by some international coordinating body, presumably, but in the long term, it's demanding responsible government from Haitian leaders themselves. And I think a large part of Haiti, sorry, problems over the last few years, has derived from more than the last few years, pretty much since its independence in the 1800s, has derived from poor government and sort of elites in fighting for political power. That has really occurred to the detriment of development of the kind of poorer people of Haiti. So I think responsible government would be the thing that the Haitians need to be demanding and be involved with. And one hopes that there is a silver lining to this black cloud that is the earthquake, where one has a chance to start from scratch, perhaps.
- [07:15]
A
Well, with regard to the government, many have actually been criticizing the United States for taking over the response and relief effort in sort of a neocolonial way. Do you think that this is true?
- [07:27]
B
I don't, actually. I think that in the immediate aftermath, the US Government did take over the airport to try and coordinate flights landing into Haiti, basically to increase their capacity. So I think the airport went from sort of 10 flights a day to over 100 a day as a result of the US military basically taking over the airport. And I think that was a necessary step. I mean, even the president himself, his palace fell down on pretty much on the threshold of his doorstep. As he was walking in, the palace seems to have crumbled and he and his wife survived. But nonetheless, there was a need for someone to take charge. And, you know, the US Took charge of with the blessings of Rene Preval at the time. So I don't think one can accuse them of a neocolonial interest. Subsequently, they've also coordinated with the UN, saying that the UN will be handling the humanitarian relief effort, which is now kind of on the end. And now we're talking about more rebuilding and shelter, as I mentioned. And the Brazilians who had a peacekeeping mission are basically looking after security. They're protecting these warehouses which have food, medical supplies, and so on. And so the US now sees its role as a logistical. Having a logistical role, basically. And I think there's a sense in which there's a division of labor here amongst the international kind of interest in Haiti. So, no, I don't think the US should rightly be accused of or can rightly be accused of neo colonial kind of interests.
- [08:58]
A
All right. Well, that'll do it. Dr. Nalima Gulrajani, you are off the hot seat. Thanks very much for being with us. And thank you for being with us. And stay tuned for next month's edition.