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Refugees International Statement on Haiti Earthquake

January 14, 2010 | Refugees International | Tagged as: Haiti, U.S. Administration

The following statement was made by Acting President, Joel Charny, in response to the devastation created by the earthquake in Haiti on January 12.

"Refugees International is distressed by the magnitude of the destruction and loss of life as the result of the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. We express our condolences to the families of the victims, many of whom were already facing a daily struggle to survive in one of the poorest countries in the world.

"No one was immune from the quake's destructive force. It struck the United Nations mission in Haiti especially hard, with 16 peacekeepers dead and 150 employees missing, including distinguished UN civil servants Hedi Annabi and Luis Carlos da Costa, the chief and deputy chief of the mission respectively.

"In the coming days the focus will be on rescue and emergency medical care. This is a time for professionals. With the Haitian airport damaged and flight capacity limited, the priority for external personnel should be given to the staff of international aid organizations with a proven capacity to assist in the immediate aftermath of an emergency of this magnitude. Haiti had a vibrant civil society prior to the quake. Locating survivors among Haitian community aid organizations and supporting their efforts should also be an important component of the relief effort.

"The emergency comes at an interesting moment for the Obama administration. The new Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Dr. Rajiv Shah, was sworn in a mere five days before the earthquake. Shah's impressive background, which includes medical and health economics degrees from the University of Pennsyvania, seven years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and a short stint as Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics at the Department of Agriculture, does not include experience working on large-scale natural or man-made disasters. Now, a week into the job, he has to manage the largest immediate emergency response yet mounted by the Obama administration.

"The pivotal issue is the extent to which Dr. Shah and the civilians around him will be in control of the U.S. response. The U.S. military is mobilizing quickly, with Navy ships and helicopters and a 2,000 member Marine unit on their way to Haiti. Their logistical capacity --- to get the port functioning, to provide heavy lift equipment, to transport survivors to emergency medical facilities --- will be invaluable, as it was in the case of the 2004 Asian tsunami. One task for the Marines will be to support the UN peacekeepers in maintaining law and order in a chaotic situation. Such policing is vital to creating an environment for relief workers to carry out their life-saving work.

"The overall premise should that civilians are leading the effort, coordinating the use of all available assets, including those of the military. The Haiti response is a critical early test of the ability of Dr. Shah and the Obama administration to reverse a long-standing trend towards the militarization of humanitarian response."

 

Comments

Submitted by Wanda T. Williams (not verified) on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 16:33.

Haiti

When I think of the Refugee Act, I'm reminded of shifts and changes in the U.S. immigration/refugee policies of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the past, the U.S. allowed vast numbers of Europeans across our borders with little restrictions aside from a desire to work and make a better life for themselves. And many were allowed to do so. But, as populations changed so did policies and we saw the evolution of restrictions and bans on many groups. Now, let’s look at Haiti. Haitian immigration to the U.S. spiked during the Duvalier dictatorship and has continued to rise from 1957 onward. After the smoke clears, I fear that thousands of Haitian children will be left without parents. A dear friend wrote me yesterday saying that his maid was killed in the quake along with his young daughter. His maid - a hard working single mother- left three children behind. Like many immigrant populations, Haitians who come to the U.S. are often high academic achievers. Despite being characterized as the 'poorest' nation in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti produces children with solid educational foundations in the midst of what we describe as abject poverty. Today, immigration to the U.S. is seen by Haitians primarily as a chance to feed and care for their families, much like the European immigrant populations of the 19th century. As a native Mississippian and graduate student studying Haiti, I agree with a friend who hopes the Obama administration doesn't repeat some of the same tragic mistakes involving the distribution of food/aid made during Hurricane Katrina. And given our delicate and long relationship with Haiti, the militarization of this humanitarian tragedy will only make things worse. I hope the soldiers are using short Kreyol phrases to help ease tensions and extend a hand of friendship. Our arrival into Haiti appears to be tremendous, and I applaud it. I saw the new USAID director on CNN, I honestly sensed a bit of unease and wondered, “Where did he come from?,” only to find out thru your sight that he was only five days old on the job. May God surround him with the right team. He’s going to need help! -- Wanda T. Williams Archivist
Submitted by Laura (not verified) on Thu, 01/14/2010 - 16:45.

Refugee Status for Children

What would your opinion be on offering orphaned children (particularly those in orphanages before the earthquake) refugee status in the US?
Submitted by Joel Charny on Thu, 01/14/2010 - 19:11.

Temporary protected status

We support the idea of offering temporary protected status to Haitians arriving in the United States as the result of the earthquake. This has been provided to nationals from countries suffering a major natural disaster, such as Hurricane Mitch in Central America in the late 1990s. Where things become difficult is if the United States starts allowing an organized process to save vulnerable people by bringing them here. How would anyone decide the most vulnerable people? Are orphans the most vulnerable? Possibly, but not necessarily.  Further, the technical definition of a refugee from the 1951 Refugee Convention includes flight from persecution not flight from natural disasters. Thus, from the standpoint of international refugee law any movement of Haitians into the United States as the result of the earthquake cannot be as refugees. Hence the calls for temporary protection short of permanent resettlement as refugees. These are terrible dilemmas, and there are no easy answers.