What Is The Haitian Plan For Development?

There are plenty of development models that are out there. You can look to the African nations and the Asians nations as examples for development. Businesses need a stable environment to grow and make a profit > People need to benefit from business activity (i.e. good education, healthcare, and a decent way of living...) > Governments need taxes to pay for services and creating a stable environment for businesses to thrive. Countries with great economies have a balance. What can Haiti do to create a good environment for development?

The problem with Haiti is not the international community but Haitians. Haiti does not have the resources to manage its own affairs. There has been a brain flight from the country since the 60s. The country needs the international community to help build its institutions. I don't see that as a loss of sovereignty, it's the reality of Haiti.

Haiti has been mismanaged since independence because you have different clicks of Haitians looking out for their own interest with some collusion with international actors. Haitians must change their ways before Haiti will ever change. You can not blame everything on the international community. If Haitians were thinking of the country after the earthquake they would have done the following immediately:

1) Decentralization - appoint interim governors for each departments. Have direct elections for the post at the end of the year. This post would help with the flow of aid to the people. This post would also help coordinate aid efforts to the cities and the country side, and also help with resettlement of migrants. Coordinate a strategy for aid, needs, for the cities and the provinces. Also help put together a development model for the department.

2) Amend the constitution - to include dual citizenship. This is to reverse the brain drain. Also include land reform to help with business activity. Businesses should be able to buy/sell assets in an easy way like some of the thriving economies in the region. Remove articles that make the government inefficient. Law makers make laws with some oversight powers. The Executive branch run the government, they should have the power to hire and fire members of their cabinets. The Judiciary is the referee. If you don’t agree with something sue, and let the judiciary decide. The judiciary should be independent with its own budget.

3) Encourage private investment by enacting laws that streamline business processes, taxes, starting and closing a business, financing, etc... Work on improving your business ranking on:

http://www.doingbusiness.org/exploreeconomies/?economyid=85

Try to be the best in the region and in the world. There has been some improvement in this area. Currently Haiti ranks 151 out of 180 countries but much work needs to be done.

4) Enacted a new budgetary framework that does not rely on aid for support. Reduce the size of the government. Haiti should live on what it makes. There is no need to have 3 senators for each department. Take it down to 18 senators and maybe 50 deputies. Give the legislators a stipend for transportation. It does not make sense for law makers to be running around PaP in Jeeps. Give them a monthly stipend and have them take care of their own transportation need. The people in the government must have a stake in Haiti’s survival. They must live and understand the life of ordinary Haitians. You are in the government to serve the people. This is not a path to financial freedom. Districs for deputies should be drawn based on population size. We should have 2-3 senators elected from the Diaspora. We should also have the Diaspora represented on the Supreme Court. This would allow for more knowledge transfer.

I have more ideas that the Haitian government can start doing immediately, if they were willing. They don’t need $ billions to do these things or international help/resources; these are things they can do themselves. When the international community sees Haitians dragging their feet on these things it frustrates them and makes them wonder if they are serious. Patience is running thin.

These are not neo liberal ideas or ideas that will take away Haitian sovereignty, or international interference, or some conspiracy to keep Haitians enslaved. These are common sense, structural changes that’s needed to be competive and make the country better. There are a lot of countries that had to make these hard and difficult changes. You can see the results; a lot of them now have thriving economies.

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JOTC SITREP 24 May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

• German minister hands over house keys in Léogâne
• Two joint sweep operations conducted in Cite Soleil and PaP
• New camp management operation with 12 teams created to liaise with local authorities and community leaders
  

I. GENERAL SITUATION

Active weather will persist throughout the Caribbean today as the official start of the tropical storm season rapidly approaches. With a low pressure system located to the north of Hispaniola, scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected across the region. Although the Centre National de Météorologie has lifted its ‘orange’ alert, it has advised inhabitants of areas at risk of subsidence, landslides and flooding to remain vigilant. The CNM follows the same ascending colour scale employed by the US National Hurricane Center in Miami to indicate potential for formation of a tropical cyclone: yellow (<30%),>50).

The German cooperation minister attended the inauguration of a project to build houses in the town of Léogâne yesterday as part of an official visit to Haiti. In the Gerin area of this southern city with hundreds of homeless, keys to 51 wooden houses were handed over in the first phase of a programme planning to provide 1,000 such abodes at a cost of €5 million. As one of the cities most seriously affected by the January earthquake, Léogâne will be a focus funding for the German government, which has also launched a cash-for-work in neighbouring Anacaona. (Source:http://www.metropolehaiti.com/)

II. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER

The overall security situation in Haiti remains stable, however anti-governmental demonstrations by the political opposition continue. A recent rekindling of criminal violence has also provoked renewed concerns.

On 22 May, at 0825 hours, Saint-Marc locality, a 38-year-old male was arrested for raping an 11-year-old girl. The victim was taken to the hospital and the suspect was detained by the HNP.

The same day at 0830 hours in Cité Soleil, unidentified armed assailants fired gunshots and then fled the scene. A 14-year-old male was struck in the chest by a bullet and transported to hospital. An investigation was opened.

Also on 22 May, at 1430 hours in Arcahaie a 45-year-old local man was arrested for the rape a 10-year-old girl. The suspect was detained by the HNP.

Finally, at 1524 hours on 22 May in Croix des Bouquets, an escaped prisoner was arrested and detained by the HNP.

On 23 May, in Fort Liberté, a demonstration was organized by about 50 persons in the Franche area to protest against the holding of elections for the syndicate of Ouanaminthe on the site of their school. No incidents were reported.

Also on 23 May at 1530 hours in Cité Soleil, a joint sweep operation was conducted by UNPOL, MINUSTAH Military and HNP, without incident.

The same day at 1900 hours in Port-au-Prince, a joint sweep operation conducted by UNPOL, MINUSTAH Military and HNP resulted in the arrest and detention of 14 suspects by HNP.

Finally, on 23 May 23 at 2100 hours on Barbancourt Street in Port-au-Prince, a corporal in the Nigerian FPU was threatened by unidentified gunmen who stole his valuables. One suspect was arrested and the mobile phone of the victim has been recovered. An investigation was opened.

Today at 0800 hours in Pétion-Ville Club IDP Camp, a peaceful demonstration was organized to ask for jobs. The demonstration finished without incident.

In the last 24 hours, UNPOL and HNP conducted 301 joint patrols and 52 checkpoints throughout the country. A total of 34 arrests and another one escape arrest were reported. MINUSTAH military conducted 755 security operations involving 4,265 troops and 4 maritime patrols, sailing 167.4 nautical miles.

III. HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

As the cluster lead for Camp Coordination and Camp Management, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced the creation of a new camp-management operation comprised of 12 teams to plan and liaise with local authorities and community leaders to improve the flow of information between affected populations and humanitarian actors. With a mandate to establish ties with the mayors of the seven municipalities in the greater Port-au-Prince area, officials from the Directorate of Civil Protection (DPC) and civil society leaders, the teams will develop a clearer understanding of the specific needs and priorities of each municipality for communication throughout the humanitarian system. (Source: Relief Web)

In response to two diphtheria cases during the past week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and USAID have been working in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), which includes the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), UNICEF and the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) to develop a response protocol and communication strategy for diphtheria and other infectious diseases, such as rabies. During the past five years, Haiti has experienced between 10 and 260 annual reported diphtheria cases. (Source: Relief Web)

In the last 24 hours, MINUSTAH military has conducted four humanitarian assistance missions involving 31 troops. These missions included food and water distributions benefiting over 3,530 people.

IV. JOTC

The Joint Operations and Tasking Centre (JOTC) continued to respond to requests for assistance from humanitarian partners, the Government and the Project Management Coordination Cell (PMCC). To date, 754 requests for support have been received and 473 completed. Most of the requests pertain to the provision of security and engineering support.

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Pre-Post Statistics About Haiti

Some interesting statistics about Haiti before and after the Jan. 12th earthquake.

OCHA, which is the UN agency over all Humanitarian Aid, just came out with their periodic update on what's going on in Haiti. You can access it here:

http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-85RPLG?OpenDocument&rc=2

· 9 to 10 million = Haiti Population in Haiti before Jan 12 quake.

· 8.5 to 9.5 million = Haiti Population in Haiti after the earthquake main deaths

· 3 million = Haitians in Port au Prince (capital) before Jan 12 quake

· 3-5 million Haitians Diaspora in other nations, such as USA, Canada, other Americas, France, rest of Europe.

· 2 million Haitians Diaspora in USA, 60% born in USA (US citizens under 14thamendment to constitution).

· 80% of college educated Haitians live outside of Haiti.

· 2-4 million Haitians affected one way or another by the quake, in person (not counting Diaspora etc. who seek to provide aid).

· 200-300 thousand Haitians dead in instant of quake, with buildings falling down, etc.

· 200-300 thousand additional Haitians died soon after the quake, due to inadequate international aid effort … did not get to buried (but still alive) people fast enough, did not get them adequate medical attention, did not respond to SOS like Ushahidi, or they were not able to contact Ushahidi, were very slow getting to places devastated worse than Port au Prince

· 300 thousand Haitians injured in quake (but rescued)

· 1-3 million Haitians displaced by quake

· 1-2.5 million Haitians into over 1,300 spontaneous refugee camps (these #s widely change rapidly)

o 206 camps have camp management agencies, as of May-3, which represents 37% of the population being tracked in the camps, or 62% of large sites of 1,000 families or more.

o 90,000 families, in the 70 largest sites, have now been registered (registration for purposes of relief aid … I don’t think elections yet)

o 1,500 unaccompanied children (separated from their families) have been registered. 175 of them were reunited with their families.

· 500-750 thousand Haitians left Port au Prince to rural Haiti

· 200 thousand Haitians crossed border into Dominican Republic

· 20-30 thousand Haitians evicted from emergency housing, without notice, often middle of night.

· 19-20 prisoners killed, 40 wounded, when crisis at Haiti jail, immediately after quake, in the town of Les Cayes, outside the main quake zone. This is independently of the mass breakout of prison in Port au Prince.

· 100 thousand homes destroyed

· 200 thousand homes damaged

· 67 thousand homes so far assessed by qualified engineers (UN & Goh)

o 42% green; 31% yellow; 27% red

o 50% green houses are now occupied

o Green means safe to go back to (based on prior disasters, not relative to future risks)

o Yellow means they need some repair first

o Red means not safe, not repairable, need to be demolished

· UN & NGOs have done a good job of delivering tents & tarps to the camps. This protects against sun, but poor job rainy season, hurricane season, rape epidemic, surprise evictions. They got done with this AFTER rainy season started.

· Approx 469 Transitional Shelters have now been built, which can accommodate 2,345 people. “Why not a better job?” is an exercise in mass finger pointing. These shelters do much better job with protection from rain. Some, by no means all, provide decent rape protection. All claims are “trust us” variety, no standards cited like we find here:

o http://www.unesco-ipred.org/gtfbc/

· 85% of schools (4,578) in affected areas have been destroyed or damaged

o 75% of Leogane primary schools have reopened

o 100% of Petit/Grand Goave primary schools have reopened

o 90-100% of secondary schools have re-opened, in the communities reporting such data

o Most Haiti schools are private, affordable only to families with jobs or otherwise lots of money, which now is under 10% of the total population, so enrolment is 50% below pre-quake figures.

o Efforts, to provide free education to homeless children in the camps, are being resisted by the powers that be, since this is perceived as counter-productive to the private schools economy.

· 57% of FTS flash appeal (of Feb 2010) now funded … another flash appeal is imminent (June 7).

· 20-30% money pledged by Donor nations thru UN actually gets delivered by those nations

· 80-90% money pledged by ordinary people to NGOs actually gets delivered by those people

· 70% camp dwellers have access to showers, as of 4 months after the quake, but the showers are not safe from rapists waiting in ambush for women.

· 80% below poverty line before the quake

· 90% unemployment in Haiti

· One toilet for every 190 people, on average, as of end of April. Just think about that next time you need to use one … how many minutes of day do you need, and how long can you hold it? My math = in 24 hour period, each person has 7 minutes for their business. This is the AVERAGE ... in some camps the figure is one toilet for like 500 people.

Some amazing facts.
Due to funds running out: most Haiti hospitals closed in May; Water delivery by truck to camps ended in April. There were only 12 mental health doctors for all of Haiti, then some had to go out of business when ran out of funds.

· Number people, per arable land area, Haiti more dense than India.

· Haiti is more mountainous than Switzerland.

· In 1923, over 60% of Haiti's land was forested; by 2006, less than 2% was.

· Two fault lines thru that island, aftershocks expected for YEARS near where Jan 12 quake occurred, and other places on THAT fault line, then a LARGER intensity quake on the northern fault line, probably in NE Dominican Republic.

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JOTC SITREP 22 May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

• In gang fights over territory in Cité Soleil, one child killed, five wounded
• Anti-government demonstrations continue
• Two WFP trucks attacked in Cap Haitïen
• MSF: time passes, medical needs persist

I. GENERAL SITUATION

Associated Press reports today indicated that Haitian officials are warning of heavy rains that could trigger floods and landslides. Disaster prevention officials issued an ‘orange’ alert beginning Friday to last for five consecutive days, in response to a weather system now forming near the neighbouring island of Cuba. Such an alert represents the second-highest warning. Areas most at risk include Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, Léogâne and others already ravaged by the January earthquake.

MINUSTAH met with various partners today to formulate a strategy to respond to the potential threat. Although the surface trough covering an area from the Bahamas to Hispaniola is expected to dissipate over the next twenty-four hours, the persistent meteorological low could produce gale force winds.

While the security environment continues to be characterized by a generally low level of criminal activity, occasional spikes have occurred recently. Cité Soleil currently offers a stage to gangs fighting over territory. Reports suggest that this violence may simply represent a resurgence of an existing rivalry, the security situation has been rapidly deteriorating over the last three days. Shootings between ‘Ti Ayiti’ and ‘New-York’ gang members have been reported now for three consecutive days. This morning, five members of Ti Ayiti were reportedly transported to the Sainte-Cathérine Hospital in Cité Soleil after being injured by bullets. The official representative of the hospital only confirmed that a certain number of people bearing bullet wounds had been admitted, revealing no further details. A 12-year-old boy also fell victim to this rivalry, killed by a stray bullet during an exchange of gunfire. MINUSTAH Military, Police and FPUs are monitoring the situation in the area. Experience would suggest a renewal of gang violence after MINUSTAH forces withdraw.

II. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER

The overall security situation in Haiti remains stable, however anti-governmental demonstrations by the political opposition continue. A recent rekindling of criminal violence has also provoked renewed concerns.

In the last 24 hours, three demonstrations were reported, all of which remained were peaceful. In the first, 400 members of the movement ‘Pour Sauver le Bas-Artibonite’ (MOSOBA) organized a peaceful march in Gonaïves to protest against the extension of the presidential mandate and criticize alleged governmental mismanagement. Meanwhile in the Carrefour district of Port-au-Prince, 100 people took the streets to demand the departure of the president and the restitution of his predecessor. At a third event in the Pétion-Ville suburb of the capital, 300 people wearing red tee-shirts and carrying a black/red/black flag walked to Place Boyer to show their support for the return of Jean-Claude Duvalier and his participation to the incoming elections.

On 21 May at 1615 hours, a WFP convoy of two trucks was pelted with stones by the local population in Cap Haitïen (North) on Route 300. MINUSTAH Forces fired three warning shots to disperse the crowd, after which the convoy continued to its final destination. A similar incident had occurred on the same road the previous day during the escort of two Caritas trucks. Also in Cap Haitïen, MINUSTAH Police reported that unidentified individuals attempted to loot a humanitarian aid truck belonging to the NGO ‘Appel de Détresse’. A quick UNPOL/HNP intervention prevented the looters from their intent. No arrests were made.

In the last 24 hours, UNPOL and HNP conducted 289 joint patrols and 53 checkpoints throughout the country. A total of 36 arrests and another two escapees arrest were reported. MINUSTAH military conducted 936 security operations involving 5,019 troops and 12 maritime patrols, sailing 188 nautical miles.

III. HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

MSF announced that it had provided medical care to 137,000 patients since 12 January. , MSF has provided medical care to 137,000 patients. Diseases treated in primary healthcare facilities today include respiratory and water-borne illnesses, such as malaria and diarrhoea. Since late March, 71 suspected cases of typhoid fever have been treated at the Choscal Hospital, in the Cité Soleil neighbourhood. In a country where 60 percent of the medical facilities suffered serious damage or were destroyed, MSF is working to meet second-line medical needs by managing or supporting hospitals and specialized medical facilities. Three specialised MSF facilities provide functional rehabilitation therapy, including physical therapy, psychological assistance and other follow-up services. Psychologists have also treated 69,000 earthquake victims at MSF medical facilities and in camps.

While injuries sustained during the earthquake still require orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery, everyday medical needs are also returning to the fore. For example, obstetrical cases have again become a priority, with 635 complicated deliveries, including 131 caesarean births, in April alone. The same month, MSF treated 81 victims of sexual violence in its Port-au-Prince facilities. Care includes psychological and medical assistance, specifically including vaccination against Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS preventive treatment.

With the arrival of the rainy season and imminent threat of hurricanes, MSF is gradually shifting its medical activities from tents to permanent or semi-permanent structures. In Léogâne, for example, construction of a 120-bed hospital, built out of containers, began in early May to replace the hospital that had been destroyed in the earthquake. In Jacmel, where the hospital was largely destroyed, the surgery, maternity, internal medicine and paediatrics departments have now been organised into a semi-permanent structure. Extensive rehabilitation work has also been performed at public medical facilities that MSF supports.

Finally, three months prior to hurricane season, MSF is preparing to meet a possible increase in needs for emergency treatment related to the arrival of the rainy season and a possible worsening of the medical situation in Port-au-Prince and throughout the country. Additional medical and logistical supplies have been ordered and will be available in the coming weeks based on the needs that may arise.

In the last 24 hours, MINUSTAH military has conducted 12 humanitarian assistance missions involving 71 troops. These missions included food and water distributions benefiting over 8,724 people.

IV. JOTC

The Joint Operations and Tasking Centre (JOTC) continued to respond to requests for assistance from humanitarian partners, the Government and the Project Management Coordination Cell (PMCC). To date, 754 requests for support have been received and 473 completed. Most of the requests pertain to the provision of security and engineering support.

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Haiti Housing Update = Invitation to more disasters

Basically we have NGOs, which by their own admission, are not experienced in the home building business, building structures that do not measure up to international standards of protection from Hurricanes, Quakes, or nite epidemic of rapes, such as what you can see here:

http://www.unesco-ipred.org/gtfbc/

Everyone knows that Haiti needs Building Codes. Earthquakes don't kill people, Buildings that fall down kill people.You'd think in the rebuilding effort, that we'd get buildings that won't fall down in future quakes similar to Jan 12 intensity. There are two fault lines going through the island, with scientists predicting how large a quake to expect where, in approx five different sets of target spots, they just can't predict when. Well guess what, Haiti still has no building codes, and housing is being built on the bullseyes of future predicted quakes, mudslides, flooding, etc. without adequate protection for what is predicted.The main reason they are slow to get started, with the Transitional Housing, is the Haiti Land Tenure problem.

The UN NGO shelter cluster

http://groups.google.com/group/shelterhaiti2010?lnk

has had some postings regarding their plans for "Emergency Shelter" (tents & tarps)"Transitional Housing" (look to me to be a cross between an outhouse and tool house)It has been a while since I looked at any of those ... you could use SEARCH on the discussion archives to locate what I remember.Near the top of THIS page

https://sites.google.com/site/shelterhaiti2010/information-management

There are TWO Excels that you can download.They give statistics on the number of the 2 kinds of "shelters" that the NGOs are delivering.Note that they plan 128,000 of the "Transitional" and have built less than 500 so far.

The ratio of people to toilets is abominable. I occasionally have indigestion & while sitting in the toilet I did the math ... in a 24 hour day, there's people in the camps in which their share of the available time in a toilet is like 5-10 minutes a day. Some of these toilets overflow when there is heavy rain there, plus there is a serious problem with mosquitoes.This video (22 minutes long) explains why the work of NGOs are often largely dysfunctional, in all kinds of disasters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC7M_g0foJk&feature=related

Here is weather situation right now:Recent Heavy Rains with serious consequences to some camps in Port au Prince.Think Ground Saturation.

http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/haiti_operational_biosurv/2010/05/heavy-rainfall-inundates-portauprince-idp-camps.html

Incidentally I advise people to put this BIOSURVEILLANCE site into their News Readers, since it gives excellent information on the abominable health situation in Haiti, warning which medical threats are getting worse. If you scroll thru recent postings to that site, you will find one about people getting forceably evicted from camps with no notice, sometimes in the middle of the night. I have located multiple such incidents, and most recently have been keeping my list up-to-date here:

http://haitirewired.wired.com/group/architectureforhaiti/forum/topics/forced-evictions-of-quake

A journalist has informed me that the Gov of Haiti has imposed a two week moratorium on the evictions of people camped on private school grounds. This after quite a few people got evicted from the grounds of schools and churches.Weather pretty same as usual, nothing much worse, at least thru May 19Expect less rainfall overall in next 7 days

http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LYLN-85EQR5?OpenDocument&rc=2

Bottom 1/2 of this document is a color coded map estimating # millimeters of rain to fall where ... Most of Haiti will be under 10 mm (1/3 inch), with the south quaked region looks like up to 40 mm (1.2 inch), much heavier East end of Dominican Republic. Wow - look at Panama, Costa Rica, Northern Tip of South America!!

http://reliefweb.int/rw/fullmaps_am.nsf/luFullMap/FF0FB6D3549BD35885257722006B67B2/$File/map.pdf?OpenElement

Translation / Conversion
1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 inchesThe Rainy Season is right now. We are near the end of El Nino, which means more rain than usual at this time.

The Hurricane Season is Imminent. Scientists cannot predict exactly, but La Nina is expected some time in 2010, which means worse Hurricane Season than usual. Haiti is facing a perfect storm.

It is my understanding that, prior to Jan 12 quake, there were Public Buildings rated as safe from a Hurricane, that people went into for safety when Hurricanes coming. All those, in the area where the earthquake was, are now gone.

We are also watching activity at an active Volcano in the area, Soufrière Hills currently is only making a mess of the West Indies Island of Montserrat. In February it pulled an Iceland, but the wind direction was less disruptive to aviation.

I do not believe the "Transitional Housing" that the 40 NGOs are now building, will protect the people of Haiti from Hurricanes and Earthquakes, only from Rainy season, and SOME of them (not all) will protect women from rapists unlocking their homes with knives.

There is something in the works to address that reality, through the Haiti Action Plan that the Donor's Conference agreed to March 31 at the UN in NYC. You can download info about that from here.

http://www.haiticonference.org/documents.html

and see how wisely the money is being spent here

http://www.refondation.ht/index.jsp?&lng=en

However, it was not until the end of April that the Haiti Parliament approved this Plan, and it was not until a few days ago that there was any money for it, which I explain here.

http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/haiti-reconstruction-fund-of

At the rate this is going, Hurricane Season 2010 will have been here and gone by the time there's any building of homes that are safe from hurricanes.

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Agriculture Grant $ 2.5 million via IFAD to IICA

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has provided a US $2.5 million grant – $2 million of which was provided by the Swedish government – to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for a locally-managed 18-month program designed to create jobs and ensure food security for the hard-hit Haitian countryside.

Details here. They include info on other Haiti funding by this outfit.

These funds will be spent on irrigation systems, rural roads, community and family gardens, supply seeds and tools to approx 9,000 households, provide over 250 training courses on marketing, agricultural production, gender issues and organization building. They estimate this will generate around 200,000 days worth of employment.

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$850m Pledge To Support Caribbean And Haiti

$850 million to Caribbean Joint Action Plan, by five international financial institutions, active in the Caribbean. This announcement May 19, as part of Caribbean Development Bank's annual meeting currently underway in Nassau, Bahamas.More details here.

• The Caribbean Development Bank (USD 300m),
• The European Investment Bank (USD 100m),
• The Netherlands Development Finance Company FMO (USD 100m),
• The International Finance Corporation - part of the World Bank Group (USD 150m),
• and PROPARCO - the private sector arm of the Agence Française de Développement Group (USD 200m).

Joint investment, under the Caribbean Joint Action Plan, will concentrate on crucial economic sectors most impacted by the economic slowdown: finance, tourism andinfrastructure. It is expected that this approach will further supporteconomic growth in the region by mobilizing IFI (international financial institutions) investment to act as acatalyst for private sector engagement and facilitating national andsub-regional support and policy dialogue amongst both private and publicstakeholders.

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JOTC SITREP 20 May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

• Group of Reflection and Action for Haiti conference held in Montreal
• 24 individuals arrested during joint operation
• Armed encounter between gangs in Cite Soleil
• IFC working towards creating thousands of jobs

I. GENERAL SITUATION

The city of Montreal will be hosting today, another international conference on the initiative of the Group of Reflection and Action for Haiti. This event, held at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, is part of the colloquy "Rebuilding Haiti-2030", held on 4 and 5 March this year. During two days, the thematic committees will present their strategic vision for sectoral reconstruction of the country over a period of 20 years. They will also share their goals and proposals by sectors, and projects that could be made with the relevant authorities. During the conference, a panel is provided on the technical aspects of reconstruction and various presentations on, inter alia, the integration of the Diaspora in national life. More than 300 people are expected at this conference, attended by several personalities, including Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada, Pierre Arcand, Minister of International Relations of Quebec and Mirlande Manigat, academic and politician in Haiti. The industrialist and leader of the Haitian political Respi named Charles Henri Baker, the historian Claude Moïse geologist or engineer Claude Prépetit were also invited.

(Source: http://www.alterpresse.org/)

II. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER

The overall security situation in HAITI remains stable. Although crime remains a concern, the security environment continues with low level of criminal activity.

On 18 May at 1230 hours in Gonaïves, MINUSTAH police supported HNP in the arrest of an identified 23 year old male escaped prisoner. He was detained at the police station for investigation. In PAP at 1700 hours, unidentified suspects in a vehicle, attempted to kidnap an unknown male in wharf area. The victim was rescued by HNP officers. The suspects fled the scene. An investigation is on going.

On 18 May, two bodies were discovered. The first, in Portail Léogâne, belonged to an identified 62-year-old male who had sustained no marks of violence. On Bolosse Avenue #3, an identified 24-year-old male body was found, which preliminary investigation revealed suicide.

On 18 May,in Port-de-Paix, HNP officers arrested an identified 28-year-old male for illegal weapon possession. The suspect was detained at the police station for investigation and the firearm was seized.

On 19 May at 1240 hours, a demonstration organized by an unknown number of persons in Camp Perrin locality took place. The participants asked for employment and blocked the route. MINUSTAH military and UNPOL monitored the situation. No incidents were reported.

On 19 May in Canape Vert-PAP (Ouest) the same day, the body of an identified 24 year old male was discovered. The victim died of an electrocution. Another identified female body was discovered in Delmas 4 area at 1100 am. An investigation was opened. In Malpasse, HNP officers arrested a 17-year-old male for involvement in human trafficking. The suspect was detained at the police station for investigation.

On May 19, 2010, a MINUSTAH Military motorized patrol sighted three individuals in Bel Air (Perpetuel Secours Church area). One of the male individuals was identified as Ti-Edward, a member of the Grand Black gang. The gang is led by an individual known as Di-Lou, and Ti-Edward is reportedly second in rank. The suspect was detained and delivered to Port-au-Prince Police Station.

During the night of 19-20 May, a special HNP SWAT and BRABATT operation was conducted in Bel Air. A total of 24 individuals were arrested: three were identified as post-earthquake prison escapees. The identification process was still ongoing at the time of receiving the information.

An armed encounter occurred between the Ti Ayiti and New-York gangs today, in Lithno 2, Cite Soleil. Upon arrival of HNP, MINUSTAH Police and FPU, gang members ran away. One member was intercepted and transported to the Cite Soleil police station, where he was identified. The fight continued in Soleil 14. MINUSTAH forces and HNP intervened once more. No further arrests were made. In the same area today, at the Gonaives bus station, an UNPOL patrol came across two individuals in a car: one was dead, the other had sustained a bullet wound. An HNP patrol arrived on scene and transported the injured individual to the hospital. Based on witnesses’ statements, they were shot by two unidentified individuals on a motorcycle.

In the last 24 hours, UNPOL and HNP conducted 112 joint patrols and 12 checkpoints throughout the country. A total of 23 arrests and two escapee arrests were reported. MINUSTAH military conducted 699 security operations involving 4,667 troops and 16 maritime patrols, sailing 476 nautical miles.

III. HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

IFC (International Finance Corporation), a member of the World Bank Group, remains committed to supporting Haiti's recovery by helping finance private sector projects and providing advisory services to improve investment conditions and create jobs. In the wake of the devastating earthquake, IFC's Board quickly approved a $35 million emergency investment program to help private companies get back to business. Yesterday, IFC signed the first of these emergency commitments. IFC and the Soros Economic Development Fund, a not-for-profit investment fund that works to alleviate poverty, are together providing $6 million in financing to the apparel company Grupo M. This will expand the CODEVI free trade zone in Northern Haiti and create 2,000 new jobs by the end of this year, and 2,000 more by the end of 2011.

IFC aims to help textile firms capitalize on the HELP Act, which nearly triples duty-free quotas for Haitian clothing exports to the United States and extends trade preferences through 2020. Haiti's clothing sector has a significant development impact, accounting for 75 percent of export earnings and employing more than 25,000 before the earthquake. IFC's focus in Haiti includes strengthening financial markets, with a focus on access to credit for micro, small and medium enterprises improving infrastructure, such as ports, roads and energy plants supporting agribusiness, and increasing telecommunications capabilities.

(Source: http://www.reliefweb.int/)

As of 17 May, 75,110 buildings have been assessed by the Ministry of Public Works; of these, 30,375 (40%) passed inspection. New assessments, which are being done by IOM/UNOPS, have presented 18 new at-risk camps, where mitigations will have to take place to avoid new IDP relocation.

IV. JOTC

The Joint Operations and Tasking Centre (JOTC) continued to respond to requests for assistance from humanitarian partners, as well as to provide administrative support to the Coordination Support Committee (CSC) Planning Task Force and the PMCC. To date, 747 requests for support have been received and 473 completed. Most of the requests pertain to the provision of security and engineering support.

Read more!

Diphtheria Crisis In Haiti

There is now a Diphtheria crisis in Haiti, that may have inflicted hundreds of victims, at several camps, which the mainstream media is not following, because until a few days ago the UN was saying NO PROBLEM.

http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/diphtheria-outbreak-leads-to?xg_source=activity

Lack of efficient medical collaboration communication, on public health topics, continues to pose a serious challenge in Haiti. I suggest you visit this link, then check out the links from this thread, and the links from the other sites posts they take you to, to get the big picture. The most recent comments to the thread are on top. Diphtheria is not the only medical crisis in Haiti, it is just the latest.

Read more!

Photos Of Transitional Shelters In Haiti

Transitional Shelter efforts.

https://sites.google.com/site/shelterhaiti2010/twig-1/tshelter

Transitional Shelter Technical Working Group of the Shelter Cluster. The Shelter Cluster has traditionally focused on Emergency Shelter (tents tarps) and non-food items.

Shelter CLuster's Picasa photo album with new photos of transitional shelters that have been built in Haiti:

http://picasaweb.google.com/shelterhaiti2010.IM/TShelter

Thanks, to our colleagues from CHF, Danish People Aid, Habitat forHumanity and "Un techo para mi pais" for making them available.

Below is a link to the IAT Picasa page with photos from camps,schools, and some random spots around Port au Prince.

http://picasaweb.google.com/IATAyiti

Read more!

JOTC SITREP 19 May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

Préval’s speech at Flag Day ceremonies

Two kidnappings in the last 48 hours

Strong anti-government protests mark Flag Day marches and demonstrations

Four bodies discovered with signs of a violent end

Looting of a humanitarian aid truck

Internally Displaced Persons Surveillance System (IDPSS) Update

I. GENERAL SITUATION

In his speech at ceremonies commemorating the 207th anniversary of creation of the Haitian flag, the head of state, René Préval, emphasized the main thrusts of government action until the end of his term. The president called on his countrymen to make January twelfth a historic date. Recalling that 18 May 1803 had marked the starting point of the march toward independence, Mr Préval called for 12 January 2010 to serve as a starting point for remaking the nation. He also appealed for patience, offering assurances of increased efforts to help the victims of the earthquake. The Haitian president intends to continue the relocation programme for the homeless whether in neighbourhoods or in the camps. Other promises related to expansion of humanitarian and development efforts to the towns. Implementation of several road projects was noted before the head of state also announced preparations for beginning construction of two power plants in Artibonite and Port-au-Prince. (Source: Metropolehaiti.com)

Members of the political parties Alliance, Fusion of Social Democrats, Organization of People in the Struggle and Lavalas who had been members of the Préval government between 2006 and 2008 are maintaining their mobilization efforts to bringing about the resignation of the head of state. These constituent parties of the Alternative movement have joined other political groupings such as Ucadde, Libération and Rasemblé in demanding the formation of a transitional government. These political platforms enjoy the support of several popular organizations close to Lavalas. The mobilization effort has, however, striven to be as wide as possible by bringing together both supporters and opponents of Aristide. Over the past three weeks, opposition leaders have organized anti-Préval demonstrations in Gonaïves, St Marc, Miragoâne, Cap Haïtien, Jacmel, Marigot, Léogâne, Petit Goâve and Les Cayes. In addition to street protests, an action was launched in front of the Supreme Court to call for cancellation of the emergency law. (Source: Metropolehaiti.com)

II. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER

During the last 48 hours the overall security situation in Haiti has remained stable, despite several demonstrations and marches. The security environment continues to be characterized by a low level of criminal activity.

On 15 May at 1900 hours in the Delmas 33 area of Port-au-Prince, unidentified assailants attempted the kidnapping of a 19-year-old woman from a vehicle. Following activation of the vehicle’s alarm system, however, the perpetrators fled. No further details have been received.

Also on 16 May at 2035 hours in Quanaminthe, four unidentified suspects kidnapped a 44-year-old man from his house, also taking money in US and Dominican currency and a motorcycle. On 17 May at 2230 hours the kidnapped was released after a ransom of $13,000 American dollars. The victim was immediately transferred to Dominican Republic and hospitalized.

On 17 May at 1000 hours in Cap Haïtien, unidentified gunmen shot at the tribunal and the town hall in Limbé locality. The suspects also sprayed graffiti demanding the departure of the local representative of the Haitian Government. No loss of life was reported. On the same day in Torbeck, an unidentified 26-year-old man raped a 16-year-old girl and fled the scene. Also on 17 May, four bodies were discovered. The first, at the intersection of Tiremasse and Magasinde l’Etat Avenues, belonged to an identified 34-year-old male who had sustained gunshot wounds. On Dr Aubry Avenue, an identified 30-year-old male body was found, which preliminary investigation revealed to be the victim of a lynching by the local population. On Saint Martin Avenue, the corpse of an identified 30-year-old male was found with signs of violence. And in Cité Soleil, the male body of an identified escaped prisoner was discovered with gunshot wounds.

Five demonstrations were also reported on 17 May. In Miragoâne, two demonstrations with approximately 200 participants demanded the departure of the president, accusing him of violating the constitution, while an unknown number of people protested the lack of electricity. In Les Cayes, 70 citizens requested assistance from the local authorities. Around Fort National in Port-au-Prince, 400 people not only called for the departure of the president, but also the return of former President Aristide. Several gunshots came from a building, resulting in one demonstrator being shot in the chest. The victim was transported to hospital. Finally, in the Champ de Mars area of downtown Port-au-Prince, 800 people peacefully demanded the departure of the president and the return of former President Aristide, with no significant incident reported.

On 18 May, several demonstrations and marches were reported as part of the commemoration of Flag Day, some of which degenerated into violent protests against the government. A recapitulation of actions reported by MINUSTAH military, UNPOL and HNP from their monitoring of demonstrations across the county appears below.

• In Cap Haitian, 200 people demonstrated by throwing bottles and stones. MINUSTAH military elements, UNPOL and HNP controlled the situation. No physical or material damage was reported.
  
• In Gonaïves, 200 people peacefully protested against the Haitian Government and the extension of the presidential mandate.
  
• In Jacmel, 1,200 people celebrated Flag Day by demanding the decentralization and reconstruction of Haiti. Stones were thrown, but no injuries were reported.
  
• In Les Cayes, 300 people protested against the extension of the presidential mandate, accusing the head of state of disrespecting the constitution, and further demanding the return of former President Aristide.
  
• In Miragoâne, two demonstrations and two marches comprising a total of 2,500 participants celebrated the holiday peacefully, though in protest at the national government.
  
• In Jérémy, 2,000 people peacefully demonstrated.
  
• In Port-au-Prince, approximately ten peaceful marches or demonstrations occurred, with 50-100 participants in each. No serious incidents were reported.
  

In other incidents, on 18 May at 0700 hours in the Courbe de Limbé area of Cap Haïtien, unidentified armed assailants attacked and looted a WFP truck loaded with humanitarian aid. The suspects fled the scene after the assault. The truck was travelling without escort.

Also on 18 May at 2100 hours, a MINUTAH military patrol approached an HNP vehicle parked along Magnolia Ave near Simon Pele in Cité Militaire where were found four male occupants, all in civilian dress, carrying weapons and wearing bullet-proof vests. When the patrol commander ordered them to descend from the vehicle, the driver menacingly got out with a gun in his hand. In accordance the rules of engagement the commander fired a warning shot in the air, moving the driver instantly to put the weapon back inside the vehicle. After proper identification, the person carrying a gun was determined to be HNP Police Chief from the Commissariat in Cité Soleil. The other three occupants were civilians, however, not HNP officers. The patrol released the police officer, but took the three civilians to the HNP Commissariat in Delmas 33 for proper disposition. At about 0000 hours, the Chief of the HNP Commissariat in Cité Soleil arrived at the Delmas station requesting and obtaining the release of his civilian companions.

In the last 48 hours, UNPOL and HNP conducted 658 joint patrols and 71 checkpoints throughout the country. A total of 52 arrests and two escapee arrests were reported. MINUSTAH military conducted 1,524 security operations involving 9,580 troops and 14 maritime patrols sailing 282 nautical miles.

III. HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

Mobile telephone operator Digicel has teamed up with several manufactures to distribute over 50,000 handsets and over $2 million in credits to a variety of NGOs and other non-profit organizations in Haiti. Thanks to handset manufacturers LG, Alcatel, Nokia, Samsung, RIM, ZTE and SIM card supplier Gemalto, over 30,000 phones have already been distributed to over 150 organizations by Digicel. These organizations include the International Organization for Migration, World Vision, Save the Children, Concern, Fonkoze, UNICEF, Partners in Health, Catholic Relief Services and Médecins sans Frontières, to name a few. Earthquake researchers, mobile health clinics, sanitation and shelter specialists, as well as hospital and orphanage staff have also received handsets and credits. These donations have helped to provide reliable and efficient communications between the organizations and their counterparts throughout the country.(Source:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Digicel-and-Leading-Mobile-iw-1613425629.html?x=0)

As of 8 May, the Internally Displaced Persons Surveillance System (IDPSS) provided an update revealing a total of 136,898 clinic visits through week 18, with 31,139 cases (22.7%) presenting reportable conditions. The total number of clinic visits by children under five with reportable illnesses stood at 13,230, representing 42.5% (or nearly half) of the total number of reported diseases. Acute respiratory infections (ARI) remained the most commonly reported illness, with an overall prevalence of 9.6% of total reported clinic visits since February 2, 2010, followed by suspected cases of malaria, acute watery diarrhoea, fevers, suspected typhoid and bloody diarrhoea. During the past two weeks, 2,141 (11.2%) cases of ARI were reported, with the percentage of ARI cases at the IDPSS sites increasing slightly to 12.0% of all clinic visits during the last reporting week. (Full report at:

http://groups.google.com/group/haiti-idp-surveillance-system/files&sort=date)

On 15 May, WFP distributed humanitarian aid for 2,502 families in Caracolie locality. MINUSTAH police and military personnel assisted HNP officers in conducting security operations during the distribution.

IV. JOTC

The Joint Operations and Tasking Centre (JOTC) continued to respond to requests for assistance from humanitarian partners, as well as to provide administrative support to the Coordination Support Committee (CSC) Planning Task Force and the PMCC. To date, 743 requests for support have been received and 473 completed. Most of the requests pertain to the provision of security and engineering support.

Read more!

Camps Relocation (Where People Are At Risk Of Flooding, Land Slides, ETC. To Be Moved To)

• Corail Cesselesse (North of PaP)
• Tabarre Issa (PaP area)
• Jacmel has a similar camp
• Leogane has a similar camp
• Petit Goave has a similar camp

Camp Relocation Corail 2010 April 28 PMCC Progress Report XL up to 4,921 individuals in 1,290 families.

Be advised that American Refugee Committee, will assume the Camp Manager's role effective, tomorrow, April 29, 2010 and has designated, Mr. Richard Poole as the Camp Manager for Corail.

Camp Relocation Tabarre Issa 2010 April 28 PMCC Progress Report XL up to 2,381 individuals in 1,802 families.

Camp Relocation update April 28 regarding the Valley de Bourdon.

Be informed that the Valley de Bourdon relocation to Tabarre Issa has reached its final conclusion yesterday April 27 2010.

There were 10 daily movements from April 17 - 27, 2010 and the total people that have been moved from Bourdon Valley are: 512 Families / 2.381 Individuals.

Camps … also see DTM (people movements), Priority Camps, Shelters, Maps, Situation Reports
* Child Protection Strategy Word 4 pages

* Concept of Operations (CONOPS) Logistics April 26 PDF

1. Note map showing where ports are now in operation, and where there are warehouse facilities. People who participate in the relevant clusters are able to cooperate with each other. For example, UNICEF has a weekly Excel listing where they ended up with excess food, tents, whatever, that some other NGO could take off their hands, by filling out the appropriate paperwork on a first come first served basis.
   
2. Note progress reports on sea port repair, leading to prioritization and management of which ports of entry are optimal for which types of cargo.
   
3. Note map showing where flooding can happen a lot on road from Dominican Republic to Haiti, especially during rainy season.
   
4. Note hazards on the Leogane Jacmel mountain road.
   
5. Note changes in Logistics Cluster offerings and prices.
   

* Cash Grant FAQ for Haitians April 14
** Relocated Haitians are getting mobile phones
** There may be opportunities here for Telephone Directories of Services Offered

* Child Ed May 2 An e-mail update from Dayanne Danier to RTF
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/diva-toolbox-radio/2010/05/03/where-did-the-money-go-a-firsthand-view-of-haiti-today

Sources of Contact lists include UN NGO Clusters, also:
https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/haiti/3Wcontacts/Pages/default.aspx

Read more!

Border Customs Rules Change April 30

This memo from the Ministry for Finance and Economy informs the general public, importers and exporters that Customs (Directorate of Fiscal Inpections) officers will no longer be posted at the Jimani- Malpasse border crossing as of 30 April 2010 to facilitate the transit of humanitarian goods. All organisations are advised that procedures revert to the standard procedures of pre-12 January 2010. The procedures for importation remain valid and are available at:

http://www.logisticscluster.org/ops/hti10a/procedures-for-importation

and

http://www.logisticscluster.org/ops/hti10a/custom-clearance-guidelines-SD

Read more!

Red Zones, WASH Cluster Sitrep

There are official (UN+govs) red zones, where the military and police prevent aid from reaching the people in those zones, and take violent action against anyone they catch in the act of trying to do so. I have never seen an explanation for this which makes any kind of sense to me. These zones are not on any map or public signage, but officials working in the areas are told about them, through the UN NGO clusters, and by other means.

There are the civil society (land owner manager) red zones, where any aid supplied to quake survivors is regularly destroyed or sabotaged by local authorities or property managers, and/or the land owners demand to be paid $$$ in return for letting the relief workers in to help the victims.

There are the NGO red zones, where the security situation (criminals and other reasons) is so bad, no volunteers will consent to going in there.

There are color coded maps showing severity of various risks such as quakes, wind, inches of rain, etc. where red generally denotes the worst or most intensive risks.

Data quality ... here we are 3 months into the relief effort, and what changes from week to week are astronomical changes in the #s of people to be served and microscopic changes in the #s actually served.

Future Protection ... one of the areas it seems no one has a good grasp of, are the #s of people in harms way from the rainy season ... is it 40,000 or 400,00 or ... and NOTHING done yet to protect them from Hurricane Season, other than identification 2 months ago of land tenure problems not yet resolved.

Not so much WASH, but some other reports I recently shared ... people and debris get shuffled around ... a place is established to dump them, enormous effort is expended to fix it up, then they all get kicked out, demolish it, start over, and whatever started over is considered to be temporary. No one knows when it will be recycled. Legal documents are not honored by legal authorities.

The latest WASH Sitrep speaks of ", the lack of an overall humanitarian strategy presents great dilemmas for agencies of how much and how to invest in current camps. "

There are official (UN+govs) red zones, where the military and police prevent aid from reaching the people in those zones. I have never seen an explanation for this which makes any kind of sense to me.

There are the civil society (land owner manager) red zones, where any aid supplied to quake survivors is regularly destroyed or sabotaged by local authorities or property managers, and/or the land owners demand to be paid $$$ in return for letting the relief workers in to help the victims.

There are the NGO red zones, where the security situation (criminals and other reasons) is so bad, no volunteers will consent to going in there.

Many relief efforts have had to shut down because the funds have run out.

Many more are at risk of following them out.

It has been known for over a month that there is a need to transfer funds from where there is an excess not being expended, to support underfunded operations. There is only microscopic evidence of anything being done about that.

Summary of Key Issues/Priorities/Advocacy Messages in the MARCH 29 Sitrep

1. New site allocated by Government in north Croix de Bouquet
2. Seven high risk sites in need of immediate remedial works to reduce
3. Municipal Coordination – decentralization of coordination and gap filling to municipality level taking off and yielding results
4. WASH Cluster/DINEPA facilitates work to map all new sites - working together with CCCM, Shelter and OCHA – many more sites expected to be mapped; results expected end of week and will lead to a new round of gap analysis and strategy for response
5. Is assistance in camps creating more and larger camps?

Al Macintyre Theories previously shared ...
(a) TOTAL FAILURE of competent assistance OUTSIDE of the camps means starving and suffering people are going to the camps where the best assistance is currently located.
(b) As the infrastructure repairs advance, UN NGO personnel are waking up to notice clusters of people in trouble, who they would have noticed earlier had it not been for the nature of the disaster, and the nature of the relief effort structure, a mismatch in some ways to the actual needs of the region.

6. Plan put in place for desludging of latrines and pooling of desludging truck capacity to meet needs

Summary of Key Issues/Priorities/Advocacy Messages in the APRIL 13 Sitrep

1. Initial figures suggest a doubling in the number of camps and an increase in the number of displaced – to be verified. Question as to why additional displacement is taking place and what motivates people who were previously outside of a camp to move in

AL Macintyre Theories to explain what may not be obvious to other folks.

There are the crooked gangs, alleged corruption, there are the mass evictions, and lack of visibility what is now a red zone, or why. For many Haitian, they may not be able to tell much difference between these actors, in causing them to escape to some other apparent safety.
Also there is a huge lag in data from people on the ground reporting their info to the central collections. As infrastructure repairs advance, that time lag will shrink, having a spike in the data collection, to fix some of what had been broken all along.


2. Need for a strategy for the way forward for the next year to know how best to invest resources and efforts

3. Under reporting of agencies continues to be a significant challenge in getting a clear picture of actual and planned efforts

In Al opinion this is a no-win situation so long as the leading groups have an arrogance of exclusion for new volunteer groups and interests, data reporting sharing methods are time consuming, and the legal structure prevents profit and non-profit organizations from significant cooperating.

Needs moving forwards for WASH Cluster moving forwards, as of the April 13 Sitrep

1. WASH cluster planning figure is for approximately 1,100, 000 people for the immediate/emergency WASH needs. New but unverified figures may put this much higher towards 2.1m

2. The WASH Cluster has a list of 750 locations in its database although only 473 with GPS points that we can plot on the map covering Port au Prince, Jacmel, Gressier, Leogane, Grand Goave and Petit Goave. It is believed that some of these are either duplicates or are registered with a WASH agency name, but who reported the camp, although they may not be working there. With the need to carry out new surveys highlighted by WASH work, new surveys were carried by CCCM with WASH to ensure only one data set. It is estimated that the actual figure is more than 900 sites in Port-au-Prince with over 1300 sites for all affected areas, but again these need to be verified which is being carried out by CCCM


There are also cross-cluster needs. The differences between different cluster data sets will be much easier to manage when there is more consistency in identifying camps:
SSID, Lat+Long, GPS, street address, etc. The last figure I saw was 3.6 million people in some kind of need.

You would think that with the UN being in the international humanitarian relief business now for 60 some years, that this kind of data management would be more advanced, but I suspect there's an inertia in how things are done, without the pressures to improve like in business where companies in competition with each other are driven to become more productive. There is similar competition within NGOs, but it is to be more clever with PR. Plus this data management issue is within the UN structure they are all in. The UN has no competitors. This is like how government infrastructure influences how capitalism can function within their world. Pressures to improve it are overwhelmed by inertia and budget constraints.

Read more!

Food Aid - Genetically Modified Seeds

Helping Haitian farmers with genetically modified seeds. Is that the best path for Haiti?

You may be interested in this news

http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/EGUA-85KKTA?OpenDocument&rc=2

There was a day-long conference on best practices at WFP's headquarters in Rome.You may have seen in the news about $ 4 million worth of seeds donated by Monsanto, a company often mired in controversy due to genetically modified seeds. There's a big debate over this in Haiti Rewired.

http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/a-new-earthquake-hits-haiti?xg_source=activity

regarding Monsanto donations to Haiti agriculture.There were some accusations regarding Genetically Modified Seeds, and the implications of that. I think it has now been determined that those accusations are false, that the seeds donated by Monsanto to Haiti were NOT GM, but conventional hybrid seed.There is a trickle (dribble?) of new info to the Agriculture Cluster.

http://oneresponse.info/Disasters/Haiti/Agriculture/Pages/default.aspx

Read more!

Continuing Rape Epidemic

More about rape in the camps.

A related issue is the epidemic of rapes.

Under Haitian law, if a raped woman is to have justice, within 3 days of being assaulted, she has to have a certificate by a Doctor that she was raped, and the Doctor must be certified with the Haitian government as being qualified to make this assertion. Due to the Jan 12 quake, is is commonplace for patients to have to wait days before getting any kind of medical treatment. There have been multiple cases of a judge throwing out a doctor's certification that a woman was raped, and thus no charge against the named suspect, because either the doctor's certification was more than 72 hours after the attack, or the medical professional did not have the right government credentials to make this expert testimony.

In my opinion, this Haitian law needs amending, to reflect the reality that comes after a disaster like the latest.

In my opinion, a woman should be able to walk naked down a street without a horde of men trying to attack her, but the reality is that in today's "civilization", women need all kinds of protection against their fellow men. A tent or tarpaulin, with occasional police patrols, does not cut it.

Thanks to all kinds of pressures in the UN NGO community, the UN military, and Haitian National Police, began patrols of the camps, and in their daily reports, which I have been downloading, they used terminology like "alleged rapes" and "reportedly high incidence of rapes" to explain why they were doing these patrols. These same reports also included stories of kidnappings, traffic congestion, murders, etc. which were not preceded by qualifiers like "alleged traffic congestion" or "reported killings" but stated as actual events.

Prior to the start of these security patrols, I was seeing assessments by various UN NGO clusters, and downloading some of them. It was not unusual for 20% or more of the camps to be reporting a problem with sexual assaults. There are now over 1300 camps. The assessments pick questions to ask, and after a short time stopped including such assaults in their statistics gathering. But stories of the epidemic of rapes continued to percolate through many cluster reports.

A delegation of U.S. lawyers, health professionals, and community activists, has been looking into the reports of the rate of rapes. They found:

* women face a grave lack of security necessary to prevent and respond to the sexual violence crisis;

* the assaults mainly occur in dead of night when women want to be sleeping, not thanks to any promiscuity;

* some assaults occur when women try to use the inadequate toilet facilities, where men wait to ambush them in the dark stalls;

* many assaults are perpetrated by groups of armed, unknown assailants who often beat the women in the course of the attack, and threatened them with further violence if they reported the rape;

* medical services are overwhelmed and unable to meet women's health care needs stemming from the assaults;

* rape victims are treated by medical professionals in a very incompetent and unprofessional manner;

* some Haitian government officials claim that survivors are somehow to blame for the rapes;

* women who report rapes to the police describe being turned away, not taken seriously, or told to notify the police if they see the rapists again;

Other discussion in this thread that I started, on actions that shock our consciences, included:

· Scale of evictions with little notice (10's of thousands)
· Scale of not yet victimized this way (millions)
· Who's in charge (it is anarchy)
· What reactions are effective (none yet)
· Why do Churches do this (because they can, and see nothing wrong with it)
· Rights of private land owners (there should be a balance)
· What are reasonable people to believe (this is not a reasonable situation)
· Where is the justice system (not invented yet in Haiti)

Read more!

Summary of the Working Group “Champ du Mars”

Meeting Notes Documents:

• Meeting Notes 1

• Meeting Notes 2

• Meeting Notes 3

Nearly every day, a wider working group met in the temporary meeting facilities in the Presidential Palace. Their main objective was to think about a strategy, how to move people from “Champ du Mars” back home into their original living quarters. The first living quarter to start with is “Fort National”. Whatever strategy the group would thing about, is supposed to become the pilot for other camps in Port au Prince.
Participants in the group where:
President Preval, the Minister of Interior, Niels Scott-Head of OCHA, the Cluster Leads from CCCM, Emergency Shelter, Early Recovery, IOM, UNHABITAT, Community Leader from surrounding living quarters, Camp Leader from Champs du Mars, Donors like USAID, NGO´s like CRS.
Over all a well balanced group with the widest possible foundation possible for the purpose.
The working style shifted between discussions in the main forum and working groups on:
- Cash for Work Programs
- Debris Removal
- Information campaigns
- Data/ Targeting
The draft plan as it stands by the 17th of May is:
- A mapping exercise in the “ Fort National” to identify Owners, Renters, Plot boundary’s, Status of the houses ( in the three categories ( green=save, yellow= repair needed, red= most likely need to demolish)
- Information Campaign to make people move back to all green houses (About 70% of the green house are already occupied.)
- Information campaign about the overall strategy.
- Demolishing of red houses with professional staff
- Cash for work program for to remove debris from red houses
- T-Shelter programs for the red houses

The discussion is ongoing and additional finding and adjustment might be ahead
Find attached some additional information from today’s meeting!

The shelter cluster is looking a cluster member to implement T-Shelter in the “Fort National” Area.
Some members indicated their interest. (IOM, CHF and Concern Worldwide a general interest to work in the City of Port au Price area)

Fort National is a high populated area.
The plan to implement is well ahead.
For the “pilot project” a high media attention is guaranteed.
More, similar project will follow.

Read more!

Latest News Feed From Haiti

More security help for Haiti and other news feed from the web.

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Presumed Haitian presidential candidate dies of heart attack
GONAIVES -- Gabriel Bien-Aimé, former Haitian minister of education and presumed presidential candidate, has died, Haitian government officials confirmed. Bien-Aimé died of a heart atta...

Parade highlights pride, earthquake relief in Haiti
L ocal Haitians and those supporting recovery efforts in the island nation decimated by an earthquake in January gathered yesterday to celebrate Haiti’s heritage. The 10th annual Haitian Americ...

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Situation Report 2010 May 12 JOTC Word

Situation Report for May 12, 2010.

Dates various types of support due to end, what’s continuing indefinitely

• UN Police continues to provide 24/7 security and sporadic foot patrols in the IDP camps throughout the country, particularly to monitor the reportedly high incidence of rape. Notice word “reportedly”. Other patrols to alleviate traffic congestion and deter public disturbances, not reported congestion or alleged disturbances, but actual stuff, actual risks.


Situation Report 2010 May 13 JOTC Word


• These reports get more and more interesting.



• Peaceful demonstrations continue.



• Reports have been received of a possible demonstration on 18May (Flag Day) by political movements and parties to denounce the political process related to the extension of President Préval’s mandate.


May 11

• In Tabarre 26 area (Port-au-Prince), four unidentified armed suspects on two motorcycles fired gunshots at two identified individuals in a vehicle. Another unidentified person returned gunfire on the attackers, killing two of them. The other two suspects fled the scene. The two targeted victims in the vehicle were not injured.


May 12

• In Carrefour (Port-au-Prince), three suspects attempted to rob residents of the Paloma area. When the HNP arrived on the scene, the suspects fired on them. Two of the gangsters managed to flee the scene, although one of them was shot. The third, an escaped prisoner, was lynched by the local population.


May 13

• In Carrefour (Port-au-Prince), the 14-year-old boy who had been kidnapped from his domicile on Bolosse 5 was released in the area of Grand Ravine.


May 13

• Also, in Plaine du Nord (North), approximately 100 people surrounded a WFP food truck that broke down in the area of the École Conservatrice de Baudin. The panic-stricken driver fled into the school for safety. UNPOL and HNP were quickly dispatched to the scene, preventing any looting of the truck.


Situation Report 2010 May 14 JOTC Word


• Bangladesh sends its first all-female contingent of police officers to Haiti, a 110-strong battalion of female peacekeepers. Bangladesh, has the second-largest contribution to UN peacekeeping missions after Pakistan.
  
• Haiti Port Authority now boasts an advanced vessel-tracking system, to aid port management in serving international relief organizations.
  
• Increase in kidnapping of expatriots.
  
  For my friends who may be unfamiliar with this terminology … an immigrant is what you call someone who arrives to live in a nation from someplace else. An expatriot is what that same person is called in the nation from which they left. For people in Haiti to be labelled as expatriots, means the people doing the labelling are extremely divorced from identifying with Haitians, or considering Haiti as an independent nation.
  
  May 12
  
• Three post-earthquake escapees from the National Prison were apprehended by national police forces.
  
• In Croix des Bouquets (Ouest), a 9-month-old baby boy was kidnapped in the Duval area by a man who has been identified.
  
  May 13
  
• In Les Cayes, an undetermined number of persons organized a demonstration against the government, erecting three barricades in different areas near the airport and gas station and then burning tyres.
  
  
• In Jérémie (Grande Anse), MINUSTAH Police assisted HNP officers with the arrest of a woman charged with the ill treatment of her 9-year-old daughter.
  
  
• MINUSTAH Police assisted HNP officers in conducting a sweep operation in the Grand Ravine area.
  
  
• Unidentified armed assailants shot and killed a 40-year-old man in the Portail Léogâne area, then fled the scene.
  
  
• Politically motivated demonstrations, so far still peaceful, continued throughout the country.
  
  
• The 2010 Vaccination Week of the Americas reached some 60,000 children in Haiti.
  
  
• The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it has put in place a contingency order to address needs in the case of an emergency during the rainy season. This is so NGOs can function. It has nothing to do with Haitian survival.



Situation Report 2010 May 15 JOTC Word


• Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive met with over 40 Santo Domingo-based foreign diplomats, urging delivery of promised aid.
  
  
• 20-21 May Montreal Canada hosting conference on next 20 years of Haitian reconstruction
  
  
• Haitian ‘Artists Action Citizens’ educated through the arts
  
  
• Approximately 2,000 buildings per day assessed by joint engineering efforts
  
  
• Government officials plan to begin decongestion of the Champs de Mars settlement next week on 17 May. The majority of families will return to Forte Nationale, their pre-earthquake neighbourhood of origin, where engineers have already conducted habitability assessments.


May 12

• 4.45 pm in Port-au-Prince, escaped prisoner arrested by HNP.


May 13

• 5 pm Port-de-Paix, another escaped prisoner arrested and presented before a judge.


May 14

• 9 am in Cité Soleil section of Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH FPU and Military assisted HNP in a sweep operation dubbed ‘Bonbagaye’ that arrested and detained 20 persons.
  
  
• 10 am in St-Marc, a demonstration with approximately 80 participants protested the extension of the mandate of President Préval. No Incidents were reported.
  
  
• In Corail IDP camp, approx 10 unidentified persons attacked some residents, damaging some tents and injuring one person with a knife. The injured person was transported to hospital while MINUSTAH Military and UNPOL conducted security operations that led to the arrest of one suspect by the HNP.
  
  
• In Savane Pistache IDP camp in Port-au-Prince, one 18-year-old woman and one 14-year-old girl were raped by unidentified armed assailants. The victims were transported to the hospital for treatment. Finally, the Haitian security forces are NOT using the word “alleged” or “reportedly” when referring to women being raped. Is 18 year old considered to be an Adult in Haiti?



May 15

• 10 am demonstration organized from Pedero to Marigot by a local group in the latter. About 200 people marched with placards calling for the decentralization of services and the departure of the Préval government. Some stone-throwing incidents were reported at the beginning of the demonstration, but calm was restored with no further incidents.
  
  
• 11 am Gressier locality of Mariani, five unidentified armed men, kill the cashier of the CAM Transfer agency and took away all the money.
  
  
• UN confirmed "The waiver negotiated with the GoH for custom exemptions expired at the end of April." ie. No more special treatment for relief cargo.



When comparing Situation Reports, note
(a) #s of population served by each cluster ... for example 2 million get food but 1 million get emergency shelter
(b) appearance of progress from one report to the next ... is the relief treading water, getting to more people, less? Have any problems been permanently solved?

https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/haiti/Needs/Pages/default.aspx

Other organizations are cross-posting Situation Reports, think of them as alternative sources.

Read more!

JOTC SITREP 17 May 2010

HIGHLIGHTS

• Demonstrations in Miragoâne, Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes
• Plans announced to reform Haitian educational system
• Possible demonstration planned for tomorrow
• Two bodies found in Fort National
• $4 million worth of seed to be donated to Haiti

I. GENERAL SITUATION

Politically motivated demonstrations continued throughout the country. Demonstrations were reported today in Miragoâne demanding that the president step down for having purportedly violated the constitution and protesting the lack of electricity in the region. Meanwhile, in Port-au-Prince, protests targeted the extension of the state of emergency. The demonstration in Miragoâne ended peacefully when it was agreed that electricity would be provided 12 hours a day, as well as all of tomorrow’s holiday (Flag Day). Gunfire marred the demonstration in downtown Port-au-Prince, where a demonstrator received a gunshot wound in the chest and taken to hospital. The shooter was not identified. Objects were thrown at a UN vehicle, but no damage or injuries were reported. A peaceful demonstration in support of the local mayor was reported in Les Cayes.

On Saturday, President Préval gave the Inter-American Development Bank a mandate to work with national education authorities to prepare a major reform of the Haitian education system. The five-year plan, which would require around $2 billion in funding from foreign donors, will be aimed at expanding tuition-free education services in Haiti. At present, nearly 90 percent of Haitian schools are private. Prior to the earthquake, which destroyed or damaged more than 4,000 schools, over half the children of primary school age were not enrolled in any educational institution. Under the proposed reform, most Haitian schools would become publicly funded but privately run institutions, forgoing tuition charges. A central fund would be established for the government to pay salaries of all teachers and school administrators participating in the new system. The plan will finance the creation of new schools, using existing buildings suitable for educational purposes and constructing new ones in safe locations to earthquake and hurricane resistant standards. Schools would also be used to provide critical community services such as nutrition, health care and other social services.

II. SECURITY AND PUBLIC ORDER

The overall security situation in Haiti remains stable, but the security environment continues to be characterized by a low level of criminal activity.
In addition, reports have been received of possible demonstrations tomorrow on Flag Day, an emotionally charged national holiday, by political movements and parties opposed to the extension of President Préval’s mandate.

On 15 May in the Pétion-Ville suburb of Port-au-Prince, a MINUSTAH national staff member was arrested by the HNP for verbally insulting an HNP officer. An investigation was opened. The same day in the capital, the body of an unidentified male of approximately thirty years of age was found on Tremarse Avenue. The body had sustained gunshot wounds to the head. On 16 May, another two bodies were discovered in Fort National. Finally, a 46-year-old man was murdered by a 70-year-old male in the Fontamera 27 area of Port-au-Prince.
On 15 May in Jérémy locality (Grand Anse), a 13-year-old girl was raped by a 15-year-old male. The victim was transported to the hospital and an investigation was opened.

On 16 May in Arcahaie, an escaped prisoner was arrested and was detained by the HNP pending further investigation.

On 15-16 May, UNPOL and HNP conducted 717 joint patrols and 76 checkpoints throughout the country. A total of 67 arrests and one escapee arrest were reported. MINUSTAH military conducted 1,947 security operations involving 9,638 troops and 12 maritime patrols sailing 232 nautical miles.

III. HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS

US-based Monsanto has partnered with the Haitian agriculture ministry to donate $4 million worth of seeds to Haiti. The first 60-tonne consignment of the 475-tonne donation arrived last week, consisting of maize and vegetable seeds. Subsequent shipments will include cabbage, carrot, aubergine, melon, onion, tomato, spinach and watermelon, all of which have been deemed appropriate for Haitian growing conditions and farming practices. Actual distribution is being implemented by the USAID-funded WINNER Project, as part of a larger initiative to increase farmer productivity with technical and material support. WINNER will distribute the seeds through farmer association stores, to be sold at a significantly reduced price. These stores will then use the revenue generated to reinvest in other inputs needed by their members. The goal is to reach 10,000 Haitian farmers this growing season.

The Papay Peasant Movement, which brings together peasant farmers, has pledged to burn the Monsanto-donated seeds and called for a march to protest the corporation’s presence in Haiti to be held on 4 June, World Environment Day. Their reasons for this opposition include the dangers posed by chemical pesticides used to treat the seeds, as well as a perceived threat to local seed production. While special concerns have also been expressed about the importation of genetically modified organisms, Monsanto representatives have assured the agriculture ministry during the approval process that the seeds being donated are not genetically modified.
In addition to its cash-for-work and food-for-work schemes, WFP is expanding its school-feeding programme from its current level of around a half-million children aged six to fourteen years to reach a target of 800,000 across Haiti. The dual objective of the programme is to improve the nutritional status of the children and encourage school attendance. In order to mitigate the possibility of competing with local agricultural production, the UN food agency has made a commitment to purchase part of the commodities for the programme from Haitian farmers.

On 15 May, WFP distributed humanitarian aid for 2,502 families in Caracolie locality. MINUSTAH Police and military personnel assisted HNP officers in conducting security operations during the distribution.

IV. JOTC

The Joint Operations and Tasking Centre (JOTC) continued to respond to requests for assistance from humanitarian partners, as well as to provide administrative support to the Coordination Support Committee (CSC) Planning Task Force and the PMCC. To date, 737 requests for support have been received and 472 completed. Most of the requests pertain to the provision of security and engineering support.

Read more!

Haiti Security, Military Police etc. May 17

Latest news on the situation in Haiti. Latest Relevant Info:

Situation Report 2010 May 14 JOTC Word
Bangladesh sends its first all-female contingent of police officers to Haiti, a 110-strong battalion of female peacekeepers.
Haiti Port Authority now boasts an advanced vessel-tracking system, to aid port management in serving international relief organizations.
Increase in kidnapping of expatriots.
May 12
Three post-earthquake escapees from the National Prison were apprehended by national police forces.
In Croix des Bouquets (Ouest), a 9-month-old baby boy was kidnapped in the Duval area by a man who has been identified.
May 13
In Les Cayes, an undetermined number of persons organized a demonstration against the government, erecting three barricades in different areas near the airport and gas station and then burning tyres.
In Jérémie (Grande Anse), MINUSTAH Police assisted HNP officers with the arrest of a woman charged with the ill treatment of her 9-year-old daughter.
MINUSTAH Police assisted HNP officers in conducting a sweep operation in the Grand Ravine area.
Unidentified armed assailants shot and killed a 40-year-old man in the Portail Léogâne area, then fled the scene.
Politically motivated demonstrations, so far still peaceful, continued throughout the country.
The 2010 Vaccination Week of the Americas reached some 60,000 children in Haiti.
The World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it has put in place a contingency order to address needs in the case of an emergency during the rainy season. This is so NGOs can function. It has nothing to do with Haitian survival.
Situation Report 2010 May 15 JOTC Word
Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive met with over 40 Santo Domingo-based foreign diplomats, urging delivery of promised aid.
20-21 May Montreal Canada hosting conference on next 20 years of Haitian reconstruction
Haitian ‘Artists Action Citizens’ educated through the arts
Approximately 2,000 buildings per day assessed by joint engineering efforts
Government officials plan to begin decongestion of the Champs de Mars settlement next week on 17 May. The majority of families will return to Forte Nationale, their pre-earthquake neighbourhood of origin, where engineers have already conducted habitability assessments.
May 12
4.45 pm in Port-au-Prince, escaped prisoner arrested by HNP.
May 13
5 pm Port-de-Paix, another escaped prisoner arrested and presented before a judge.
May 14
9 am in Cité Soleil section of Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH FPU and Military assisted HNP in a sweep operation dubbed ‘Bonbagaye’ that arrested and detained 20 persons.
10 am in St-Marc, a demonstration with approximately 80 participants protested the extension of the mandate of President Préval. No Incidents were reported.
In Corail IDP camp, approx 10 unidentified persons attacked some residents, damaging some tents and injuring one person with a knife. The injured person was transported to hospital while MINUSTAH Military and UNPOL conducted security operations that led to the arrest of one suspect by the HNP.
In Savane Pistache IDP camp in Port-au-Prince, one 18-year-old woman and one 14-year-old girl were raped by unidentified armed assailants. The victims were transported to the hospital for treatment. Finally, the Haitian security forces are NOT using the word “alleged” or “reportedly” when referring to women being raped. Is 18 year old considered to be an Adult in Haiti?
May 15
10 am demonstration organized from Pedero to Marigot by a local group in the latter. About 200 people marched with placards calling for the decentralization of services and the departure of the Préval government. Some stone-throwing incidents were reported at the beginning of the demonstration, but calm was restored with no further incidents.
11 am Gressier locality of Mariani, five unidentified armed men, kill the cashier of the CAM Transfer agency and took away all the money.
Situation Report 2010 May 17 JOTC Word
Demonstrations in Miragoâne, Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes
The demonstrations protest actions of the President, the lack of Electricity, the state of emergency.
Gunfire marred the demonstration in downtown Port-au-Prince, where a demonstrator received a gunshot wound in the chest and taken to hospital. The shooter was not identified. Objects were thrown at a UN vehicle, but no damage or injuries were reported.
Plans announced to reform Haitian educational system
I had reported on this when I first saw the news May 16

http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/freer-education-for-haiti


Possible demonstration planned for May 18 Flag Day. I started threads on Haiti Rewired, and LI HEDR, on Haiti Election News.
$4 million worth of seed to be donated to Haiti.
There’s a huge HR discussion about this

http://haitirewired.wired.com/profiles/blogs/a-new-earthquake-hits-haiti

In addition to its cash-for-work and food-for-work schemes, WFP is expanding its school-feeding programme from its current level of around a half-million children aged six to fourteen years to reach a target of 800,000 across Haiti.
May 15
In Pétion-Ville suburb of Port-au-Prince, a MINUSTAH national staff member was arrested by HNP for verbally insulting an HNP officer.
The body of an unidentified male of approximately thirty years of age was found on Tremarse Avenue in Port-au-Prince. The body had sustained gunshot wounds to the head.
In Jérémy locality (Grand Anse), a 13-year-old girl was raped by a 15-year-old male. The victim was transported to the hospital and an investigation was opened.

May 16
Two bodies were discovered in Fort National.
A 46-year-old man was murdered by a 70-year-old male in the Fontamera 27 area of Port-au-Prince.
In Arcahaie, an escaped prisoner was arrested and was detained by the HNP pending further investigation.



When comparing Situation Reports, note
(a) #s of population served by each cluster ... for example 2 million get food but 1 million get emergency shelter
(b) appearance of progress from one report to the next ... is the relief treading water, getting to more people, less? Have any problems been permanently solved?

Other organizations are cross-posting Situation Reports, think of them as alternative sources.


https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/haiti/Needs/Pages/default.aspx

Situation Reports … also see under the various thematic topics of the content of these overviews

Read more!