Haiti’s Declaration of Independence Found

Haiti’s Declaration of Independence Found, PRI's The World, April 1, 2010 Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Julia Gaffield, a Duke graduate student who found a rare original copy of Haiti’s declaration of independence in Britain’s National Archive. More...

"Recovery from Natural Catastrophes, Wars and the Financial Crisis"

15th Annual Women Ambassadors Conference. Topic: "Recovery from Natural Catastrophes, Wars and the Financial Crisis"

Date: Thursday April 8, 2010

Time: 10:00am-12:00pm,
Place: Howard University School of Business Auditorium

Time: 2:30pm-6:00pm,
Place: US Congress - Rayburn Building Room 2325


2:30 - 3:30 pm Recovery from the Financial Crisis
3:30 - 4:30 pm Recovery from Wars, the case of Congo (DRC)
4:30 - 5:30 pm Haiti: Recovery from Natural Catastrophes
5:30 - 6:00 pm Recommendations on Haiti ’s Recovery
For further information call organizers, Dr. Marilyn Sephocle at (202) 247 7404 or at (202) 806 6758;
or Ms. Trisha Raines, Office of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson at (202) 225-8885.

Haiti's Resurrection: Promoting Human Rights by Mark Schuller

Haiti's Resurrection: Promoting Human Rights by Mark Schuller

Mark Schuller reports from Port-au-Prince about the current state of housing and shelter, food, water and healthcare distribution. With coming rains, and consitently ignored Haitian leadership, Schuller makes recommendations on how to move forward.

Matthew 25 House and Sister Mary Finnick on The Today Show

Matthew 25 House and Sister Mary Finnick on The Today Show

Matthew 25 Guesthouse in Port-au-Prince's Delmas 33 neighborhood has become the home to hundreds of families since the Earthquake on January 12th. The Today Show met with community members as well as Sister Mary Finnick to follow-up on the still urgent needs.

HAITI: Women Demand Role in Reconstruction

HAITI: Women Demand Role in Reconstruction, IRIN, April 1, 2010 Women's civil society groups were noticeable by their absence from the landmark Haiti donor conference on 31 March, which secured pledges of US$5.3 billion over the next two years to support the country’s post-quake recovery. Their lack of a presence at the meeting was indicative of a broader missing voice in Haiti’s long-term reconstruction prospects, gender activists argued. “Why are we not there right now, where are the women at this conference?” questioned Marie St. Cyr, a Haitian human rights advocate. “We still don’t have full participation and we certainly don’t have full inclusion. Haitian women are still being raped…they are supporting more than half of the households, and yet they are not being heard.” More....

The Upcoming Donors' Conference for Haiti

The Upcoming Donors' Conference for Haiti, Tectonic Shifts? by Mark Schuller, Counterpunch, March 26-28, 2010 This week former Presidents Clinton and Bush are in Haiti, trying to drum up support for Haiti’s reconstruction and setting the stage for the upcoming donor conference at the U.N. on March 31. There is no shortage of needs, and even plans to address them. Yet the process has as yet to be transparent. More...

Trauma and Solidarity in the New Haiti

Trauma and Solidarity in the New Haiti, by Mark Schuller, NACLA Report on the Americas, March/April 2010 I arrived in Christ-Roi, a mixed-income neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, on January 20 as part of a 13-person medical team organized by and for a local clinic, Hospice St. Joseph. Eight days had passed since the devastating earthquake. We arrived on one of the first civilian aid flights that the U.S. military, having seized the airport three days after the quake, allowed into the country.

The military’s emphasis on using the airport to deploy troops to organize logistics—at the expense of delivering humanitarian aid, at least in the early days of the crisis—caused serious delays in providing desperately needed help. But the airport was not the only source of delays. The land route for delivering aid was closed off when the occupying United Nations forces closed the border with the Dominican Republic to prevent a flood of refugees. The only other viable option was by sea, but the earthquake destroyed the capital’s port, where most of the country’s goods arrive. Making matters worse, the quake damaged already bad roads connecting functioning ports in Saint-Marc and Cap-Haïtien. More...