14483: Karshan: On economic sanctions against Haiti and European role (AHP) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

AHP News- January 15, 2003- English translation (Unofficial)
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The Spanish newspaper El Pais criticizes the economic sanctions imposed
against the Haitian people
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Port-au-Prince, January 15, 2003 -(AHP)- The Spanish daily newspaper El Pais
sharply criticized the economic sanctions imposed against Haiti by the
international community.

In an article published January 12, Drs. Arachu Castro and Paul Farmer
consider Haiti to be the continent's forgotten country.

They write that the children of Haiti continue to die of diseases such as
diarrhoea and respiratory infections, aggravated by a glaring lack of
potable water.

The authors of the article affirm that France and the United States, two
countries who contributed the most throughout history to the impoverishment
of Haiti according to them, seem today to be disinterested in restoring to
Haiti the right to life.

According to the El Pais article the economic sanctions by the international
community seem to penalize the Haitian people for having chosen their
president through the ballot box.

The article deplores that the United States invoked its veto authority at
the Inter-American Development Bank to force it to block hundreds of
millions of dollars in aid or loans to Haiti.

Arachu Castro and Paul Farmer also regret that Europe aligned itself with
the position of the United States when it decided on January 29, 2001, a few
days before the inauguration of Pres. Aristide, to freeze its aid to Haiti.

"And as if that weren't enough, in January, 2002, with Spain presiding, the
European Union renewed its blockage of funds to Haiti", the authors add.

The article recalls that these funds consist of 30 million Euros that should
be spent for infrastructure, for the construction or repair of hospitals and
health centers, and to improve the living conditions of the population.

This situation is in contradiction with covenants undertaken by the United
States and the European Union, the authors point out, noting that the
sanctions were maintained despite the positive steps accomplished, they say,
by the government and despite the official findings expressed by the OAS
through its Resolution 822.

The El Pais article asserts that the interest now being shown by some
sectors of the international community in favor fo democracy in Haiti is
praiseworthy when one takes into account the position of these same sectors
over the preceding decades during which foreign aid flowd freely to the
Duvalier dictatorships and the military regimes that followed.

Arachu Castro and Paul Farmer contend that Haiti has an urgent need today
for aid to reinforce its public institutions.

"Why should the steps that one claims to be taking to promote civil and
political rights be carried out to the detriment of economic and social
rights", the article asks, adding that these rights are indissoluble
according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.