15416: Blanchet: Fw: Haitian First Lady Mildred Aristide Addresses Cong. Black Caucus Event (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>

>
> Subject: First Lady Mildred Aristide addresses CBC health event on several
> issues
> Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 14:37:03 EST
>
>
> Remarks by
> Mildred T. Aristide
> First Lady of the Republic of Haiti
>
> Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust
> Washington, DC
> March 5, 2003
>
>
> Good afternoon.
>
> First, I'd like to join Ron Dellums, Dr. Paul Farmer and the other
panelists
> in thanking the Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this important
> forum. I'd like to also thank everyone here for their concern and
commitment
> to equity and justice in healthcare for all Haitians.
>
> In the ideal world, today's discussion on the health crisis in Haiti would
> be all about healthcare. There should be dozens of Paul Farmers talking
> about the impact of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis on the Haitian population,
two
> leading causes of adult deaths in Haiti. There should be teams of
> pediatricians proposing strategies for universal vaccination campaigns
> against the preventable childhood diseases which continue to kill Haitian
> children. We should be questioning experts on the latest methods of water
> purification, because unsafe water is still a leading cause of morbidity
and
> mortality in my country.
>
> In short, a discussion about healthcare should be about just that:
> healthcare. Unfortunately, we live in a less than ideal world, and so,
such
> is not the case. Before we can talk about the pressing health crisis that
> Haiti faces, we must first talk about a series of issues so apparently
> unrelated to healthcare -- elections, OAS resolutions, multiparty
democracy,
> macro-economic governance measures -- and I could go on.
>
> We must because the provision of healthcare today in Haiti is inextricably
> linked to these issues. Exactly 2 years ago, in the Spring of 2001, Haiti
> and the Inter-American Development Bank finalized all the elements of four
> loan agreements totaling $146 million. $22.2 million of that amount was
for
> the national healthcare system. The people of Haiti, through their duly
> elected government, agreed to borrow this money at the terms set by the
Bank
> in order to extend the reach of the Ministry of Health so that the 60% of
> the population living beyond the capital of Port-au-Prince would have
> greater access to healthcare.
>
> In order to activate these loans, the government of Haiti was told that it
> had to pay the Bank $5 million in arrears. The government did so, knowing
> that because these loans for healthcare, education, potable water and
> secondary roads would respond to the needs of the people, this immediate
> payment of so large a sum from the national reserves was justified.
>
> But instead of releasing the loans, the loans were blocked. The healthcare
> needs of 8 million people have become embroiled in a political fight
fueled
> by the political ambitions of a tiny minority coalition of opposition
> political parties, and the push to impose on Haiti a notion of multiparty
> democracy that does not reflect the electoral choices of the majority.
>
> The New Partnership for Haiti Resolution, introduced by the CBC on April
18,
> 2002, demands that humanitarian assistance not be linked to a political
> accord. It paved the road for Resolution 822 of the Organization of
American
> States which was adopted by unanimous consent in September of last year.
> Resolution 822 officially de-links the humanitarian loans and assistance
to
> a political accord, calls for the normalization of Haiti's relationship
with
> the international financial institutions, and it reaffirms the absolute
> necessity for Haiti to adhere to the electoral process -- the voice of the
> majority -- as it moves forward to resolve the political crisis. Exactly 6
> months after Resolution 822, and a year and a half after the resignation
of
> the seven senators elected in May 2000, supposedly at the genesis of the
> crisis, the loans still have not been released.
>
> The requirement of a political accord has been replaced, or is now masked,
> by another set of pre-requisite conditions, payment of arrears now
totaling
> $21 million to the IDB alone, and approximately $60 million globally. In
> addition, the elimination of subsidies on gasoline prices and other
> macro-economic governance measures which they tell us are "really not that
> onerous." The gas subsidies were dropped at the end of last year, the
price
> of gas nearly doubled, and as predicted, the cost of living has
skyrocketed.
> The move has indeed proven onerous for the people of Haiti.
>
> Before we can gain access to credit to invest in our healthcare system, we
> are told that, at all cost, we must close the deficit in the national
> budget. And a first step in closing the deficit is reducing government
> spending, in part through lay-offs. On paper, a reasonable and rational
goal
> for any government. But in human terms, for a country like Haiti with a
70%
> unemployment rate, losing a job condemns a person to unemployment with no
> access to unemployment benefits or any other social safety nets. It
reduces
> drastically one's chances of sending a child to school, and can very
likely
> leave a person homeless. Closing the government deficit gap, now, by
> reducing government spending, with no social safety nets, is not so
> rational, if indeed the purpose of government is to guarantee the welfare
> and wellbeing of its citizens. If the government of Haiti does not employ
> its citizen, fund its literacy campaign, build public schools in our rural
> countryside, build public parks, and construct roads, who will?
>
> A recent concrete example. Two Saturdays ago President Aristide
inaugurated
> a health clinic constructed in downtown Port-au-Prince with the
cooperation
> of the Canadian government. The Government of Haiti and the President
> expressed their great appreciation to the Canadians for this assistance
with
> the construction, which cost approximately $400,000. But I know that this
> sentiment of appreciation was immediately followed by a great sense of
> concern and urgency: where will the government find the funds needed from
> the national treasury to staff this new clinic and buy the medications
> required to deliver the healthcare so urgently needed? In short, without
> access to additional funds, how do we expand desperately needed health
> coverage while we reduce the government budget?
>
> Some argue that the gap can be filled and is indeed being filled by
> non-governmental organizations. Indeed, in Haiti's Global Fund project on
> AIDS, the NGO community, working in partnership with the public sector,
> plays an important role. However, with the deep appreciation that I have
for
> much of the important work performed by NGO's, funding NGO's exclusively
is
> not the right strategy. As many NGO's will tell you, the government's role
> in the provision of social service is central and cannot be delegated.
Only
> the Ministry of Health is mandated to provide national health coverage;
> Haiti's highly privatized education system has failed to school 45% of the
> school age population, and only the Ministry of Public Works will build
the
> roads linking our isolated countryside. The national infrastructure must
be
> strengthened, if indeed the work of NGO's is to have any impact. These are
> the responsibilities of the state, all states, rich and poor, because the
> right to healthcare and education are the human rights of all individuals
> and should not be treated like commodities for sale on the open market.
>
> Yes, economic reform by the government is needed; it is underway, it must
> happen. The Haitian government must work hard to combat the legacy of
> corruption left behind by the 31-year Duvalier dictatorship. But as this
> reform goes forward, the international community -- which turned a blind
eye
> to years of pillage and theft during the Duvalier dictatorship -- should
not
> sit on the sidelines exacting more from the government while the people
> suffer. Even the IDB was forced to acknowledge that the major factor
behind
> economic stagnation in Haiti is not inflation or government spending, but
> the withholding of both foreign grants and loans of up to $500 million,
> associated with the international community's response to the political
> impasse.
>
> In 1995, the amount of international aid that Haiti received(bilateral,
from
> the international banks and from the United Nations system) was $430
> million. By 2001 the total dropped to $120 million, with the bulk of this
> money going to non-governmental organizations, and not the government.
> Before the onset of this crisis, Haiti averaged $75 million annually in
> loans from the IDB, today that number is zero. This, in a country that the
> world is so quick to label the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. A
country
> living with the horrific health indicators that Dr. Farmer just described
to
> us.
>
> Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong.
>
> What is wrong, they tell us it is the government -- that it has not done
> enough to guarantee security, to fight impunity, to combat corruption, to
> fight drug trafficking and to create political stability. Yet as they
speak,
> the international community continues to withhold assistance -- technical
> and monetary -- targeted at precisely these areas. As one member of the
OAS
> recently described it, Haiti has been thrown in the water, hands bound,
and
> asked to swim.
>
> An embargo on the lawful purchase of side arms and other standard police
> equipment has kept an already undermanned police force, under-equipped.
> Right now Haiti is experiencing an assault on its young democracy that is
> being largely ignored by the international press. In fact, when the
assaults
> first began, they were even denied by representatives of the international
> community in Haiti and by mainstream human rights organizations. Heavily
> armed commandos dressed in army fatigues, declaring themselves to be
former
> members of the military and now aligned to the opposition, are attacking
> police stations and killing police officers.
>
> Two rented helicopters are hardly enough to patrol Haiti's coastline for
> drug traffickers. Yet Haiti is deploying much effort with limited
resources
> available to it, to stop the flow of drugs primarily destined for this
> country. And indeed since President Aristide took office, the flow of
drugs
> from Haiti to the United States has dropped. The judicial system, imbued
> with decades of corrupt practices, will not change overnight. Long term
and
> sustained efforts to train magistrates and judicial personnel, construct
> adequate courthouses -- as are underway -- must be expanded. The
successful
> prosecution of the coup regime's military high command for one of many
> horrific massacres perpetrated during the coup and the imprisonment of
> police officers accused of a brutal act of multiple murders, proves that
it
> is possible.
>
> Much is possible since the foundation of democracy was established with
> Haiti's first free and fair elections in 1990. But it is a process that
must
> be supported and strengthened. Now is not the time for the international
> community to turn its back on Haiti. A repressive army has been
demobilized,
> a civilian police force created. An unparalleled level of free speech
exists
> in Haiti and is unrestricted by any government censure.
>
> Schools are being built in communities that have never benefited from the
> public school system. For the first time in Haiti's history we have a
public
> school lunch program. Just last month the executive submitted to
Parliament
> a bill increasing the minimum wage. Roads and bridges are linking
> communities long isolated from regional markets. Literacy is a national
> priority and the government seeks to significantly reverse the 55%
> illiteracy rate in this year leading up to the bicentennial of our
> independence.
>
> These efforts are being sustained by the revenues collected from the
> national treasury by a government committed to investing in its people.
> I have, inevitably strayed from the topic of the health crisis facing
Haiti
> today -- just as the international financial institutions, charged with
the
> mandate of bringing development assistance to the poorest people of this
> earth -- have strayed from their mandate to do so. The false images of the
> so-called political crisis and insecurity in Haiti have been allowed to
> obfuscate the true human crisis in health, nutrition and literacy that
> engulfs Haiti.
>
> The challenge of poverty in Haiti and globally are great. 1.5 billion
people
> in the world living on less than a dollar a day, the developed world far
> from meeting its commitment to set aside .07% of its GNP for foreign
> development assistance, and the gap between the rich and the poor growing.
> Perhaps it is frustration with these growing challenges that lead some to
> demonize the victims of this global poverty, rather than combat the
poverty
> itself.
>
> It is a sad commentary on the vision of the international financial
> institutions, that at a recent public meeting on Haiti, a high-level bank
> official described Haiti's Central Plateau as a "lunar landscape". With no
> peasants tilling the soil, this Bank official chose to blame the situation
> not on the lack of irrigation systems, erosion, or access to seeds and
> farming tools, but on insecurity; attributable of course to the
government's
> insufficient efforts in this area.
>
> This rush to ignore the root causes of misery in Haiti and to tie every
> event to the "political crisis" is being echoed by so-called political
> leaders in the opposition. It is not new. Exactly 110 years ago in Jackson
> Park, Chicago, former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Frederick Douglass, had
the
> following to say about Haiti: "The fault is not with the ignorant many,
but
> with the educated and ambitious few. Too proud to work, and not disposed
to
> go into commerce, they make politics a business of their country. No
> president, however virtuous, wise and patriotic, ever suits them when they
> themselves happen to be out of power."
>
> The vast majority of the people of Haiti voted for President Aristide to
> make "the business of their country" the task of feeding the people,
> providing healthcare, potable water, education, land reform, and roads.
This
> is the will of the people that must guide Haiti. Yet those desperate to
> short-circuit the electoral process seek to by-pass this most fundamental
> element of democracy, the voice of the people.
>
> I left Haiti yesterday afternoon as the country was awakening from a
second
> day of carnival and preparing to fill the streets for a final night of
> dancing, music and revelry. Up to one million people, thousands from the
> diaspora community, on the parade route in downtown Port-au-Prince, in
open
> defiance to the exaggerated and false images of "violence and insecurity"
> painted by international press reports.  A powerful demonstration of the
> true unity and peace that is in the hearts of the majority of Haitians.
>
> We appreciate very much the efforts of several numbers of the House and
> Senate in coming to Haiti during the past six weeks to see this true side
of
> our country. The bill granting favorable trade status to Haiti and
President
> Bush's pledge of increased funding for Haiti in its fight against AIDS
were
> some of the important issues raised. These are significant initiatives for
> which we are grateful.
>
> President Aristide sends his warm greetings. As we prepare to celebrate
next
> month the 200th anniversary of the death of our founding father Toussaint

> Louverture and the bicentennial of our independence in 2004, we urge you
to
> come to Haiti and to continue to support the people of Haiti.
>
> Thank you very much.
>
>
>
>
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