30864: Durban (comment); Fighting Back on the Globalization of Labor (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com> welcomes your feedback on this
idea...


It's no secret that Haiti suffers from a brain drain as educated
Haitians emigrate to the USA and Canada.  And Canada, at least, is
actively encouraging this globalization of labor, to the detriment of
Haiti.

While French-speaking Quebec is merely looking to raise the number of
French speakers, Ottawa is clever enough to realize that increasing a
country's store of human capital by welcoming educated immigrants has
got to be one of the surest ways to develop your country.  What can
Haiti do to confront this challenge?

Let's forget about all the Haitians leaving for Montreal... write them
off, that's a flow that is impossible to stop anyway.  How about if
Haiti were to steal a page from the Canadian playbook and become itself
an aggressive human capital importer?

Let's set up a program to attract educated nationals from other
distressed economies.  Like Cuba.  There are already reports that some
of those Cuban doctors which Castro so generously sent over are
refusing to return to Cuba.  Let's encourage more to stay and suggest
they invite their auto mechanic brothers and registered nurse wives
over as well!

How about Iraq?  There are many thousands of educated Iraqis desperate
to leave that hellhole.  How about allowing educated Iraqis and their
families to apply for "humanitarian" resident visas if they have some
minimum financial wherewithal.  And the Philippines?  There are already
some 500 Filipino professionals in Haiti contributing to Haiti's
economy.  Why not open a visa-issuing Haitian Consulate in Manila that
will handle the initial screening of potential immigrants to Haiti.
Immigrants that have the skill sets needed to boost the Haitian
economy.  How about Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank?  Bet there are a
lot of smart people from that part of the world who would like to
escape the never-ending strife they have experienced.  Bet they could
be quite useful in building roads, launching agricultural projects,
opening schools and training centers, etc.

The suggestion that a country like Haiti with massive unemployment
should seek to import people might seem mis-directed.  However, we are
not talking about opening the doors to all applicants.  The people
Haiti needs to attract are those educated souls who can contribute
right away and are willing to make a long term commitment (to bettering
their own lives as well as the lives of their host country residents).

This "project" is just one of many bold steps that President Preval
could be advocating, and indeed, needs to be advocating if he is going
to get this train moving before the wheels fall off.  Haiti is in a
relatively peaceful and hopeful moment, but the clock is ticking and
there is truly not a moment to lose.

Lance Durban