Haiti "Bwa Kale" : good news - home grown vigilante group is fighting back criminal street gangs

Port-au-Prince is as violent as it has ever been, but for two weeks now the fear has also flowed in a different direction — thanks to a phenomenon known as "Bwa Kale" 

"Rwa Kale" literally means "peeled wood" in Haitian Creole. It's also a metaphor for an act of swift justice.

While gang members continue their depredations in the east end of the Haitian capital, in other parts they have been forced to flee. 

Many have been lynched or summarily executed following capture by groups of citizens, sometimes acting alongside police.

Read more at: https://www.cbc.com

Canada - Haïti relations: A two ship Canadian deployment including 90 navy sailors will soon arrive and disembark at Port-au-Prince.

About 90 Canadian navy sailors will soon be getting to know Port-au-Prince Bay as part of a two-ship deployment announced Thursday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Bahamas.

Two Kingston-class coastal defence vessels, typically manned by a mix of regular force and reservists, will anchor off Haiti's mountainous capital city.

Read more at: https://www.cbc.com

A Blessed Christmas Story: Church agency describes how missionaries escaped their captors after 2-month ordeal in Haiti

Captive missionaries in Haiti found freedom last week by making a daring overnight escape, eluding their kidnappers and walking for kilometres over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow, officials with the agency they work for said Monday.

The group of 12 navigated by stars to reach safety after a two-month kidnapping ordeal, officials with the Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), the Ohio-based agency that the captive missionaries work for, said Monday at a news conference.

The detailed accounting of their journey to safety comes after news Thursday that the missionaries were free.

Read more at: Church agency describes how missionaries escaped their captors after 2-month ordeal in Haiti | CBC News

USA - Asylum seekers treated like criminals: Men on horses chasing Black asylum seekers? Sadly, America has seen it before - by Moustafa Bayoumi

You’ve probably seen a photograph haunting the internet this week: a white-presenting man on horseback – uniformed, armed and sneering – is grabbing a shoeless Black man by the neck of his T-shirt. The Black man’s face bears an unmistakable look of horror. He struggles to remain upright while clinging dearly to some bags of food in his hands. Between the men, a long rein from the horse’s bridle arches menacingly in the air like a whip. The photograph was taken just a few days ago in Texas, but the tableau looks like something out of antebellum America.

The image is profoundly upsetting, not just for what it portrays but for the history it evokes. What’s happening at the border right now puts two of our founding national myths – that we’re a land of liberty and a nation of immigrants – under scrutiny. To put it plainly, we don’t fare well under inspection.

Read more at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/23/men-on-horses-chasing-black-asylum-seekers-sadly-america-has-seen-it-before?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

HAITI: U.S. citizens, former Colombian soldiers among suspects arrested in Haiti president's killing

Two men believed to be Haitian Americans — one of them purportedly a former bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince — have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Haiti's president, Haitian officials said Thursday.

Read more at: U.S. citizens, former Colombian soldiers among suspects arrested in Haiti president's killing | CBC News

Canada registers sixfold increase in US citizens seeking asylum in 2017 - by Martin Patriquin

Tiroude and Gislyne are Haitians by birth and migrants by necessity.

The couple’s 18-month-old daughter, however, was born in Fort Lauderdale, and – as an American by birth – she is part of a growing number of US citizens seeking refuge in Canada.

In 2017, some 2,550 US citizens applied for asylum in Canada – an increase of more than sixfold from 2016 and the largest such number since at least 1994, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Americans were the third largest contingent of asylum seekers in 2017, after Haitians and Nigerians. The vast majority are children born to Haitian parents, according to experts.

“Most of the Americans applying for refugee status are the children of non-residents,” says Stéphane Handfield, a Montreal-based immigration lawyer. “They are US citizens because they were born there, but they come across the border with their parents because they don’t want to be separated.”

US President Trump has repeatedly said he wants to find a way to end birthright citizenship, although legal scholars say this is impossible.

Read more at: Canada registers sixfold increase in US citizens seeking asylum in 2017 | World news | The Guardian

USA: One year anniversary of Trump Presidency - a disaster for the US and the world

The US is "celebrating" Trump's one year in office today, as the President of the US, with a shutdown of the Government and demonstrations going on Nation-Wide

Trump's popularity at home and abroad are the lowest of any US President. In addition official records also show he did not tell the truth during interviews and speeches 2015 times during the first year of his presidency.

On the international scene the results are just as grim. The US relationship with Mexico and many other :Latin and Caribbean states are on a downward slope. His vulgar off the cuff  statements about Haiti and African states made him and the US enemies in both areas.

The Iran Nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement are now both on shaky grounds,

Turkey's President Erdogan, whose nation is a member of the NATO, recently said he does not believe previous statements about keeping the Kurds at bay, made byTrump to him anymore, and today attacked the US Kurdish allies in Syria,

As Mr trump starts his second year in office, hopefully there still is a silver lining of hope above the dark clouds which seem to have covered the US. A nation which always was the shining light of democracy around the world.

EU-Digest

Red Cross: in dire need of accountability

Red Cross financial reporting not adding up.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7511080

Haiti: US State Department Issues Travel Warning for Haiti

The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning for Americans living in or traveling to Haiti, citing numerous hazards, including murder, robbery and infectious disease, mainly in  the Port-au-Prince area.

The advisory issued Friday said “no one is safe from kidnapping, regardless of occupation, nationality, race, gender, or age.”

The warning said recent travelers have been attacked and robbed shortly after leaving the Port-au-Prince airport.

At least two U.S. citizens were shot and killed in robbery and kidnapping incidents this year.
The warning said Haitian authorities have “limited capacity” to deter or investigate violent acts, or prosecute assailants.

Read more: US State Department Issues Travel Warning for Haiti | Pakistan News

Caribbean - IMF: Haiti, Suriname, Dominican Republic Boast Top Regional Growth

Haiti, Suriname and the Dominican Republic will post the Caribbean’s highest GDP growth rates i 2012, according to quarterly projections released Monday in the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

Haiti is projected to grow 4.5 percent this year, although that is lower than the 6 percent GDP growth rate projected in a recent report from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America.

Earlier this year, the IMF had projected Haiti’s economy to grow between 4.5 and 5.5 percent.

Both projections were far lower than an earlier World Economic Outlook in April, which anticipated Haiti’s economy to grow at a rate of 7.8 percent in 2012.

It’s not clear what led to the lower projection, although the IMF mentioned following its July visit that Haiti’s government needed to accelerate the pace of reconstruction.

The rate still remained the Caribbean’s highest in 2012, followed by the Dominican Republic and Suriname, both of which are projected to grow 4 percent this year.

Read more: IMF: Haiti, Suriname, Dominican Republic Boast Top Regional Growth

Baby Doc's arrest: what took them so long?

It is something of a mystery just why former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier was moved to make a surprise return this week to the homeland he fled in abject disgrace for refuge in France a quarter of a century ago.

Among theories advanced by observers is that he was induced to come by the country's currently embattled president, Rene Preval, as a diversion from Preval's own problems in the hope that it would aid his chances of clinging to power after last November's inconclusive and by all accounts illegitimate election. Another is that it was engineered by French and U.S. authorities for the purpose of undermining Preval. Least plausible is Duvalier's own assertion in a radio interview shortly after his arrival that he was there to be helpful in the reconstruction of the country, ravaged by natural disaster, disease and mis-governance.

For more: Baby Doc's arrest: what took them so long?

Combating terrorism not only requires weapons but also an investment in education

Somalia and Haiti have topped a list of the world’s worst places to be a school child according to a new report from the Global Campaign for Education.  

The countries have been ranked according to factors including access to basic education; teacher: pupil ratio; and educational provision for girls. The bottom 10 countries are Somalia, Eritrea, Haiti, Comoros, Ethiopia, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Liberia.

In Somalia, for example, ongoing conflict and civil unrest have had a catastrophic effect on education with most recent data estimating that only 10 percent of children are enrolled in primary school.


In Nigeria, the sixth biggest oil producer in the world, a lack of political will is a major factor in the country having the highest number of children out of school in the world. Gross inequality in the provision of education has led to 8.2 million children out of primary school with many more dropping out within the first year. Over half of these children are in the north of the country. Girls suffer the most with many receiving just six months of education in their lives. The situation is made all the more appalling by the fact that Nigeria is far from poor, by African standards. On paper at least it is among the continent’s richest countries. But decades of failure to invest in education have left the basic school system hardly functioning. While there has been progress in primary provision of education, only one country in Africa has more than 50 percent of its children in secondary school.

The wealthy nations of this world by not trying to seriously reverse this unfortunate situation in the area of education are basically digging their own grave. Those increasing numbers of uneducated people in the world are an easy prey for religious fanatics and they will come and haunt the rest of us full force.

Combating terrorism not only requires weapons, but also an investment in education where it is needed most. That is really the only long term way of stopping the spread of terrorism.

EU-Digest 
For permission to quote or publish EU-Digest reports : editor@eu-digest.com  

EU to send police force to Haiti

European Union foreign ministers, meeting yesterday under the chairmanship of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, agreed to send a 300-strong police force to Haiti to help maintain order following the devastating earthquake.

The decision came in response to a request from the UN to strengthen its mission in Haiti. European ‘gendarmes’ – paramilitary police forces – are already on their way to Haiti.

The foreign ministers also agreed to create a cell (EUCO-Haiti) to coordinate and exchange information on the civil and military resources contributed by the European Union Member States.
For more: EU to Send Police Force to Haiti

Strains are showing in the EU’s new foreign policy structures - by Tony Barber

Are they just teething problems? Or is something more serious at stake? One way or another, the first signs are emerging that the European Union’s new foreign policy structures, established under the Lisbon treaty that came into force last month, are capable of producing just as much discord and disharmony as the old arrangements.

Let’s take the EU’s response to the Haiti earthquake. Baroness Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign affairs supremo, convened an emergency meeting on January 18 at which the 27-nation bloc quickly and efficiently agreed a generous aid package for Haiti worth over 400 million euros. At a news conference after the meeting, she was asked if she would be visiting Haiti and, if not, why not. She replied that she wouldn’t be going, because the United Nations had requested her and other foreign dignitaries to stay away in order not to disrupt the emergency aid effort. However, Karel De Gucht, the EU’s outgoing humanitarian aid commissioner, would travel to Haiti. A perfectly sensible response.

A few days later, the sleuth-like French blogger Jean Quatremer reported that Michel Barnier, France’s nominee for the next European Commission, had criticised Ashton in a briefing for French reporters for not visiting Haiti. When he was France’s foreign minister and the Asian tsunami had struck in 2004, he had gone straight to the devastated region, Barnier recalled.

For more: Strains are showing in the EU’s new foreign policy structures | Brussels Blog | FT.com

Dutch Radio and TV Campaign Racks in 83 Million Euro's ( $117 M) for Haiti

The Netherlands' national fund raising day for Haiti has collected 41.2 million euros for the quake-stricken country. As promised, Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders has doubled the amount, so Thursday's end result is almost 83 million euros ( $117M)

The fundraiser was centered around a marathon radio show broadcast by seven stations which for one day suspended their rivalry, followed by a national TV show simultaneously screened on commercial and public channels. Millions of people donated, and the Government Information Service confirmed that Queen Beatrix paid an unspecified sum into the fundraising bank account. In neighbouring Flanders, a similar action raised 6 million euros.

Dutch donate 83 million euros for Haiti aid | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Haiti Major Test for EU's Leadership

The crisis in Haiti is a major test for European Union foreign policy in the new world of the Lisbon Treaty, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a special address to the European Parliament on January 19 2010. "The people of Haiti – and our own publics – expect a swift, effective and co-ordinated response. That is exactly what we are delivering," she said.  The EU’s immediate focus was on working with the United Nations and the Haitian leadership to ease the suffering of the Haitian people, Ashton said. "Our commitment to rebuilding Haiti is long term."
 
The EU had responded quickly, Ashton said, "not seeking headlines, but with a total focus on getting help to the people in need".

For the complete report: Haiti a ‘major test’ for EU and international community, leaders say - Bulgaria abroad - The Sofia Echo

European Union providing 400 million EURO's ( $575 million) to Haiti - JamaicaObserver.com

The European Union (EU) Monday pledged over Euro 400 million (US$575 million) in immediate and long-term aid to Haiti following the widespread devastation caused by the powerful earthquake last Tuesday.

President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, said that a summit scheduled for February 11 would discuss Europe's reaction to the quake. "Reconstruction efforts and EU support for the proposed international conference for Haiti will be part of our discussion,"Van Rompuy said in a statement.

His announcement followed a meeting that brought together EU foreign and development ministers and top officials from the European Commission and the EU's executive.

For the complete report: European Union providing funds to Haiti - JamaicaObserver.com

Gavin Hewitt's Europe: Haiti tests European response

BBC

"Haiti tests European response

Gavin Hewitt | 10:35 UK time, Monday, 18 January 2010

French and US rescuers in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 17 Jan 10At every disaster you find emergency teams from Europe. In the Pakistani earthquake I flew in a German helicopter. The Swiss arrived early. I found the same covering the tsunami in Asia. The Italian teams, as always, proved they have some of the best rescue workers in the world.

So again this time in Haiti. There are Welsh firefighters rescuing a two-year old girl. Spanish and French teams have been tearing at the rubble at the Hotel Montana. In a disaster the secret to early success is small mobile teams that arrive quickly and save lives. Initially it is difficult co-ordinating these teams. National search and rescue squads have to deploy at once. They go into neighbourhoods and, like with the Israeli team yesterday, they pull survivors from the rubble where they find them."

Americans donating money for Haiti via their cell phones reach $ 20 million mark

Americans who are turning to their cell phones to donate money via text message for Haitian relief efforts have pledged more than $20 million as of Monday, an unprecedented amount for mobile donations.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy estimated Monday that donations to earthquake-ravaged Haiti now exceed a record-breaking $150 million, more than four times the amount given to tsunami relief efforts in 2004.

Social networking sites like Facebook and mobile phone technology have made it easier for charities like the American Red Cross — which has raised $12 million via text message alone — to raise these needed funds.

A number of other relief groups have been added to the accepted list of organizations that can receive text message donations from customers of the four main wireless carriers in the United States — Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, said Jim Manis, chairman and CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation (www.mobilegiving.org).

More from: Cell fone texters raise $20 million for Haiti -- Port Angeles Port Townsend Sequim Forks Jefferson County Clallam County Olympic Peninsula Daily NEWS

EU says rebuilding quake-hit Haiti "a priority"

EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Catherine Ashton will chair a meeting of development ministers from the group’s 27 member countries on Monday. “I am absolutely committed to helping the people in Haiti,” Ashton said in a statement. “That is what the people of Haiti expect and they can count on us. Rebuilding Haiti is now a priority for the EU."

Ashton announced on Thursday that European development ministers would hold emergency talks in Brussels on Monday to discuss how to assist Haiti.

"It's important to tell the people of Haiti that we stand ready to help them as much as we can in this tragedy. They can count on Europe," said Ashton.

Other Governments around the world pledged to help Haitians recover and rebuild their lives after Tuesday's 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated the country. About 45,000-50,000 people have died and 300,000 have been made homeless, the UN estimates.

For more: EU says rebuilding quake-hit Haiti "a priority" | World | Deutsche Welle | 15.01.2010