African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
4 p., This issue brief reviews a draft report [PDF] on Haiti's November 28, 2010 presidential elections from the Organization of American States' (OAS) "Expert" Mission - which recommends changing the result of the first round of the election. It finds the OAS Mission's report to be methodologically and statistically flawed, and its conclusions to be arbitrary. The brief notes that over 1,300 tally sheets, or about six times the amount thrown out by the OAS, were missing or quarantined; and that these tally sheets would very likely have given a different result from that of the OAS mission. Also, the OAS Mission's report is based on an analysis of just 919 vote tally sheets - without any reported statistical inference -- whereas CEPR counted and analyzed all 11,181 tally sheets from the first round of elections.
Haiti's President Rene Preval, second from right, gestures during a ceremony marking Haitian Independence Day, in Gonaives, Haiti, Friday, Jan. 1,2010. Preval spoke in an annual address marking Haiti's Jan. 1, 1804 independence from France in a slave revolt At right, first ladytElisabeth Debrosse Defatour, second from left. Senate President Kelly Bastiert, and third from left, partially hidden. Senator Vori Latorture. "On this, the anniversary of Haiti's independence and the beginning of the New Year, we wish to express again to Haitians in both Haiti and the Diaspora the friendship of Canada, as well as our continuing commitment to contributing to the sustainable development of Haiti." cannon said.
Examines changing relations of accumulation taking shape in the garment export industry in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Draws upon a framework called "the coloniality of power" to consider the reworking of the social and spatial boundaries between hyper-exploited wage work and the people and places cast out from its relations.
Discusses donations made by the US to developing countries. Often companies in the US donate leftover or unwanted merchandise to developing countries, and regularly these are products that the poor in those countries need or can use. Shipping leftover inventory as a donation also hurts the local economies in remote and poorer areas.
Considers the potential contribution of traditional construction techniques and materials to rebuilding in Port-au-Prince and other areas in Haiti that were devastated by the 2010 earthquake. Based on different examples of housing that collapsed or was damaged by the earthquake, it shows how traditional construction systems often demonstrated better resilience to earthquakes than buildings constructed with modern materials.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
9 p., The US has historically provided assistance to support development in Haiti. Over the last several years, Congress has attempted to promote Haiti's economic development through the use of trade preferences for Haitian products. In 2000, Congress extended preferences under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to allow for duty-free treatment of apparel through the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA). This report responds to a mandate in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, which requires GAO to review Earned Import Allowance Program (EIAP) annually and conduct an evaluation of the program.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
22 p., Discusses how a year and a half after a deadly earthquake devastated its capital, 650,000 victims still wait for permanent housing in more than 1,000 unstable emergency camps across Haiti as a new hurricane season arrives. If reconstruction is to right the many imbalances that have made Haiti poor and prone to disasters, violence and conflict, it is paramount that the Martelly government set out a resettlement policy rapidly that engages the victims and is less about closing the camps, more about building stable, less violent communities and not only in the capital. The pilot plan for closing six camps and resettling their residents his administration has put forward is an important first step that deserves support, but the most vulnerable camps should be added to it quickly.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
16 p., The record of countries coming out of war or chaos is dismal: roughly half of them fall back into crisis. Among the other half, most end up highly aid dependent. The author of this Special Report was invited to develop her proposal for reconstruction zones as a way to jump-start the economies of conflict- and disaster-affected countries in a dynamic and inclusive way, by improving aid effectiveness and accountability. References.
