Grassroots Haitian movements for social justice have set themselves a formidable task: not only addressing the ongoing humanitarian crisis, but also challenging the reconstruction effort to include their leadership and avoid reproducing the conditions that helped make the earthquake so disastrous.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
16 p., An Amnesty International delegation visited Haiti to assess ongoing human rights concerns stemming from the humanitarian crisis caused by the earthquake of 12 January 2010. In particular, the delegation investigated human rights issues relating to the protection of groups at risk, mostly women and children, in and outside makeshift camps of displaced people. Tables.
The Sphere Project, "Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response," identifies the minimum standards to be attained in disaster response. From a human rights perspective and utilizing key indicators from the Sphere Project as benchmarks, this article reports on an assessment of the living conditions approximately 12 weeks after the earthquake in Parc Jean Marie Vincent, a spontaneous IDP camp in Port-au-Prince.
Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, Bern Project on Internal Displacement
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
68 p., The tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes, which hit parts of Asia and the Americas in 2004 and 2005, as well as the Haiti earthquake of 2010, highlighted the fact that affected persons may face multiple human rights challenges in the aftermath of natural disasters. A protection perspective can help in promoting and securing the fulfillment of human rights since the manner in which assistance is delivered, used and appropriated, as well as the context in which it is taking place, has an important impact on whether the needs and human rights of affected persons are being respected or fulfilled. Tables, Appendixes.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
156 p., The reconstruction of Haiti following the earthquake of January 12, 2010 was institutionalized through the creation of the Commission Interimaire pour la reconstruction d'Haiti (Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti, CIRH). More than a year later, the outlook for human rights in Haiti has not changed despite the great promise and strong rhetoric of change. This study seeks to provide evidence for understanding the many facets of extreme poverty in Haiti from a human rights perspective.
During the summer of 2009 a survey was conducted of 1,800 households in metropolitan Port-au-Prince. Six weeks after the earthquake, an attempt was made re-interview these households. The questionnaire examined mortality and injuries generated by the natural disaster, as well as the character of victimization, food security and living arrangements following the quake.
The case of Haiti's devastating earthquake and the reactions it has elicited sharply illustrate an array of seemingly dichotomous ways of understanding obligations of "international assistance and cooperation," which are taken up by authors in this issue.
The privatized, top-down approach to aid delivery in the camps for displaced Haitians has made possible all manner of abuse and coercion. Haitian activists are responding by demanding their human rights, even as they challenge dominant conceptions of those rights.
