She said that, these are the harsh realities which result in significant measure from pervasive and systemic injustice and discrimination, for which the international community needs a "wake up call" in order to accelerate regional and international cooperation, "to ensure people of African descent have full enjoyment of their rights to participate in all the political, economic, social and cultural facets of society". The Acting CARICOM Secretary General said that the region's "highly respected international reputation' as being intolerant of inequality and discrimination' was built partly on the foundation of the unrelenting resistance of enslaved Africane, embodied in martyrs and leaders of the slave revolts such as Toussaint L'Overture in Haiti; Nanny and Tacky in Jamaica; Codjo, Mentor and Present in Suriname; Bussa in Barbados and Cuffy and Damon in Guyana. [Lolita Applewhaite] said the Rastafarian movement that "revolutionised the consciousness of the Caribbean people and many others outside of the region", pointing also to the strong influence of people of African descent in the creation of a "distinctive Caribbean brand".
An analysis of interviews with representatives of global governance institutions and international nongovernmental organizations conducted between 2007 and 2010 in the Latin American and Caribbean region and at the headquarters of relevant international organizations in Geneva. Argues that because the discourse on migrant women's rights and their labor exploitation is framed predominantly in the context of trafficking, little headway is made in advancing migrant women's labor and social rights.
The National Black McDonald's Operators Association (NBMOA) has announced a donation of $100,000 to the Red Cross for its ongoing Haiti relief efforts. The NBMOA consists of McDonald's African American franchise owners, who together raised the funds independent of corporate contributions. The group hopes that its contribution will help keep the focus on the ongoing needs to rebuild Haiti.
The donation comes as the Red Cross and other groups continue to work on immediate relief needs in Haiti as well as plan for and implement years of rebuilding efforts following the massive earthquake that struck the country Jan. 12. Members of the NBMOA own more than 1,400 McDonald's restaurants throughout the United States with annual sales collectively exceeding $3.2 billion. The NBMOA also is one of the largest and most influential African American organizations in the United States.
Obviously, Haitians in the country and the Haitian Diaspora must play the leading roles in rebuilding the nation. Therefore, it is not surprising that there was a flurry of meetings and conferences leading up to the major UN Donor's Conference where Haiti presented its Development Plan. The OAS convened a major meeting in Washington March 21-23 to secure the input of the Haitian Diaspora and Haiti experts. March 26-27, I was privileged to attend the conference convened by the Trotter Institute, the National Haitian American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON) and the Haitian Studies Project at the University of Massachusetts/ Boston. Organized ground the theme: Haitians Building Haiti: Towards Transparent and Accountable Development, it was an incredibly well designed and facilitated conference. I was very impressed by the genuine effort to create an environment where views of the community and the conferees could be heard on the critical issues of the principles and strategies which should guide the reconstruction process. In that regard, the sessions were profoundly enriched by the participation of leading organizations from civil society who traveled to the conference from Haiti. A recurrent refrain from these organizations was deep concern that their voices and those of grassroots organizations on the ground were not part of the process when the Government formulated the Plan that was presented at the Donor's conference. There was a sense of anger and frustration that the Plan appears to be a fait accompli without widespread engagement of the Haitian people. To his credit President [Preval] has shown a remarkable capacity to bring people from divergent political parties into his Government; indeed it is one of the unheralded achievements of his second tenure in office. Now his Government has the opportunity to utilize that attitude and posture of inclusion to conduct a National Dialogue that could become the hallmark of his presidency. The Donor Conference concluded with a pledge of $10 billion over the next four years to rebuild Haiti. If there is to be a new Haiti, however, no dollar amount will be sufficient to achieve that goal. What is required is a new way of tapping the energy of Haiti's greatest resource, its people. A National Dialogue on Building the New Haiti could give new meaning to L'Union Fait La Force in the 21st Century!
