Help Haiti by Cancelling their Debt
For a number of reasons I’ve been holding back on comments about the disaster in Haiti. Its their time to mourn the dead and to rebuild a semblance of normalcy in the land that freed itself from slavery. But what is the biggest single thing the world can do for Haiti? Simple. Cancel their crippling international debt burden.
In 1825 France demanded a massive compensation from Haiti for their loss of the slave colony… and the debt cycle started. It looks like the Haitians really haven’t had a decent economic chance to get out of their debt cycle since that point in history. There’s nothing like a few generations of flippantly corrupt dictatorship to bring a population to its knees. A New York Times article Rich Nations Call for Haiti Debt Relief links to the 19 January, 2010 Paris Club Press Release which states that the 19 members of the Paris Club (which includes Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States) have cancelled all of their Haitian debt claims to a total of $214 million. However, the Paris Club press release also notes:
The Republic of Haiti’s public external debt was estimated to be USD 1885 million in nominal value before HIPC relief at end September 2008Paris Club Press Release
Reuters reports that on 21 January, 2010 the World Bank announced that they will waive payments from a $38 million Haitian debt for the next five years and have claimed to be looking at cancelling the debt (although one would expect actions to speak louder than vague intentions on debt relief). The International Monetary Fund announced their proposed $100 million Haitian loan, to be considered on 27 January, will be interest free until 2011 (which I would personally consider as an extension of the current debt-oppression-cycle). Last year the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund waived $1200 million. However, Taiwan and Venezuela are major creditors who have yet to consider cancelling Haitian debt.
Avelino Maestas of the Huffington Post has an informative article titled Haiti and Debt Cancellation Legislation which discusses the historic debt and resulting poverty suffered by Haitians and a piece of United States legislation called the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation of 2009. The truth is that until we look behind the disaster into the mire of the Haitian debt cycle only half a picture is visible – one of relief and donations pouring into a stricken under-developed country. The truth is that much of the death toll would be directly attributable to the Haitian inability to build strong earthquake proof infrastructure. Any poor country locked into the cycle of debt would be in the same situation.
Forgiving Haiti (and other third world struggling economies) their debt is essential to allow the population to build an effective economic and social infrastructure. If we are going to help Haiti rebuild it must be through altruistic help rather than interest-bearing and debilitating loans.
Please go to One.org and sign the petition.
Postscript
By the way, some discussion about the luxury cruise ships stopping in Haiti is a little concerning. Yes, people still need to make a living in a poor country. Yes, in some sense its ethically justifiable. Ethically justifiable or not, consider this… frolicking on that beach because you’re a rich bitch with a fat purse is still distasteful. Here’s the other option. Stop the ship and simply donate money, time and resources. Is there a doctor on board? Go figure.
Or, more succinctly, offer aid and assistance to a catastrophe and then after the dying is done transfer your aid hat into an economic development hat and help build the Haitian tourism business model. Its the difference between the ethically justified action and the genuinely altruistic action. Remember, ethics isn’t about being a goody-goody or a saint… its worth remembering that part.
I think that’s where I part ways with ethical decision making. How about it? Give the Haitians a real chance… for the Haitians.
Update: 28 January, 2010
Again, while I am not arguing that it might be ethically justifiable to have a bunch of whiteys on the Haitian beach sipping margueritas in their collective one-piece, don’t for a minute believe ethical justification to be the sole measure of doing “the right thing”. The right thing, after all, would be to stand back until the disaster is cleaned up. It would be to contribute what they would have spent in the local economy to those beach vendors, share their ship’s doctor and other skills or lend a hand. The right thing would be to attend the disaster then when the losses are grieved promote tourism and economic growth in the region.
Sometimes I think people get a bit mixed up that ethics is about being good and an angel. It definately is not so. Yet some ethicists seem to stand under that moral high ground as though implicit in their argument is that angelic goodness we can’t dispute.
I say get your beach hugging one-peice arses out of Haiti. Ethical justification is just that – a justification. See it for what it is.
Update: 9 February, 2010
The G7 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US – have agreed to cancel Haiti’s debts. So while not entirely there yet it looks promising and hopefully post-disaster Haiti can make an economic success story over the long-term.
February 9th, 2010 at 10:01 am
[...] Puerto Rico and Cuba with a history of poverty and struggle. A major problem for Haitians is their national debt, much of which was rung up under the watch of self-satisfying dictatorship. Haiti has only very [...]