On the second anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, a protestor's sign reads, "If there is land for factories, there should be land for housing." [Photo by Ben]
By Alexis Erkert
January 19, 2012
Remember, you are marching today for those who couldn’t be here,
To say to them, “We haven’t forgotten. We’ll never forget.”
And to say to those that are still here,
We will take a stand for the rebuilding of Haiti.
- Right to Housing Collective, January 12, 2012
To say to them, “We haven’t forgotten. We’ll never forget.”
And to say to those that are still here,
We will take a stand for the rebuilding of Haiti.
- Right to Housing Collective, January 12, 2012
On
the morning of January 12, 2012, a group of women, children and men wound their
way through the city wearing white, the Haitian color for mourning. Part
memorial, they deposited wreaths of flowers on sites that had become mass
graves during the 2010 earthquake, and part protest, they carried a banner that
read “Two years later: Enough is enough.” They alternated between singing a
funeral dirge and chanting, “We need houses to live in!”
Haitian social
movements have reclaimed douze janvye,
January 12, as a symbol of moving forward. Two years later, 520,000[i]
continue to live in appalling conditions in displacement camps. And so, on
January 11 and 12, thousands of Haitians – peasant farmers, activists, and
displacement camp residents – took to the streets to denounce
the situation in tent camps and the forced evictions of residents, and to call
on the Haitian government to undertake land reform, provide public housing, and
protect women's rights.
Although
political and social divisions have long fissured Haitian movements,
organizations from across historic divides are demanding many of the same
things. One clear, common emphasis is the immediate need for land and housing
for the displaced.
Excerpts
from declarations and speeches on or around January 12, all with a focus on the
right to housing, follow.
From a joint press conference of the
International Lawyers’ Office (BAI) and residents of Camp Mariani, denouncing
the threat of illegal forced eviction by the landowner in complicity with the
local government:
We raise our voices to denounce with all of our might, before the
national and international community, the threat of forced eviction, and
arbitrary and illegal acts of violence being carried out against us by the
major. We can’t take the pressure anymore. We ask all the institutions involved
(the president, the government, the mayor, NGOs assisting displaced people,
human rights organizations, etc.) to press, press our case, to take this issue
into consideration so that the government and mayor sign a moratorium to block
the aggression against people living in this camp, to plan what should be done
with regards to displaced people, to respect the rights that we have as people.
As Article 22 of this country’s constitution and Article 25 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights declare, “All people have the right to housing.”
From a speech given by Marie Frantz
Joachim of Haitian Women’s Solidarity (SOFA), on behalf of the National
Coordination of Women’s Organizations (KONAP), composed of a wide variety of
feminist organizations, during the January 12, 2012 memorial march:
Out of respect
for the battle our ancestors carried out, we too undertake the struggle to
force our leaders to take responsibility for… the people living under tents.
The housing problem is a structural problem and demands a structural response.
Displaced Haitians cannot continue to live in the chicken cages that are being
constructed for them. Haitians should be living in dignity… And so we say, “This is our battle: the
right for people to live in adequate housing.” And we ask that everyone in the
social movement, all organizations, come together so that we can clearly,
collectively, respond.
From the
Eye-to-Eye Platform (Platfòm Je nan Je), a 12-member grouping that includes
four of Haiti’s largest peasant associations, in a declaration to the Haitian
Parliament following a march attended by thousands of protestors:
The Eye-to-Eye
Platform supports people from all four corners of the country by submitting the
following demands and recommendations to the government:
- Remove people from under tents as quickly as possible; but that doesn’t mean to send them back to pre-existing slums or to the shantytowns created after the earthquake;
- The government must implement a disaster risk management plan to identify safe construction sites, with land for farming set apart from land for housing;
- The government must create and implement a housing policy, with urban planning and zoning; In this plan we must clearly see what needs to be done in both urban and rural areas; This plan needs to designate responsibility for land and housing to state institutions;
- Guarantee the security of displaced people, especially in the places to which they are being relocated…
Recommendations of RNDDH to the relevant institutions:
- Plan an effective re-location strategy with the participation of displaced people;
- Develop a public housing policy with the involvement of the Haitian government's own Public Enterprise for the Promotion of Social Housing (EPPLS);
- Strengthen state institutions necessary to effectively control the situation in camps and relocation sites;
- Insist that all actors involved in rebuilding the country adopt a human rights-based approach to everything that they do.
From a speech by Colette Lespinasse and Reyneld Sanon of the Right-to-Housing Collective, made up of 30-some Haitian organizations, grassroots groups and displacement camp associations.
We, organizations of survivors living in internally displaced persons [IDP] camps, as well as social and grassroots organizations, state:
- The government must define a land use policy for the country;
- The Parliament must draft and vote on a law to guarantee the right to housing;
- The government must look for and acquire land though expropriation [eminent domain] so that there is sufficient space to respond to the housing needs of the population;
- Women, children and the disabled, and the population in general must participate in decision-making regarding housing;
- All neighborhoods should be places where people can live in dignity and security
We resolve to remain mobilized in the struggle to change our society and our government. We resolve to regain
the sovereignty of our country to construct a society in which we can enjoy
guaranteed access to housing and all our fundamental rights.
From a
presentation on housing in Camp Carradeux on January 12, 2012 by Olrich Jean
Pierre of Noise Travels, News Spreads (Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye), an alternative
media group doing advocacy and public education:
When
we struggle for housing, we’re not just asking for houses. There are other
services that should accompany housing. A house in an area where potable water
isn’t available does not respect the right to housing. People need access to
healthcare. The battle for housing
is not simply a battle for 4 square meters to live in. It’s a battle for public
schools to educate our children so that they don’t have to go work in
factories. It’s a battle to have access to healthcare when we’re sick.
[i]
HAITI Emergency Shelter and Camp Coordination Camp Management Cluster,
Displacement Tracking Matrix V2.0 Update, November 30, 2011.
See Other
Worlds’ recent article, Home: From
Displacement Camps to Community in Haiti, for more detail on the right-to-housing
movement in Haiti and how Haitian organizations are responding with advocacy
and alternatives.
Copyleft Other
Worlds. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please
credit any text or original research you use to Alexis Erkert and Other Worlds.
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