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The food crisis in Haiti: a ruptured process?
13/06/2008 By Amélie Gauthier
The crisis in Haiti is nothing less than a giant step backwards for the peace stabilisation and consolidation process which began back in 2004. In April, violent disturbances took place throughout Haiti, causing the whole country to grind to a halt, and the Prime Minister was ousted. As Haiti sank deeper into chaos, neither the government nor the United Nations Mission (MINUSTAH) was able to do anything to check the unrest in which four Haitians lost their lives along with a UN Nigerian policeman.
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The underlying idea behind aid and development plans for Haiti is that one day the country will be able to produce and buy like a normal country, thanks to the liberalisation of its economy. That presumption is erroneous. Haiti needs a coherent plan geared to food and energy self-sufficiency, the use of its own natural resources, and international aid to build a basic but decent infrastructure for its citizens.
In this Comment article Amélie Gauthier explores the ongoing economic and political factors that have led to the crisis and asks what can be done to move forwards towards a sustainable solution.
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Keywords
Civil society Fragile state Haiti Peace process UNRelated publications
- Brazil in Haiti: debate over the peacekeeping mission
- Food crisis in Haiti: exposing key problems in the process of stabilisation
- Haiti and the international donor community
- Haiti: voices of the actors, a research project on the UN mission
- Moral and political grounds for the UN mission in Haiti
- Security in Haiti
- South American Intervention in Haiti
- The UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti: analysis and recommendations for future mandates of the Mission
- The United Nations and Spain in Haiti
Bio author: Amélie Gauthier
Amélie Gauthier has an MA in International Cooperation and Project Management from the Ortega and Gasset Institute in Madrid and a BA in International Business and Finance from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Montreal. Prior to joining FRIDE, Amélie worked as a political analyst for the Canadian Embassy in Madrid (2005-2006).
