Great News for Haiti

The following letter was sent out by the ONE campaign.

Breaking news: The United States Treasury Department has just announced U.S. government support for complete debt cancellation for Haiti and will work with our international partners to ensure that new assistance comes in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans. It's exactly what more than 200,000 ONE members have been calling for. And this weekend, the U.S. will take this message to G7 finance ministers’ summit, creating strong momentum to get a global deal and guarantee debt cancellation for Haiti.

This big win for our campaign comes just a few days after Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, recorded a video message to thank ONE members.

Please click below to watch the video, get more details about this landmark announcement and keep the pressure on other world leaders by adding your name to our debt relief for Haiti petition:

http://www.one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/o.pl?id=1444-1364745-19fytUx&t=1

The petition reads:

As Haiti rebuilds from this disaster, please work to secure the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion debt and ensure that any emergency earthquake assistance is provided in the form of grants, not debt-incurring loans.

In fact, ONE will be there when U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his counterparts in the G7—the very people who sit on the governing boards of the international lending institutions that hold Haiti’s $1 billion debt—meet in the far-north Canadian town of Iqaluit this weekend for a G7 finance ministers’ summit. Among Iqaluit’s 7,000 residents is ONE member Michèle Bertol, and she has graciously agreed to deliver our petition to the host of the summit, Canadian Finance Minister James Flaherty.But even as we celebrate this huge step forward, we will continue to make sure the U.S. takes concrete steps to meet this exciting new commitment and that other countries follow its lead.

Your voices and support for Haiti are the reason we're celebrating a victory on debt relief today. This important news from the U.S. government, combined with the grassroots presence Michèle will lend to the Iqaluit meeting, makes me optimistic that we’ll be hearing more good news on debt relief for Haiti soon, as its people look to rebuild and live out their motto L'union fait la force (Unity is strength.)

Learn more and take action here:

http://www.one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/o.pl?id=1444-1364745-19fytUx&t=3

Thank you,

Sheila Nix
U.S. Executive Director, ONE

Remembering Haiti: Teach-In, Pray-In, Act-out

SAVE THE DATE: March 4, 5-9pm @ The International Social Justice Commission of The Salvation Army 221 East 52nd Street New York, NY 10022 When the news cameras are gone and our hearts are tempted to forget... join us for a spiritual day of solidarity with the people of Haiti. Begin with a Haitian meal, learn the nation's history, receive updates on the current status of rebuilding and development, stand in solidarity through the sharing of story and art, and pray for Haiti. To RSVP contact Stephen at stickner@nyfaithjustice.org or call 212.870.1254. *** And in the meantime, check out Hope for Haiti: A Spiritual Response to an un/Natural Disaster to learn how your faith community can practice spiritual solidarity with the people of Haiti right now.

Haiti Relief Update

by Andrew Bruce

Participants at a Ministerial meeting in Montreal on 25 January stressed that “the current situation remains dire, the needs are immense and the Haitian people continue to suffer”. As many as 200,000 people died in the earthquake. In total, more than 130 people have been pulled alive from the rubble, including a 16 year-old girl who was rescued this week, after being buried for 15 days. Rich Stearns, President of World Vision USA, who has been to many disaster zones, said that he has seen nothing to compare with the situation in Haiti. According to UN estimates, 75 per cent of Port-au-Prince will have to be rebuilt. The Red Cross reported this week that some 2 million people are currently “food insecure” and an estimated 800,000 to one million people are in need of shelter.

According to the UN, the logistics of the relief effort are a “nightmare”. Basic medical supplies in Port-au-Prince are dangerously low and there are concerns about a public health calamity, with the onset of the rainy season. Hospitals and clinics have reported shortages of painkillers and antibiotics for patents with fractures, amputated limbs and infections as well as anti-malaria drugs. Senator Bill Frist, who has been carrying out surgery in Haiti, described the situation as a “unique catastrophe” due to the fact that so many of the injured require surgery as a result of being crushed. Some 200,000 survivors are reported to be in need of post-surgery medical care. A total of 200,000 heavy-duty tents have been ordered to cope with the rainy season, which begins around May, and the hurricane season, which is expected to start around June.

There are some signs of progress in the relief effort. According to the Red Cross, the airport in Port-au-Prince is now operating at 170 per cent capacity and the capital’s port is now operating at the level prior to the earthquake. However, fuel and trucks are in short supply and the water supply is extremely compromised. The UN now has 150 health centers and hospitals up and running in Port-au-Prince and is preparing to deploy the extra 3,500 police and soldiers authorized by the Security Council last week. Some 20,000 US troops are now either in Haiti or offshore. Banks started operating again last weekend. Schools in areas of the country that were not affected by the earthquake are expected to open on this week. A new relief “cash-for-work” program is underway, with the UN paying Haitians up to $20 a day to clear rubble from the streets, giving them a guaranteed wage for the foreseeable future.

According to Edmond Mullet, acting head of the UN Mission the reconstruction is not starting at zero but “below zero”, recent development “has been undone” and reconstruction will take “several decades”. A number of international organizations are planning to conduct a post-disaster assessment, which the Haitian government and international community can use to lay plans for long-term reconstruction. The aim is for these plans, which will be discussed in a donor conference at the UN in March, to dovetail with long-term development plans set out before the earthquake by UN Special Envoy Bill Clinton (an overview of the long-term rebuilding priorities, prepared by the BBC can be found here.

The ONE campaign has delivered a petition containing over 150,000 signatures to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging debt cancellation for Haiti. Next week, it will present the petition to a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Canada and is hoping the petition will, by then, stand at 200,000.

You can sign the ONE Campaign petition here!

According to the ONE campaign, the House of Representatives is circulating a bipartisan letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner urging him to support the immediate cancellation of Haiti’s debt.

Listen to the ONE campaigns conference call on the Haiti relief update here!

Legislative elections scheduled to take place on 28 February have been postponed. A total of 98 of the 99 seats in the legislature’s Chamber of Deputies were to be at stake, along with one third of the 30 member Senate. The offices of the Electoral Council collapsed in the earthquake, members of the UN mission working with the Council were killed and election materials were buried under the rubble. President Préval has announced that he will not seek to extend his term in office beyond its scheduled conclusion on 11 February 2011. Préval has been working in the Judicial Police office since the National Palace and many other government buildings collapsed in the earthquake.