Concerned by the crisis classified as the worst humanitarian and human rights emergency in decades, the bishops of Haiti published a message alerting the international community about the extreme gravity of the situation in the country.
Newsroom(26/01/2023 9:30 PM, Gaudium Press) Plunged into a deep institutional, economic and social crisis, Haiti lives days of terror and fear. The violence that has grown alarmingly in 2022 has not even spared the Church. There have been kidnappings of priests and the murder of a nun, the Italian missionary Luisa Dell’orto, in the capital Port-au-Prince. In view of this, the bishops decided to speak out, publishing a message to try to draw the world’s attention to the extreme gravity of what is happening in the Caribbean country.
Adding to the precarious situation of the country, classified as the worst humanitarian and human rights emergency in decades, Haiti is also facing a health crisis, with the real risk of a cholera epidemic.
The bishops’ letter was published at the end of the year and is beginning to have an effect on the international community. Several nations have sent aid, and on the 11th, Canada announced the delivery to the government of Port-au-Prince of a set of armoured vehicles to help the police and the army in the fight against gangs and criminal organizations operating in the country.
The appeal of the Haitian bishops was preceded by a statement by the UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed, calling for international support for the efforts of the Haitian police and army in re-establishing security in the country, in order to make possible the movement of people and goods, and even of humanitarian aid itself, destined for those most in need.
Unprecedented Violence
At a meeting of the Security Council, Amina Mohammed said that violence in Haiti had reached “unprecedented levels” and that “human rights abuses” became “widespread” throughout 2022. The undersecretary highlighted the danger posed by the actions of armed gangs who have sought to “terrorize and subjugate communities.”
The bishops’ communiqué is addressed first and foremost to the gangs themselves, armed groups that spread violence, and to those who finance them, calling for them to “cease the murderous madness of hatred and contempt for life.” In a clear and strong text, the prelates determine: “Silence the weapons, abandon the diabolical and perverse logic of weapons!”
With the country in collapse, paralyzed and impotent in the face of extreme violence, the bishops determine the need to end the barbarism, stressing that instead of a fratricidal war, it is necessary to invest in the reorganization of the infrastructure, health and education systems and in the change of mentality: “The time has come to reform the institutions, especially Justice; to end the culture of impunity, the logical cause of corruption and violence in the country and ensure a better future, in the spirit of belonging to this Haitian land.
Many seek refuge in other countries
The religious also warn about another painful consequence of this crisis, the emigration: “Many people, because of the unbearable conditions in the country, are forced to take refuge, ‘in haste and at all costs,’ in territories where they are not always welcome. In the neighboring Dominican Republic, for example, they are subjected to unspeakable treatment that tramples on the imperative principles of human rights, international humanitarian law, and refugee law, especially the 1999 Agreement.
Aid to the Church of Haiti has been a constant for the Church in Need Foundation (ACN). In the year 2021 alone, about seven dozen projects were supported, with a total value of about 1.4 million euros, intended primarily for the purchase of vehicles for pastoral work and the training of lay people and priests to act in situations like this.
Compiled by Teresa Joseph
