Toronto Haiti Action Committee

Solidarity. Not Charity. Never Occupation

Toronto Haiti Action Committee - Solidarity. Not Charity. Never Occupation

Tag Archives: canada in haiti

In the News: Accused of Sexual Abuse, MINUSTAH Officer Flees Haiti

Originally posted at CEPR.

MINUSTAH Base in KapayisyenIn February, the United Nations confirmed that a Canadian serving with the United Nations Police contingent of MINUSTAH had been accused of sexually and physically assaulting a Haitian woman. Yesterday, Marie Rosy Kesner Auguste Ducena, a lawyer with the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, told CBC news that, though the victim reported the assault to police, “nothing will happen… Women who will go to complain, you will see that maybe somebody will take the complaint and will say to her you will be called after. But in fact, the case will just be closed.” CBC notes that the “day after the incident, the man boarded a flight back to Canada, where he remains.”

This is but the latest in a series of sexual abuse allegations leveled against MINUSTAH personnel in Haiti. According to U.N. data, since 2007 there have been 70 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation against MINUSTAH members, but as CBC news points out, “not one has ended up in a Haitian court.”

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In the News: Canadian officer on Haiti mission accused of assault

A Canadian police officer serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti has been accused of sexual assault.

The RCMP says a Haitian woman complained to Haitian National Police that a Canadian police officer sexually and physically assaulted her.

Spokesman Vincenzo Pugliese, confirmed the UN is currently investigating the alleged incident.

The RCMP says the officer returned to Canada on his own without authorization from Canadian or UN authorities.

A spokesperson for Canada’s foreign affairs minister John Baird responded to the allegations in an email.

He said the government is taking the allegations very seriously, and said Canada would co-operate with any potential investigations.

More than 80 Canadian police officers are working with the UN mission in Haiti.

Disclosure of Grant and Contribution Awards Over $25,000: Foreign Affairs

From the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada:

Recipient Name: United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Location: New-York, New-York, United States / New-York, New-York, États-Unis
Date: 2011-11-17
Value: $19,161,370.00
Type: Contribution
Purpose: Canada’s assessed contribution to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).
Comments: Assessed contribution.

Exagerated Claims: Assessing the Canadian Military’s Haiti Earthquake Response

by Roger Annis
Published in Haiti Liberte, Vol 3 #12, October 6, 2010

For the past several months, the Canadian armed forces have staged speaking events in cities across Canada to vaunt its role in Haiti in the month following the earthquake. Vancouver got its turn on Sept. 17 when one of the commanders of the two warships sent to Haiti shortly after the earthquake spoke at two events.

Commander Josée Kurtz of HMCS Halifax spoke before a small public forum hosted by the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. For several weeks prior, the Institute featured a large photo display at its entrance of the military's presence in Haiti following the earthquake, a mission it calls Operation Hestia.

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In the News: Some facts Stephen Harper should have on Haiti

If Canada is to play a positive role in Haiti’s future, we must know what the situation actually is, and why.

Recently I described how Haiti came to be in such wretched shape, thanks to its own brutal leaders and the interventions of France and the United States, a story that is rarely told in the mainstream media. What follows is more recent information about Haiti, shortly before and after the earthquake, all of it publicly documented yet little of it known.

For a serious government, there are important lessons to be learned here.

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Haiti Needs Emergency Relief, not Military Intervention!

A letter and petition from Canada Haiti Action Network

The Canada Haiti Action Network, working alongside colleagues in the UK and the United States, would like to announce the launch of a new petition campaign urging the reorientation of the relief effort in Haiti.

It has become increasingly clear that the immediate crisis provoked by the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has become a pretext for the massive deployment of military forces – particularly from the US, but also from Canada. For many reasons, this is a gravely mistaken policy, hidden amidst the outpouring of genuine concern for the suffering in Haiti.

The petition proposed (copy enclosed below) is an appeal for an alternative direction for this critical humanitarian effort, one that respects Haiti’s sovereignty, and directly acknowledges the need to reconcile Haiti’s past in order to face the future.

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