NEAR spoke with Aldrin Calixte, a member of NEAR and one of the co-founders of Haïti Survie about the humanitarian crisis is Haiti and the growing cholera epidemic.
Barricaded roads in Haiti during the current crisis.
What is the current situation in Haiti?
A fuel crisis and insecurity have affected the normal functioning of hospitals and health centres. Since 2 October the country has recorded almost 7 000 cases of cholera which are spreading from region to region. We need to find an urgent solution to allow the resumption of activities at the level of hospitals and the normal distribution of water. If nothing is done, the country risks experiencing a situation similar to the 2010 health crisis linked to cholera. We continue with the limited means at our disposal to raise awareness in the communities where we are working in the fight against the spread of cholera and at the same time Covid-19
What triggered the current crisis?
Since 2018, we have experienced a complicated and difficult socio-political context. We couldn't have the elections in November 2021 and our president was assassinated in July 2021. We had several "lockdowns" of the country.
Over the past few years, there have been several attempts to increase the price of fuel. As everywhere, fuel is a transversal product that affects all of society and the economy, and like in many countries, the government subsidizes fuel prices.
A number of national and international development finance institutions (DFIs) such as the World Bank, believe that this creates a shortfall and prevents government from investing or financing other services such as education and health.
On September 11 there was an increase in fuel prices between 84% and 124% per gallon of gasoline.
From September 12 to September 22, the country was completely blocked by gangs and the warehouses of local and international organisations were looted. NGOs regularly pre-position humanitarian necessities, to be ready to respond to crises. The warehouses were full of pre-positioned stock to respond to the hurricane season, but many were looted.
Tell us about the security crisis that is impacting the whole country
Since June 2021, we have experienced a difficult security situation as gang activity has reached an unprecedented scale. They block the south of Port au Prince - they block trucks, goods, people - and slow down and sometimes stop the flow of goods and services. This has an impact on the whole country and particularly the provinces which depend greatly on these flows.
What type of activities can you implement under these conditions?
Since the earthquake in August 2021 in the southwest of the island, we have been working in the Nippes region. In terms of livelihoods, we supported activities in the agriculture and fishing sector, we built permanent shelters for those who lost their homes and micro-finance for women.
Since the end of August 2022, we are no longer able to continue to support the various activities. We are no longer able to continue because travel is difficult and very expensive – the prices of fuel and raw materials have soared and have sometimes been multiplied by 10. The price of a kilo of rice in the south of the island by example has gone from 120 gourdes to almost 320 gourdes – if we can find any at all.
Are there national coordination mechanisms for local and national organisations?
At the central level we have the Le Cadre de Liaison Inter-Organisations (CLIO) platform, which is a network of a majority of international NGOs but also local NGOs like Haiti Survie. It is essentially a platform for exchanging information to monitor what is happening at the central level and in the provinces.
At the sub-regional or municipal level, it is the Directorate of Civil Protection that facilitates exchanges. The local actors have a rather weak position, and the meetings are mainly made up of international actors.
What needs to be done?
The security situation is due to arms trafficking between Haiti and the United States of America – if this were resolved, it would greatly help to find a solution for the security situation.
Donor countries need more and better funding for local actors so that they can fully play their role with communities and meet their needs.
To improve security, it is important that the international community mobilises and asks the government to manage the situation.