Help protect the rights of vulnerable Haitians
Haitian earthquake survivors, so many of whom have lost everything, should not also have to give up their basic human rights too.
USCRI is leading an effort to help protect innocent Haitian men, women, and children as they move into camps or more informal temporary shelter situations.
Many survivors will soon move out of open air parks and streets where they have huddled for the past weeks into newly created camps away from the devastated areas of Port-au-Prince.
This effort will allow relief organizations to more efficiently provide food, water, basic sanitation, and medical assistance. Haitian families will have tents for shelter and will be out of harm’s way as rubble and debris are cleared. In the short term, this is a necessary step and likely the “least bad option” for people who have suffered so much.
However, we know that camps -- so well intended when opened -- can quickly become places of misery and danger. Innocent people are forgotten in substandard living conditions and their most basic human rights are violated.
With your support, USCRI can act quickly to keep this from happening in Haiti.
USCRI staff member Sarah Petrin Williamson is already on the ground in Haiti working with our local partner, Groupe d’Appui aux Rapatriés et Réfugiés (GARR) the Support Group for Refugees and Returnees. Our mission is to help protect vulnerable Haitians and make sure that their basic human rights are not neglected as they move into camps and informal settings outside of camps as the rebuilding begins.
Haitians living in camps must be able to come and go as they please, meet and organize themselves, and speak openly and freely without fear of reprisal. It also means encouraging opportunities for survivors to work and save money to rebuild homes and businesses.
Unfortunately without trained human rights monitors these basic rights are all too often denied.
Working with our Haitian partner our team will:
- Train Haitians to be human rights monitors in the camps and in more informal shelter situations. Haitians must be trained and empowered to monitor human rights conditions and act on behalf of other Haitians when violations occur.
- Distribute pertinent and accurate information to the most vulnerable Haitians as they decide whether to go to the camps or seek other forms of shelter. We must ensure fairness and equality in the distribution of relief and prevent the weak and the frail from becoming victimized. Many survivors are reluctant to leave their devastated homes and need counseling to understand what options are available to them.
But we need to immediately raise $150,000 in order to accomplish this. Please make as generous of a tax-deductible donation as you can today.
USCRI is uniquely positioned to undertake this mission in Haiti. For more than fifty years we have worked with refugees and others who have been forced to flee their homes to save their lives and we know how to see that vulnerable people are protected while in camps and helped to leave camps as quickly as possible to return and rebuild their lives.
While many caring Americans have already donated to groups providing emergency relief, the critical work to help survivors is only getting started. Please give a little more to help make sure that Haitian survivors are treated humanely and that their human rights are respected in the difficult months ahead.
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