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their own economic and political affairs. Their right to assemble and
organize politically is sharply limited. Human rights violations are routine
and go unpunished. Popular political parties are effectively banned from
running.
How is Haiti Governed?
Since 2004, the armed force in Haiti has been controlled by the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH. Haiti's police
are trained, and effectively supervised, by a subset of MINUSTAH, a
mission called CIVPOL (usually commanded by Canadians). The current
president of Haiti, Michel Martelly, wants to bring back the Haitian Army,
but when that army existed, it was also an instrument of another country
(the U.S.) and its foreign policy – bringing back the Haitian Army would
be no boost to sovereignty or democracy in Haiti.
Force is controlled from outside. What about finance? MINUSTAH
has a budget of about $676-million. Since the 2010 earthquake, the big
charities have spent about the same (around $600-million) in 2010 and
2011. Haiti's own government budget this year is based on $1.1-billion in
aid and $1.25-billion in taxes. Perhaps most importantly, Haiti's economy
is also supported by about $1.5-billion in remittances from the Haitian
diaspora, year after year, one of the largest contributions to Haiti's $7.3billion
GDP.
These figures contain a few surprises. In terms of taxes and GDP,
most of the contribution to Haiti's economy is by Haitians. Presented as an
international basket-case, Haiti is actually more self-sufficient than its
donors believe. And the aid – whether in the form of budget support, relief
and reconstruction aid, or NGO expenditure – buys control. By
contributing a fraction of what Haitians contribute, foreign donors
purchase control over the direction of Haiti's economy, including the
determination of an export- and foreign-investment driven model that
keeps wages low and denies any protection to the country's agriculture, let
alone any local infant industries. Haiti's private sector is a subcontracting
sector, featuring low-wage assembly plants and import-export monopolies,
but little prospect of increasing productivity or long-term development.