Special Reports

Haitians in France: A First Look Into Their Lives and Community

What is unusual about Haitians in France are the many gaps in the public’s understanding as to their place in French society. This is odd because Haiti and France are so deeply connected. Unlike Miami and New York, Paris has no Little Haiti. Few permanent community centers welcome Haitians here. No university in France is home to a Haitian studies institute.

We set out to fill some of these gaps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, information was hard to come by and the picture we assembled is complex.

Haitian Music Industry’s Dirty Secret: It Doesn’t Exist

Haiti’s most recognized and influential musician died penniless because he was an artist in the Haitian Music Industry (HMI).

The Never-ending Search for Home: One Haitian Family’s Journey Through the Americas for a Place to Call Home

By Alejandra Ibarra Chaoul It was a rainy day in March, when Jean René Suprena listened intently to Jeremy Jong,…

The Haitian Clergy’s Role in Advancing Civil Rights

While the church’s impact in African-American communities is seen, both politically and socially, in many black enclaves across the country, you’d be hard-pressed to say the same for the Haitian-American community. Which is why a group of lawyers and pastors in New York City is looking to change the script by writing a new one.

News, Special Reports

Farmworker-turned-activist uproots injustices and sows hope

When Myrto Cesaire approached a friend to inquire about local jobs, the friend mockingly suggested that “farm work” was her…

Special Reports

Attacking domestic violence in the Haitian community

Author’s note: For this year’s Women’s History Month, celebrated during the month of March, and International Women’s Day, which was…

Special Reports, Women & Children

Women Farmers and Land Grabs in Haiti: An interview with Iderle Brénus

By Beverly Bell

In Haiti, the majority of the people working the land are women. Not only are they there during planting, weeding and harvesting, but they also play a role in transforming and marketing food products. They’re involved in the entire agricultural production process. This is why we call women the poto mitan, central pillar, of the country.

Special Reports

Jovenel Moise Seizes Land From Haiti Peasants

By Joshua Steckley and Beverly Bell

Jovenel Moïse, President Michel Martelly’s handpicked successor, dispossessed as many as 800 peasants – who were legally farming – and destroyed houses and crops two years ago, say leaders of farmers’ associations in the Trou-du-Nord area. Farmers remain homeless and out of work. The land grabbed by the company Moïse founded, Agritrans, now hosts a private banana plantation.

Special Reports

The Blood of the Earth: Agriculture, Land Rights, and Haitian History

By Beverly Bell

Yesterday, Jan. 12, on the sixth anniversary of the 7.0 earthquake, Haitians mourned the countless lives lost. Among the many aftershocks they face is disaster capitalism, in which the Haitian elite and foreign corporations – backed by the US government, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank – are grabbing lands for extraction and mega-development projects. Ricot Jean-Pierre, social worker and program director of the Platform to Advocate Alternative Development in Haiti (PAPDA), tells how inequitable control of land has devastated the vast majority throughout Haitian history, from enslavement to today.

Special Reports

UN Peacekeepers Sexually Abused Hundreds In Haiti In Exchange For Food And Medicine, Report Says

(AP) – Members of a UN peacekeeping mission engaged in “transactional sex” with more than 225 Haitian women who said they needed to do so to obtain things like food and medication, a sign that sexual exploitation remains significantly underreported in such missions, according to a new report obtained by The Associated Press.

The draft by the Office of Internal Oversight Services looks at the way UN peacekeeping, which has about 125,000 people in some of the world’s most troubled areas, deals with the persistent problem of sexual abuse and exploitation.

The report, expected to be released this month, says major challenges remain a decade after a groundbreaking UN report first tackled the issue.

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