Displaced farmers’ coalition reclaims their road to sustainable livelihoods 9 years after Haiti’s devastating earthquake · Global Voices
Members of the Kolektif Peyizan <PERSON> some of their legal advocates from Accountability Counsel, who helped the farmers’ collective stand up for their rights after being displaced from their land to accommodate an “earthquake recovery” project. Photo courtesy Accountability Counsel, used with permission.
January 12, 2019 marked nine years since the disastrous 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti, levelling much of its infrastructure, crippling its already limping economy, and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. People in Haiti lost loved ones, homes, livelihoods, prospects.
This year, instead of solely remembering the devastation, one group of Haitian farmers redefined what the anniversary of the earthquake means to them by signing a historic agreement that will provide redress to the nearly 4,000 people in the northeast of the island who were displaced to accommodate the construction of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and USAID-financed Caracol Industrial Park.
Touted by the Haitian government as part of the earthquake reconstruction effort, the park was intended to jump-start the island's economy and generate revenue “more than 150 times the estimated value of the crops grown on the 240-hectare plot” where the industrial park was being developed.
But as the first anniversary of the earthquake approached, 422 farmers and their families had their arable farmland taken away, with only a few days’ notice. The park never functioned to more than ten to 15 per cent of its capacity and ended up generating much lower employment than estimated. People who did secure jobs there were paid the equivalent of US $5 a day.
The IDB offers a different version of events. While both parties concede that in January 2011, a fence went up along the boundary of the project site, the farmers say that once it was constructed, they no longer had access to the land, and their crops were destroyed. The IDB maintains that had access to the land until later that year. The little compensation the farmers eventually received began trickling in only in September 2011. The replacement land they were promised never materialised.
Seven members of the Kolektif Peyizan Viktim Tè Chabè and their advisor celebrate after signing the agreement with the IDB. (AREDE's <PERSON> is fourth from right, and <PERSON>, whose family lost land, is second from right). 779
Photo courtesy Accountability Counsel, used with permission.
The story could have ended there. But after receiving the final cash payout in late 2013, and realising it wasn’t enough to help them rebuild sustainable livelihoods, the farmers formed a collective — the Kolektif Peyizan Viktim Tè Chabè — to defend their rights. While the Kolektif represents the interests of all the displaced farmers, 415 signed on formally to the group.
On January 12, 2017, with assistance from local and international civil society organisations, the farmers filed a detailed complaint to the IDB’s accountability office. They asked, among other things, for fair financial and non-financial compensation and educational support for the victims’ families.
They also asked the bank to re-examine its definition of whom it deemed “vulnerable”. When it undertook its first resettlement process, the bank only identified 35 people as vulnerable, and most of those did not receive additional support to rebuild their livelihoods. The Kolektif argued that far more of its members were vulnerable and needed extra support.
Talks between the Kolektif, the IDB and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (UTE) began about five months later. They lasted 18 long months, finally producing a landmark agreement that will ensure the farmers access to new land, jobs, modern agricultural equipment, small business development and training opportunities. It also covers specific compensation for the most vulnerable — well beyond the 35 people initially identified — and includes access to microcredit, with specific emphasis on women and people with disabilities.
The farmers celebrate news of the agreement. Photo courtesy Accountability Counsel, used with permission.
With the help of interpreters, I spoke by phone with <PERSON>, the coordinator of Action pour la Reforestation et la Défense de l’Environnement (AREDE), one of organisations that helped the famers file the original complaint, and <PERSON>, one of Kolektif’s leaders. <PERSON>, whose family lost their land to Caracol, helped negotiate the landmark agreement.
<PERSON> wanted to help the farmers overcome social exclusion and get a meaningful settlement, so AREDE began to sensitise them about the benefits of community engagement. <PERSON> cautioned that progress would be gradual, , but he believed the process of demanding accountability would bear fruit. 779