"Human Rights through Accompaniment"

The following article by PIH medical director Joia Mukherjee was published in the Harvard International Review. Read the full text of the article.
 
To the citizens of the tiny, embattled country of Haiti, the notion of human rights is ever present, based on their collective knowledge that Haiti brought Napoleon to his knees when the slaves fought and died for the right to self determination, removing the vast sugar wealth from France’s treasury. Yet the rights of the people of Haiti have been perpetually suppressed by foreign powers, particularly the United States—from US President Jefferson’s fear of Haiti’s example as a danger to the slave-based US economies to the US President Monroe-lead occupation driven by resistance to European influence in the hemisphere to the more recent neoliberal front against socialism. These forces have resulted in a political scorched earth campaign against rights in Haiti as occupations, dictatorships and kleptocracies have left the Haitian State with massively inadequate resources to fulfill basic rights for its citizens. It is remarkable that, with less than 15 years democracy in Haiti—twice interrupted by US and French backed coups d’état, the people’s notions of rights and their participation in demanding them remains strong as evidenced by frequent protests for government protection of food prices, housing and education.
 
On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, with an epicenter only 16 miles from the capital of Port au Prince shook the life out of much of the city leaving 250,000 dead, hundreds of thousands injured and more than 1.7 million people displaced. The majority of government buildings were destroyed leaving the government poorly equipped to lead the effort in the days after the quake. The sheer magnitude of the human catastrophe touched the hearts of millions and lead to an international outpouring of support. Private individuals and organization have given nearly 1.1 billion US dollars. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid has reported that private individuals and organizations have given nearly .2 billion, which is 37 percent of the total assistance Haiti had received as of June 25, 2010, and more than the cumulative aid from any single government including the United States, Haiti’s largest donor. The government of Haiti stood at the end of the long line of recipients receiving less than one penny on every US dollar according to a review of relief efforts conducted by the Associated Press following the earthquake.

While a disaster of such magnitude surely demonstrates the need for a strong humanitarian response, it is also a critical time to examine the type of response, the people who receive and administer it, and the end recipient. There are two critical entities in a human rights framework—the participation of civil society and the responsibility and ability of governments to respect, protect and fulfill rights. Additionally, it is crucial to examine the role the international community both as advocates and duty bearers in assuring human rights. This paper will review the assistance to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake, demonstrate the importance of advocacy in changing the way aid is given, highlight examples the work of the organization Partners In Health at both government and civil society levels that have supported a human rights framework, and suggest a set of criteria by which the strengthening human rights targeted and may be measured as Haiti receives assistance in her recovery.
 
Read the full article on the Harvard International Review website.

Dr. Joia Mukherjee trained in Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital and has an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is an Associate Professor in the Division of Global Health Equity at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical. Dr. Mukherjee consults for the World Health Organization on the treatment of HIV and MDR-TB in developing countries and is a member of the Executive Board of Health Action AIDS, a campaign conducted with Physicians for Human Rights to engage the US health professional community in the international advocacy and education effort to stop the global AIDS pandemic.