An important new study of the role of the United Nations’ MINUSTAH force in Haiti since the earthquake was published on November 8 by International Action Ties. It is titled, “Selling Subordination as Stabilization,” and is 12 pages long. You can read the report on the website of International Action Ties, or you can download and read a pdf copy attached here.
The report is highly critical of what it claims is the failure of MINUSTAH to cooperate with the Haitian people as they struggle in the earthquake aftermath. Referring to the cholera outbreak that has struck Haiti, the report states in its introduction, “For nearly ten months, the international community with the United Nations at the helm, has sidelined Haitian civil society groups, organizations, and government from participation in the disaster response. This exclusion helped cultivate ideal epidemic conditions that have their roots in a long history of economic and political intervention by foreign powers in Haiti.” The report’s findings are based on the observations and experiences of IAT’s team of workers in Haiti, residents and organizers in internally displaced camps, other human rights agencies and workers, and many others.
Mark Snyder is the lead author of the report. Journalists on this mail list will find direct contact information for him in Haiti on the report’s final page.
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The following description of International Action Ties is taken from the group’s website:
IAT has been working in rural Haiti since 2007 and was a first responder organization after the January 2010 earthquake. Contact us: iatayiti@gmail.com
IAT (International Action Ties) is a grassroots community development organization aimed at addressing the root causes of poverty by working towards structural change and community mobilization. IAT works together with marginalized and undeserved communities to design and implement minimal exterior-input community based infrastructure development programs. Through the provision of field mobilizers, who work directly alongside community members,
IAT’s efforts address the interdependent areas of Education, Environment, Public Health, Social Equities, and Livelihoods. IAT has been working in rural Haiti since 2007, primarily in the Nippes Region, Petite Riviere de Nippes.
Since the January 2010 earthquake, IAT has been in Port-au-Prince. Initially working on basic relief and distributions via community-based approaches, IAT is currently working on human rights monitoring in camps (with specific focus on forced expulsions), urban agriculture and rural-urban connections, and advocacy that promotes self-determination for the Haitian majority.
Who We are:
Mark Snyder, President & Co-Founder. Mark Snyder has spent many years involved in community mobilization and community-based program design aimed at addressing social inequalities and poverty reduction. He has worked as a wellness facilitator at Mother Theresa’s Home for the Dying and Destitute in New Delhi and as a community mobilizer in Dharamsala, India. His work in Dharamsala included the initiation of several waste management projects, community health and wellness programs, and the formation of a local youth group working towards addressing social and cultural issues specific to the region. He has also worked in Pisco, Peru on several disaster relief projects in response to the 2007 earthquake. Since 2007, Mark has focused his efforts in Haiti working mostly in Petite Riviere de Nippes. He worked in support of several community-based programs in the Nippes region including the Community Needs Identifiers Nutrition Program aimed at malnourished children and expecting mothers, specifically those found to suffer from vitamin/mineral and protein deficiencies.
Eric Brandfass, Director of Operations & Co-Founder
Monica Dyer, Program Director. After studying Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Trinity University, Monica worked as a researcher with Seva Mandir in Udaipur, India to identify the effect of gender-bias on the health of girls and women in the Tribal Communities of Rajasthan. After spending time in 2006 seeking solutions to water scarcity issues in Fond des Blancs, Haiti, she began a Masters in Community Health Practice with a concentration in Global Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. She has since worked in Jeremie, Haiti, and the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca, Panama with Health Empowering Humanity and in Corredores, Costa Rica with the Pan-American Health Organization. Her primary interests include sustainable water treatment methods, popular education, community-determined development, and community capacity building. .About IAT International Action Ties is a grassroots community development organization aimed at addressing the root causes of poverty by working towards structural change and community mobilization.