Cholera In October 2010, in unclear circumstances, an outbreak of cholera has appeared in the country, the contamination begins Oct. 19 in the departments of Artibonite and Centre where the first five cases are reported; water consumption improper River Artibonite would cause .
On January 5, 2011, there were 3,184 deaths due to cholera .
Politics
Haiti is a democratic republic. The right to vote is granted to all citizens aged eighteen and over.
Legislative power is exercised by two chambers: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Chief Executive is the president Rene Garcia Preval. The head of government is Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.
The Prime Minister can be dismissed by the president, but can be arrested and referred by the senate by a vote of censure by the latter .
Territorial subdivisions
Haiti is divided into ten departments, forty-one counties, one hundred thirty-three municipalities and five hundred sixty-five sections communal.
There is also what is commonly called the "eleventh department, representing some two million Haitians living outside the country: the diaspora of Haiti.
Economy
Disabilities
80% of Haitians live below the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty, which is the poorest country in the Americas. Over a four-Haitien is malnourished, one million nine hundred thousand people, according to a report by the National Council for Food Security (CNSA) Haitian. The unemployment rate reached over 65% of the workforce.
In addition, Haiti suffers from high inflation and a lack of investment because of insecurity, limited infrastructure and a large trade deficit. The government depends on international aid to finance part of the budget.
Remittances coming from the diaspora Haitian nevertheless remain an important source of currency for the country, accounting for one quarter of gross domestic product and twice the value of exports.
Not to mention that Haiti remains a country vulnerable to natural disasters. In 2008, four hurricanes ravaged the country and caused huge damage to roads and agriculture, and the earthquake of 2010 devastated the country.
The deforestation is also accelerated as a brake on economic development, causing the erosion , impoverishment and collapse of land, especially during heavy rains.
Economic sectors
The main natural resources of Haiti are bauxite , the copper , the calcium carbonate , limestone , the gold , the marl and hydropower. However, mineral resources are limited to small deposits. Only the bauxite has been commercially exploited on a significant scale .
However, agriculture employs the bulk of the workforce with more than two-thirds of the population of working age. The farms are, above all, subsistence farms, of limited size, where the coffee , the cocoa , the sisal , the cotton , the mangoes are the main exports. The population explosion and lack of competitiveness against imported products have considerably weakened the sector, whose production is increasingly for the domestic market with products such as maize , the rice , and fruit.
The capital, Port-au-Prince, concentrating the majority of industrial activities in the country: the main products are electronic components , the textile and balls baseball.
The main trading partners of the Republic of Haiti is the United States to 85.2%, Canada 2.2%, France 1.5% Germany 1%, and the Dominican Republic.
Development aid
In October 2008, Congress passed the HOPE Act II (HOPE for Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement: "hemispherical opportunity by encouraging partnerships"), to enable product manufacturers, particularly textile tariff-free access the U.S. market.
Social programs established by the government are limited, despite a sharp increase in 2009. Some agencies offer pensions and allowances for the accidents. Access to loans is low, 2% credit of the banking system is financing the agricultural sector and rural development.
Haiti also receives aid from many forms within its own country. Several associations, institutions and foundations participate in the reconstruction and development. Among organizations, the Foundation for the development of alternative tourism in Haiti (FONDTAH), which formulates the development of alternative tourism adapted to national conditions. The FONDTAH participates with the Company's operating natural Quisqueya Park Fond Parisian (SODEPA), the Association of artists and artisans in Croix-des-Bouquets (ADDAC), Association for the Development of Lower Bon (ADEBABO ), the Ministry of Agriculture and the environment, development of the refugee village of the cataclysm in the communal section of Fonds-Parisien located in the town of Ganthier in the Western Province of Haiti .
Other organizations and associations contribute to national development and aid multifaceted, especially since the earthquake of 2010. Among its agencies, there are Haitian institutions including the Institute of technology and animation , the National Council for public financing , as well as French associations such as Handicap International , Action Aid and , without forgetting the action of the UNICEF and that the World Food Programme.
Debt
April 17, 1825, the King of France Charles X concedes "the full and complete independence" to the former French colony of slaves at a cost of 150 million gold francs (the sum will be reduced in 1838 to 90,000,000 francs). This amount will be determined by the contraction of a debt that will be repaid in full in 1972 .
In the 1880s , the public finances are in extreme disorder seen continuing political instability. Income is estimated at 21.5 million francs and expenditures at double that amount. The public debt rises to 12 million hard dollars (1 dollar worth 5 francs) with 308 000 dollars for the balance of the French debt (1,540,000 francs) .
On April 7, 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has claimed officially to France nearly 21.7 billion dollars in "restitution and repair" of the debt.
Meanwhile a total external debt of 1.2 billion dollars "has been built on debt of independence", especially under "dictatorship of the Duvalier between 1957 and 1986, (who) has devastated the country and heavily indebted, indicates again the Committee for the Abolition of Third World debt (CADTM) . The association estimates that the Duvalier regime is alone responsible for 550 million dollars of external debt.
On December 24, 2003, CADTM claimed the cancellation of the debt described as "illegitimate and odious" of Haiti, on the eve of the bicentenary of the independence of the Republic Caribbean.
Without denying a debt of France with regard to their country, the opposition and the intellectuals of the diaspora refuse to associate with a request from a regime as corrupt and undemocratic as that of President Aristide .
In 2009 , following the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative , 1.2 billion of debt were canceled by the World Bank and IMF . In early 2010, external debt is estimated by Oxfam to 890 million or 734 million of euros .
Rate of household equipment
- Access to basic social services
In 2007, the country had a large deficit in basic social services: education, water, health, sanitation.
On a 5 access levels, classified as "less poor" to "extremely low", only 2 out of 133 municipalities in the country, benefited in 2002 from a level of access "less poor" (ie ie the highest level) for their citizens. 14 of them were classified as "medium low", 51 "low", 37 "low" and 14 "extremely weak" .
- Need drinking water
In 2007, coverage of these needs are estimated at 54% in Port-au-Prince, 46% in secondary cities, 48% in rural areas. However, drinking water systems installed in rural areas, and introduced in the 1980s are deteriorating for lack of maintenance .
- Communication
It is very poorly developed: in 2008 out of 1000 people, 12 people own a fixed telephone line, 354 people have mobile phones, while 110 people have Internet access .
Education
Languages
Official languages
Haiti has two official languages:
Haiti and the Francophonie
Haiti is part of the Francophonie and is a member since the beginning of the creation of the International Organisation of French-speaking community.
Internationally, the entry of Haiti in the Pan American Union, the current OAS ( Organization of American States ), allowed the French to become one of the official working languages of the organization, and when famous Bretton Woods conference , where the use of French as a working language at the nascent United Nations was not decided by one vote, Haiti had voted in favor of this decision .
Haiti was a founding member of the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation ( ACCT ), during the creation of this 20 March 1970.
In each head of department, there is a French Alliance. In most cases the premises are provided by the municipality and volunteers working at the Haitian cultural influence of the Alliance.
Despite a growing influence of English arising from geographic proximity with the United States, La Francophonie remains vibrant and alive.
In December 2010, Max Jean-Louis, a young Haitian, then aged 20, was elected director of the prestigious Centre de la Francophonie of the Americas in Quebec City .
Other languages and Diaspora
Because of the Diaspora installed Haitian Dominican Republic and the United States (including Miami and New York ), a number of Haitians also speak the Spanish or English.
Another part of this diaspora has led to countries or regions such as the French France ( Mtropole , Martinique , Guadeloupe and French Guiana ), the Canada (in Quebec and in particular Montreal ), the Belgium and Switzerland.
Many are unaware that a metropolitan national Haitian Caribbean. Yet this is the case, since the island is located in the Greater Antilles, which automatically makes those Caribbean nationals.
Culture
Codes
Haiti has the code:
- HA , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-2 code,
- HAI , according to the list of country codes IOC ,
- HH , according to the list of prefixes ICAO aircraft registration ,
- HT , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-2
- . Ht , according to the list of Internet TLDs ( top level domain )
- HTI , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-3,
- HTI , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , code alpha-3,
- HTG , according to the list of alphabetic codes ISO 4217 currency,
- MT , according to the list of prefixes ICAO airport codes ,
- HR , according to the list of international codes of plates ,
References
- Article 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Haiti : "The national motto is: Freedom - Equality - Fraternity"
- Articles Santo Domingo, Hispaniola and Haiti's Universal Dictionary of History and Geography by Marie-Nicolas Bouillet, 1878 edition, available on the site gallica
- The Oxford Dictionary of Proper Names - 2007 Edition.
- The The Navasse is considered a Minor Outlying Islands United States but is nanmois claimed by Haiti.
- See also
Bibliography
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- (In) Michael S. Laguerre, The Military and Society in Haiti, London, Macmillan, 1993.
- Guy Lasserre, Paul Moral, Pierre Usselman (ed.), Atlas of Haiti, University of Bordeaux 3, Centre of Tropical Geography, 1985.
- Antoine Mtral, History of the French expedition to Santo Domingo, Paris, Editions Karthala, 1985.
- Moreau de St. Mery , Description topographic, physical, civic, political and history of the French island of St. Domingo, Philadelphia, Paris, Hamburg, 1797-1798 (reprint, 3 volumes, Paris, French Society of History Overseas, 1984).
- Jack Claude Nezat The Nezat And Allied Families 1630-2007 Lulu 2007 ISBN 978-2-9528339-2-9 , ISBN 978-0-615-15001-7
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