Haiti Sanctions (HAITI)

          CASE NUMBER:        389 
          CASE MNEMONIC:      HAITI
          CASE NAME:          Haiti Sanctions and Environment

2. Description After Raoul Cedras's junta overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990, the O.A.S., U.N., and U.S. began to sanction their actions, thereby, sanctioning Haiti as a whole. Sanctions were in place from 1990 to 1994, when Aristide was reinstated as President of Haiti.(2) The proceeding is a time line of O.A.S., U.N., and U.S. actions taken against Cedras's regime. TIME LINE OF O.A.S., U.N., AND U.S. ACTIONS TAKEN DURING THE COUP *In reaction to Raoul Cedras's overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the O.A.S. Ministers for Foreign Affairs on October 3, 1990, adopted a resolution demanding Aristide's immediate reinstatement. In the resolution, the Ministers recommended the diplomatic, economic, and financial isolation of Cedras and his cadres. They also recommended the suspension of any aid except that provided for humanitarian purposes. In accordance with this resolution, the O.A.S. dispatched a mission to Haiti. At which time, they urged the United Nations to consider the spirit and aims of this resolution.(3) *The United Nations General Assembly (hereafter U.N.G.A.) adopted Resolution 46/7 on October 11, 1990. The Resolution condemned the illegal replacement of Haiti's constitutionally elected President, the use of violence and military coercion, and the violation of human rights. Moreover, the Resolution affirmed as unacceptable any entity resulting from the coup d'etat. Furthermore, 46/7 demanded the immediate restoration of the legitimate Government of President Aristide, the application of the Haitian Constitution, and full observance of human rights in Haiti.(4) *The U.N. Security Council (hereafter U.N.S.C.) on June 1993, acting under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, adopted Resolution 841. This resolution both imposed an arms and oil embargo on Haiti and froze Haitian government funds invested abroad. Exceptions were made for petroleum products (including propane gas to be used for cooking "non-commercial quantities" of food) and for "verified humanitarian needs." The effective monitoring of delivery and use of these goods was established " by a U.N. Sanctions Committee. Within 841, the U.N.S.C. also appealed to Member States to take whatever measures they needed to take in order to support the O.A.S. resolutions. (5) *On July 3, 1993, President Aristide and General Cedras signed the Governors Island Agreement. Under the Agreement, President Aristide was to return to Haiti by October 30, 1993, and the leadership of the Haitian police and military were to retire. The Agreement also called for the United Nations to assist in modernizing the Haitian armed forces and establishing a new Haitian police force. According to the Agreement, the United Nations Security Council on September 23 would authorize the establishment and dispatch of a United Nations Mission in Haiti (U.N.M.I.H.).(6) *As a result of violence that broke out on October 11, the U.N. Security Council decided to reimpose sanctions on October 13 in Resolution 873. On October 14, President Aristide's Minister of Justice was assassinated in Port-au-Prince.(7) *The U.N.S.C. on May 6, 1994 in Resolution 917 tightened sanctions with a general trade embargo and a ban on air traffic. (The ban on air traffic did not effect commercial flights.) 917's ban on air traffic, restricted the travel of senior Haitian military and police officers and their families and associates: approximately 600 people. In addition, the Resolution called on all states to freeze the assets of these individuals.(8) *In late September 1994, 16,000 troops, most of them from the U.S., moved into Haiti. Whereby, they reinstated President Aristide and escorted the coup leaders out of the country. (10) With sanctions in place, they dramatically effected Haiti's ability to trade, Haiti's environment, and Haitian's human rights. EFFECTS OF THE EMBARGO ON TRADE Since the embargoes beginning, 60% of Haiti's private sector jobs have been lost; because there are approximately six dependents per job holder, the losses directly affected nearly 1 million people.(12). The impact of the embargo on the business environment will have negative long term repercussions, e.g., Haiti's export assembly industry has been effectively shut down, with many of its plants closing permanently.(13) Although the sanctions were aimed at usurping Cedras and his junta's power, the Cedras regime found ways to circumvent sanctions. In circumscribing sanctions, Cedras's regime was able to profit from the crippled Haitian economy. With a tight control on the supply and distribution of goods smuggled into the country, the regime was able to arbitrarily determine their levels of profit. In addition to benefitting Cedras's regime, sanctions benefitted other dubious characters, such as drugtraffikers and corrupt Dominican Republic military officials who used the sanctions porosity to make a handsome profit. EFFECTS OF THE EMBARGO ON THE ENVIRONMENT The embargo produced worsening health conditions and accelerated environmental degradation throughout Haiti. The blocked shipments of fuel led to increased deforestation and soil erosion, as many people were forced to burn scarce wood and charcoal for cooking. With deforestation and soil erosion, Haiti's bio-diversity has been effected adversely. Plants that rely upon Haiti's soil, replete in nutrients, are put at risk of depletion; animals that rely upon the plants for food are put at risk of extinction. Ergo, the deforestation and soil erosion, caused by the clear cutting of forests in Haiti, could cause a vicious cycle of environmental destruction. The fuel shortage also undermined the capacity of Haitians to feed themselves. Without fuel, agricultural equipment could not operate and crops neither could be planted nor harvested. Water needed for irrigating fields was diverted to provide Port-au-Prince with hydroelectric power. With water diverted to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's bio-diversity (in the future) is likely to be effected--the effects of which can not, as of yet, be determined. In addition to not being properly irrigated and managed, the agricultural sector has been harmed by the scarcity of pesticides and fertilizers the sanctions caused in Haiti. EFFECTS OF THE EMBARGO ON HUMAN RIGHTS The sanctions have led to a dramatic drop in Haitians living standards. As a result, many Haitian's have had to adopt harsh survival tactics, such as foraging for plants and eating seeds of crop plants, led to a surge of illnesses in the poorest areas of Haiti. For example, the sanctions contributed to extensive malnutrition, disease, and famine in the northwest. Unfortunately, in rural areas scarcity of transportation and lack of electricity has led to deaths: deaths which could have been otherwise prevented. The deaths occurred, because with a lack of electricity or transportation, vaccines could not be adequately refrigerated or shipped.(14) Those most effected by sanctions were children. Aid workers say children's death rates, because of the sanctions, were 20 times the usual rate. The children died from treatable maladies, such as measles and other commonly treatable viruses. This was because sanctions forced Haitian public-health programs to grind to a halt.(15) THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SANCTIONS ON HAITI The U.N., O.A.S., and U.S.'s embargoes--especially the U.S. embargoes which restricted transhipment of all goods--caused a shortage of goods in Haiti's market and subsequently led to malnourishment and increased rates of death, especially among children. Also, the sanctions degraded Haiti's environment. Nonetheless, the human suffering sanctions caused were supposed to lead to Cedras' overthrow. As sanction theory goes, the more suffering those opposed to the regime in power have to endure, the more likely they are to attempt coups against that regime. The problem with sanctions on Haiti is that this scenario did not occur: opposition forces did not attempt overthrow Raoul Cedras. In fact, sanctions made opposition forces weaker and Cedras' regime stronger. Cedras' regime had monopolistic control over both Haiti's supply of food and fuel. With a tight control over these essentials, opposition forces were beholden to Cedras' regime. (19) 3. Related Cases (a): CUBA (b): MACEDON (c): SERBSANC (d): IRAQSANC (e): THAIBIRD (f): USCHINA 4. Draft Author: J. Lynch (December 25, 1996) II. Legal Cluster 5. Discourse and Status: Disagree [DIS] Allegation [ALLEG] As a result of economic hardships, the embargo generated a flood of desperate Haitians fleeing the island of Hispaniola (more than 40,000). Nevertheless, U.S. policy toward the refugees was harsh. Of the estimated 38,000 refugees processed since the beginning of the coup by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service at Guantanamo Bay, 27,000 were forcibly repatriated. The U.S. forcibly repatriated Haitians, albeit Haitians upon repatriation faced persecution, arrests, beatings, torture, and other human rights abuses. The U.S. State Department denied the validity of such claims of human rights violations. Although the U.S. State Department denied the existence of such violations, Amnesty International documented multiple cases of arbitrary killings, arrests, and other abuses linked to the military since the coup. Furthermore, Amnesty International's U.S. deputy director reported a dramatic increase in repression in April 1992.(16) In addition to Amnesty International's evidence, a report, which concurred with Amnesty's findings, was released in September 1992 by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Their report went on to say that "...the human rights situation in Haiti was worse than, at any time, since the Duvalier era."(17) The increasing flow of Haitian refugees (more than 10,000 in May 1992 alone) prompted the Bush administration to qualify the situation as "unmanageable" and to introduce on May 24 a policy that effectively prevented Haitian immigration.(18) Pursuant to the Presidential directive, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted refugees and turned them back to Haiti, without allowing hearings for asylum claims. The legality of Washington's restrictive immigration policy is dubious at best. The Bush administration argued that because the U.S. Coast Guard was operating outside U.S. territory, the United States was not bound by U.S. law--U.S. law prohibits the return of political refugees. Furthermore, the Bush administration attempted to justify their actions by saying the Haitian's were economic refugees, not political refugees; therefore, political asylum would not apply in their instances. 6. Forum and Scope: U.S. and Haiti 7. Decision Breadth: 2 (U.S. and Haiti) 8. Legal Standing: LAW This case involves a U.S. law. Because the case deals with U.S. national security, the case will never go to trial. Nonetheless, its precedent may help shape U.S. foreign policy decisions, involving mass emigration, in the future. III. GEOGRAPHIC Clusters 9. Geographic Locations a. Continental Domain: Northern America b. Geographic Site: Caribbean c. Geographic Impact: Haiti 10. Sub-State: No 11. Type of Habitat: TROPICAL IV. TRADE Clusters 12. Type of measure: LAW 13. Direct vs. Indirect Impacts: [DIR] The impact of the sanctions were direct, because they directly impacted Haiti's lower and middle classes. Within Haiti, the O.A.S. and U.N. oil embargoes contributed to the impoverishment of everyone except the "elite." Because oil was a contraband, its price was inflated above the spot market rate. The "elite" were able to purchase oil at inflated prices, while the "poor" were unable to meet this price. Making the problem worse was oil's inflated price. Its inflated price caused an increase in other goods' prices, e.g. domestic agricultural products. Haitian grown produce was more expensive because it was less abundant; it was scarce because oil is needed to operate farm machinery. Thus, due to oil's rampant inflation, it can be said that the prices of some goods--which were highly dependent upon the cost of oil--skyrocketed. In addition to increasing petrol prices, the diverting of water to Port-Au Prince and shortages of pesticides and fertilizers adversely effected the supply of agricultural goods, ergo, their prices. In addition to the O.A.S. and U.N. embargoes on oil, the May 17, 1992 O.A.S. Resolution on Restoration of Democracy in Haiti also contributed to scarcity in the market. The resolution "urged . . . member states to adopt whatever actions may be necessary for the greatest effectiveness of sanctions, including denying port facilities to vessels trading with Haiti."(22) As a result of the O.A.S. Resolution, the President of the United States on May 28, 1992, directed the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Transportation "to deny the use of American ports to ships that violate the trade embargo against Haiti." The U.S. Government's action was detrimental to Haiti because of Haiti's overwhelming dependence on U.S. imports (70%).(23) A decrease in U.S. imports then led to inflationary prices: prices the poor could not absorb. When it was all said and done, Haiti's poor were hit with a triple whammy: U.N., U.S., and O.A.S. prohibitions. With the impoverishment of the poor, Raoul Cedras and his regime were able to stay in power. Unlike the F.R.Y., Haiti's economic disintegration did not cause a sense of community and solidarity in the country as a whole. Although Cedras was unable to create a sense of community within the entire populous of Haiti, he did create a sense of solidarity within the elite. And with the solidarity of the elite, the junta's repression of liberals and moderates became more intense, thereby allowing the Haitian military's hold on the country to strengthen. 14. Relation of Measure to Environmental Impact a. Directly Related : Many b. Indirectly Related : NO c. Not Related : NO d. Process Related : Yes deforestation and air pollution 15. Trade Product Identification: Many 16. Economic Data Haiti has always experienced a current account deficit, however, that deficit seemed to worsen after sanctions were put in place. The following chart shows the drop in Haiti's current account deficit. (This most likely resulted from its tremendous drop in exports.)

	Balance of Payments (1989)	-147,000,000	Balance of Payments (1990)	-121,000,000	Balance of Payments (1991)	-174,000,000	Balance of Payments (1992)	-218,000,000	Balance of Payments (1993)	-177,000,000	Balance of Payments (1994)	-233,000,000