wfn.org | Address poverty in Haiti first, mission leader says

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 3, 2004	News media contact: Linda Bloom7(646)369-37597New York
newsdesk@umcom.org 7  ALL-AA-I{088}

NOTE: A photograph of the Rev. R. Randy Day is available at
http://umns.umc.org.

By Elliott Wright*

NEW YORK (UMNS) - The United States and other countries must address the
causes that keep Haiti in a "vicious cycle of poverty," according to the top
mission executive of the United Methodist Church.

The Rev. R. Randy Day, with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
criticized the slowness of the international community to intercede in armed
conflict in the island nation during February. The clash resulted in the
resignation and departure of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb.
28.

In a March 2 statement, Day described as "morally abhorrent" the policy of
the United States in turning back Haitian refugees seeking safety in a time
of war.

He called upon United Methodists to join his agency in working with the
people of Haiti to establishing a just and lasting peace. The board and its
related United Methodist Committee on Relief have numerous church development
and humanitarian programs in Haiti. More than 700 United Methodists from the
United States go to Haiti each year as members of mission volunteer teams or
as individual service volunteers.

"In the last three weeks, innocent children, youth, and adults have been
killed and maimed, and democracy (in Haiti) has been mortally wounded by the
clash of government and anti-government forces," Day said. "The tardy
response of the United States and other countries has increased the
hemorrhaging."
	
On March 2, officials of Action by Churches Together, an ecumenical relief
coalition, reported that Haiti was "starting to settle down." It also said
that the full extent of the humanitarian situation was not clear as a result
of security factors. A peacekeeping force of U.S., French and Canadian troops
was expected in the near future. U.S. Marines are already in Haiti to protect
Americans.

Day said that Haiti seems to be a nation disregarded by the United States and
other nations. The mission leader sharply criticized a long-standing U.S.
policy of refusing to admit Haitian refugees fleeing from warfare.

"The U.S. action, in effect, returns to the battleground persons attempting
to gain safety," he said. "I find this policy a violation of international
understandings on the right of protective security; I find it morally
abhorrent."

Day protested the U.S.'s Haitian refugee policy during the two presidential
administrations preceding the current one in Washington. He said he would
continue to criticize the policy as long as it exists.

He also said he was perplexed by conflicting reports on the role of outside
interests in fanning the current Haitian crisis and in the departure of
Aristide. He called for an international inquiry into those reports.

The United Methodist international mission agency works closely with the
Methodist Church of Haiti in a wide range of educational, medical,
nutritional and church development programs. Many of the United Methodist
Volunteers in Mission teams help build churches and parsonages as well as
schools and clinics.
  
The School Hot Lunch Program, supported by the denomination's Advance giving
program, provides meals at 93 schools, mostly in rural areas. It reaches
16,877 youngsters. The program is so important to the health and nutrition of
children that it is continued in the summer through vacation Bible schools.

Total funds needed to support the hot lunch ministry are about $480,000 per
year, but only $223,815 was raised in 2003, meaning that it must be cut back
in the months ahead.  One of the most generous supporters of the Hot Lunch
Program is the Haiti Task Force of the East and West Michigan Conferences.
	
The Advance also provides support to several schools, medical clinics and
sanitation efforts in Haiti.

# # #

*Wright is a communications consultant for the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries.

The full text of Day's statement follows:

Statement on Haiti, March 2, 2004
	
The millions of good people of Haiti are suffering from yet another bloody
cycle of violence.

I am disturbed by the slowness of the international community in stabilizing
the political, military and economic situation there. I am perplexed by the
conflicting reports on the roles of outside interests in fanning the conflict
in Haiti and in the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. I am
heartsick over the attitude and policy of the United States toward Haitian
refugees seeking safety in a time of war. 

In the last three weeks, innocent children, youth, and adults have been
killed and maimed and democracy has been mortally wounded by the clash of
government and anti-government forces. The tardy response of the United
States and other countries has increased the hemorrhaging.

The time is vastly overdue for the United States and the international
community to address the poverty and other causes that keep Haiti in the
vicious cycle of violence. The United Methodist Church and other religious
and humanitarian organizations have worked long and hard for the civil rights
and prosperity of the people of Haiti. We will continue to do so but we
cannot do the job alone. Governments must provide massive resources and a
stable framework in which education, nutrition programs, and other social
services can thrive. Again and again over the years, civil strife has slowed
or destroyed humanitarian programs.

Haiti seems to be a nation disregarded by its giant neighbor to the north as
well as the region and much of the international community. I see this
attitude in the slowness of the organization of an international peacekeeping
force. It is as though blood must be running in the streets of Port-au-Prince
before the international sentiment will react to conflict in Haiti. 

The General Board of Global Ministries will do all it can to serve those
suffering in these days of chaos and transition.  We will also press, once
again, for basic human rights.	Standing on our historic platform of peace
with justice and self-determination, we will emphatically oppose the return
of military rule to Haiti with its insidious reliance on death squads,
torture, and intimidation. 

I am troubled by the conflicting reports on the role of outside interests,
including supporters of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, in the recent
insurgency and in the motivation and means of the removal of President
Aristide. An international panel needs to be convened to explore and clarify
the divergent reports. 

International eyes must look keenly at the elite forces and often concealed
systems of power that allow "thugs" to maintain a pyramid of privilege for
the rich while the poor are left to survive in conditions among the worst in
the world.  Jesus turned pyramids of privilege upside down. I urge all United
Methodists to join the Board in working with the people of Haiti to establish
and sustain a lasting and just peace.

I lift my voice again-for I have done so in the past-against the policy of
the United States to deny refugee status to persons fleeing Haiti in a time
of war. The U.S. action, in effect, returns to the battleground persons
attempting to gain safety.  I find this policy a violation of international
understandings on the right of protective security; I find it morally
abhorrent.  

The current Administration in Washington is not the first to block Haitian
refugees in a time of war.  I protested the policy during the first Bush
Administration and the Clinton Administration and I shall continue to protest
it as long as it exists.  I appeal to American United Methodists and all
citizens of goodwill to oppose and change the policy. 

R. Randy Day
General Secretary
General Board of Global Ministries
The United Methodist Church				       
March 2, 2004

 
 

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United Methodist News Service
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