wfn.org | Re: WCC NEWS: Haiti: Education is crucial to grapple with violence

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 27/11/2008 13:58:15

HAITI: EDUCATION IS CRUCIAL TO GRAPPLE WITH VIOLENCE

Education is crucial to grapple with violence, the president of the  Protestant Federation of Haiti, Rev. Sylvain Exantus, told an international  ecumenical team visiting Haiti from 24 to 28 November.

Together with family and church, the school is the third most important  ambit for the formation and transmission of values. A person deprived of  those can be easily manipulated to engage in violent acts, explained  Exantus, who voiced his concern that violent conflicts may erupt within 4  or 5 years if something is not done to provide education to thousands of  children in the country who never went to school.

"I see these children in the streets, many coming from broken families,  and I am afraid that there is the potential of violence", he told the  6-person team visiting the country as Living Letters on behalf of the  World Council of Churches (WCC). Living Letters are small ecumenical teams  visiting a country to listen, learn, as well as share approaches and  challenges in overcoming violence and peace making.

Although some progress has been made in strengthening the judiciary and  combating criminality, Haiti remains one of the countries with the highest  incidence of violence in the world.

In Prof. Rosny Desroches' opinion, violence in Haiti is the consequence of  both internal and external factors. Amongst the latter he mentions the  fact that the country is on the transit route of drug trafficking from  Colombia to the United States and Canada. This encouraged the formation of  local gangs openly tolerated under the regime of President Jean-Bertrand  Aristide. Endogenous factors include unemployment, which affects over 70 %  of the youth, massive migration from rural areas to the cities, and a  corrupted judicial system.

According to Desroches, who was minister of education between 1986 and  1987, there have been persistent accusations that judges continue  releasing convicted criminals in exchange for large sums of money. The  police has been accused of brutality and complicity in crimes. Vetting the  judges and the purge of corrupt police officers are crucial to restore  confidence in these institutions.

Yet Desroches referred to positive developments like the consolidation of  civil and political rights, the strengthening of a civil society engaged  in the struggle to overcome violence, and the promotion of a culture of  rights - a process in which media is playing an important role.

Pastor Hyacinthe Junie, a member of the Protestant Federation executive  board, said that the prevailing impunity fosters a spiral of violence in  the country. When justice is lacking, some people opt to oppose violence  with more violence, asserted Junie, one of the three writers of a  comprehensive report on kidnapping in Haiti.

A number of civil society movements have joined together in the National  Fight against Kidnapping and organized protest marches in Port of Prince  and Cap-Haitien, whereas the Citizens Forum, which will celebrate its  ninth assembly this December, is focusing its attention in issues like  mediation and reconciliation.

In this context, churches can also contribute through the formation of  peacemakers, people who will not solve the conflicts by recurring to  violence, said Exantus. "We may be a positive factor in the formation of  citizens who are conscious of belonging to a community founded upon the  respect to human rights and that seeks the commonwealth," he underlined.

The WCC Living Letters delegation to Haiti is meeting a broad range of  organizations, experts, politicians, church leaders and congregations.  Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year throughout  the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence in order  to prepare for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation to be held  in Jamaica in 2011.

Additional information on the Living Letters visit to Haiti:
http://overcomingviolence.org/?id=6423

>WCC member churches in Haiti:
>http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=4691

Additional information:

Juan Michel +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.