Economic Justice in Haiti Requires Debt Restitution PDF

FRANCES OVERDUE DEBT TO HAITI

2 fév. 2022 8 The Independence Debt is a lasting injustice against Haiti with which French leaders continue to reckon amid renewed calls for compensation.9 ...

Public debt and slavery : the case of Haiti (1760-1915)

interpretation of Haiti's downfall is the financial oppression exerted by France which imposed an independence debt to Haiti (to compensate for losses of

A DEBT OF DISHONOR

2 The payments from Haiti were intended to indemnify French plantation owners for property including enslaved persons

The Odious Haitian Independence Debt

15 juil. 2021 intertwined history of Haiti and France and often discuss the Haitian Independence Debt (e.g. Brière. 2006; Benoît 1971).

I. Haiti France and the Independence Debt. A. The Pearl of the Antilles

French losses in Haiti in the period 1801-1803 exceeded 52000. During the same period

Haiti France and the Independence Debt of 1825

%20France%20and%20the%20Independence%20Debt%20of%201825_0.pdf

Economic Justice in Haiti Requires Debt Restitution

and lasting solution to Haiti's grinding poverty: restitu- tion of the independence debt imposed by France in. 1825. The debt—calculated at $21 billion in

The Haitian Independence Debt: A Case for Restitution

In 1825 France demanded $150 million francs from Haiti as a prerequisite to France's recognition of Haitian independence

Common Law S4 Ep 14: Mitu Gulati Episode Transcript

Mitu Gulati who is one of the world's leading experts on sovereign debt. He'll be talking today about odious debt that Haiti paid to France. So this.

9.8 Baby Docs Odious Debts and Haitis Legal Defences

of Haitian history have defined Haiti's external debt over the years. The first period (A) goes back to Haiti's independence from France in 1804

IRC Americas

americas.irc-online.org ANew World of Citizen Action, Analysis, and Policy Options The July donors' meeting refused to discuss the one fair and lasting solution to Haiti's grinding poverty: restitu- tion of the independence debt imposed by France in

1825. The debt - calculated at $21 billion in current dol-

lars - dwarfs current aid commitments and its payment would allow Haitians to develop their economy without the attached strings that keep poor countries dependent on international aid.

Haiti won its independence from France in 1804,

through a bloody 12-year war, becoming the second independent country in the Americas and the only nation in history born of a successful slave revolt. But world powers forced Haiti to pay a second price for entrance into the international community. They refused to recognize Haiti's independence, while French warships remained off its coasts,threatening to invade and reinstitute slavery. After 21 years of resisting, Haiti capitulated to France's terms: in exchange for diplomatic recognition, Haiti's government agreed tocompensate French plantation owners for their loss of "property," including the freed slaves; compensation tobe paid with a loan from a des- ignated French bank. The debt was ten times Haiti's total 1825 revenue and twice what the United States paid France in 1803 for the Louisiana Purchase, which contained seventy-four times more land.

The debt was a crushing burden on Haiti'seconomy.

The government was forced to redirect all economic activity to repay it. A huge percentage of government revenues - 80% in some years - went to debt service, at the expense of investment in education, healthcare, and infrastructure. The tax code and other laws channeled private and public enterprise to export crops such as tropical hardwoods and sugar, which brought in foreign currency for the bank but left the mountainsides bar- ren, the soil depleted, and the population hungry. Haiti did not pay off the independence debt until 1947. Over a century after the global slave trade was eliminat- ed as the evil it was,Haitians werestill paying their ancestors' masters for their freedom. After the debt was paid, Haitians were left with a chronically undeveloped economy, rampant poverty, and a spent land - today rel- atively minor environmental stresses like tropical storms cause catastrophic damage in vulnerable Haiti. Economic instability has engendered political instability. Haitians have endured more than 30 coups since 1825, and most of the resulting rulershavebeen malignant dictatorships

The independence debt was not only immoral and

onerous, it was also illegal. In 1825 aggression and oppression did not violate international law, but the reintroduction of slavery - the threat underlying the debt agreement - did. It had been banned by three treaties that France had signed by 1815. Haiti has a new democratic government, and an oppor- tunity to make a clean break from the past. The $750 million that the international community has promised towards this transition is a lot of money, but it is less than a year'sinterest on the $21 billion dollars that Haiti owes France. Moreover, if the past is any guide, not all of the promised moneywill arrive,and much of it will come with strings attached - loan repayments, import tariff reductions, privatization of government

Americas Program Commentary

Economic Justice in Haiti Requires Debt

Restitution

By Anthony Phillips and Brian Concannon Jr. | September 7, 2006 Ameeting of international diplomats and financiers in Port-au-Prince this summer ended up with a commitment of $750 million in foreign aid to Haiti over the coming year. This generosity will build

badly needed roads, schools and hospitals, which will make a real difference to ordinary Haitians - the

poorest people in the Americas - in the short-term. But what Haiti really needs to permanently end centuries of misery is not the world's charity, but its justice. services, etc. - that will perpetuate Haiti's dependence oninternational help. If the international community really wants to help Haiti, repayment of the independence debt will be at the top of the agenda, not off the table. A just repay- ment of the independence debt, by contrast, would allow Haiti to develop the way today's wealthy countries did - based on national priorities set inside the country. It would also right a historical wrong, and set a strong example of good neighbor policies for a global neigh- borhood. Anthony Phillips works with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH). Human rights lawyer

Brian Concannon Jr. directs the IJDH, found at

www.ijdh.org.and is an analyst with the IRC

Americas Program at www.americaspolicy.org. This

article was original published on TomPaine.com at aiti.php.

Published by the Americas Program of the International Relations Center (IRC, online at www.irc-online.org). ©Creative Commons - some

rights reserved.

The Americas Program

"A New World of Citizen Action, Analysis, and Policy Options"

Founded in 1979, the IRC is a nonprofit policy studies center whose overarching goal is to help forge a new global affairs agenda for the

U.S. government and people - one that makes the United States a more responsible global leader and partner. For more information,

visit www.americaspolicy.org or email americas@irc-online.org.

Recommended citation:

AnthonyPhillips and Brian Concannon, Jr., "Economic Justice in Haiti Requires Debt Restitution," IRC Americas Program (Silver City, NM:International Relations Center,

September 7, 2006).

Web location:

http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3494

Production Information:

Writer: AnthonyPhillips Brian Concannon, Jr.

Editor: Laura Carlsen, IRC

Layout: Nick Henry,IRC

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