by Ansel Herz, IPS News

Our friends at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti have made another video about camp conditions in Port-au-Prince. This one features interviews with women who have been raped in the camps. There is also a petition to sign expressing concern about the inadequate response to the sexual violence that women and girls face each day.

NOW: Fight in Haiti, Rich Against Poor

A friend with the Haiti Response Coalition is sending out an alert about a serious situation going on Monday night in the damaged land:

Sign this petition at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.  Tell the powers that be that better aid distribution and transparency is needed in Haiti.

Note: Ruth, an organizer with the Haiti Response Coalition, a group of progressive NGOs including Quixote, Konpay, Beyond Borders and others, is profiled in this piece.

----------------

By Reed Lindsay

This article appeared in the March 29, 2010 edition of The Nation.

March 11, 2010, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Ruth Derilus had seen her share of tragedy. A 33-year-old iron-willed social worker trained by Haiti's Papay Peasant Movement, she twice helped organize relief efforts when massive floods devastated the city of Gonaïves and the surrounding countryside. In September 2004 she worked with women's and youth groups after Tropical Storm Jeanne killed more than 3,000 people. Four years later, she lost her home when a second deluge, unleashed by Tropical Storm Hanna and augmented by Hurricane Ike, once again brought the city to its knees. Ruth kept on going, working to organize rice farmers whose crops had been destroyed.

Since the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti the Quixote Center has been working closely with the newly formed Haiti Response Coalition. Within days the HRC was able to get supplies and medical teams in Jacmel ahead of much larger NGOs and developed a distribution system in Port-au-Prince (PAP) to deliver food and supplies to 19 camps in the area.

Below is a press release from a two-day meeting in PAP where over 100 Haitian leaders developed a plan known as "Initiative for a New Haiti".

Check back at quixote.org as more reports from this important meeting are available.

-------------

After the great and incomparable earthquake hit the country of Haiti, on January 12, 2010, more than three hundred thousand (300,000) people, from all areas and of all ages, died.  State infrastructure and all its institutions have been destroyed.  Many have been wounded or have become handicapped.  Many are hopeless.  People have lost family members, their possessions, money, and work. 

IQALUIT, Canada (Reuters) – Group of Seven countries have told earthquake-ravaged Haiti that any debts it owes them needn't be repaid and international lenders should do the same, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Saturday.

"The debt to multilateral institutions should be forgiven and we'll work with these institutions and other partners to make this happen as soon as possible," Flaherty said at press conference closing a two-day gathering of finance ministers from the G7 industrialized nations.

Read the entire article here.

Jubilee USA Welcomes US Government Support of Haiti Debt Cancellation

As G7 Finance Ministers Prepare to Meet, Treasury Secretary Geithner Announces Support to Cancel Debt and Provide Grants, Not Loans for Recovery

For Immediate Release February 5th
Jubilee USA Network

Read the original ABP article here.

By Fritz Gutwein
Friday, February 05, 2010

(ABP) -- The arrest and jailing in Haiti of 10 Southern Baptists on charges of kidnapping and criminal association is appropriate and consistent with gospel values.