The people of Haiti will be marching on the Government today, Wednesday 11th January 2011, to press MP’s into reforming land laws to allow the building of new houses. It’s been nearly two years since the deadly earthquake smashed Haiti to pieces, killing nearly a quarter of a million people and leaving 1.5million people homeless.
7,500 people will today march through the centre of Port au Prince to demand from the Government access to build adequate housing for those displaced. Led by The Je nan Je (Eye to Eye), which is made up of Haitian organisations, and funded by Action Aid, the movement will march to parliament to demand land to build homes for the 600,000 people who are still homeless.
Director of ActionAid Haiti, Jean-Claude Fignolé, said –
Haiti’s reconstruction process has proved that fighting poverty and making progress are impossible when the people are excluded. Haitians and particularly those most affected by the earthquake should be empowered to play a role in their own development, and should lead on the planning, implementation and monitoring of all rebuilding activity. Haitian organisations, the government and the international community now have the perfect opportunity to come together and define the parameters for a structure that is inclusive, collaborative and most importantly accountable. It is critical for the new prime minister to recognise that the traditional donor- and expert-led reconstruction models have failed the Haitian people so far and the solution is in a people-led model.
Due to complex disputes and a lack of public land to build on, the rebuilding of Haiti is being severely stifled. During the devastating quake, the land registry office was destroyed, losing deeds and creating inheritance disputes across the land. Action Aid officials are hoping to press the government into more development accountability and to allow the people of Haiti to be equal partners in the reconstruction process.
