In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in January of 2010, Haiti (already among the poorest nations in the western hemisphere) was left significantly more vulnerable and impoverished than ever before.

         Profoundly unfair labor relations and high unemployment predate the earthquake by decades.  Haiti has a long history of colonial domination, and the existing government has been extremely dependent on international aid for many years.  An unstable-at-best political state and international sanctions against their leadership have made it very difficult to devote sufficient resources to economic development.  A long tradition of corruption has also led to the second largest income gap between the rich and poor in the world.2 Unemployment was estimated at 70 percent or higher even before the earthquake, although weak infrastructure renders collecting accurate data difficult.4 A significant portion of Haitian jobs (beyond catch-as-catch-can labor on a daily basis, which is often the norm) are in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) owned and run by foreign companies.  The EPZs have been proven to be dependent on exploitative labor practices, are frequently the site of sexual harassment and abuse, and their creation had no significant effects on the poverty rate in the areas in which they were established.5 With the destruction of many of these factories came the loss of thousands of jobs, and while the construction of many new plants is a central part of economic recovery planning, there is little reason to believe that more of this type of jobs will contribute significantly to the Haitian economy’s growth and recovery, let alone the well being of the workers.  With high unemployment comes an oversaturated work force, allowing companies to adopt increasingly exploitative labor practices.  

        Particularly vulnerable to abuse in this dismal economic situation are women and children. Many orphaned children and young adults have become the head of their households, forcing them to seek an income to support their younger siblings.  Children are often expected to work for even lower pay than adults, leading them to accept dangerous jobs in the agriculture and construction sectors.  There has also been an increase in child prostitution and the trafficking of children to the Dominican Republic to work in the sex tourism industry.1 An increasing number of children are also becoming as restaveks, live-in servants that work for no pay in exchange for shelter and food.  They are more likely to be girls than boys (especially young girls), and the United Nations classifies them as slaves.6 The market for child labor is just as saturated as that for adults, making them vulnerable to increasingly unsafe working conditions, as well as extremely high rates of physical and sexual abuse.  Women are also being put at particularly high risk in the economic landscape of Haitian recovery.  Because relief programs largely ignore women’s specific needs, hierarchal and gendered power structures have been perpetuated.  Birth control has been largely unavailable, leading to an increase in the percentage of new HIV infections in women, an increased birth rate and, subsequently, increased poverty among female-headed households.  The failure to supply feminine care products renders the majority of women homebound for several days each month, reducing their ability to work.  In the instances in which local opinion is considered in strategic decision-making, it is almost exclusively male opinion.  Women are frequently coerced into exchanging sex for food and aid to support their families, and participation in prostitution among adult women has risen.3 Women are more likely than men to take jobs in the manufacturing and garment industries which, as previously stated, are frequently the site of abusive practices.  

        The influx of foreign money is, despite assumptions to the contrary, detrimental to the success of Haitian businesses.  Local organizations that once provided construction services, loans, and medical care are going out of business because foreign agencies are able to provide the same services free of charge.  Even those who are generally able to pay are opting to utilize the complimentary services, harming local producers and undermining the community’s ability to take a lead in its own economic recovery.7 This is particularly true for the medical community, where an influx of foreign-trained doctors and medical equipment that is too expensive for Haitian medical schools (let alone private practitioners) to be able to afford is rendering their services useless.  The subsequent brain drain of physicians immigrating to other countries to make an income and feed their families is projected to have a significant negative impact on the community when foreign relief work ceases. With the influx of foreign aid coming into Haiti since the earthquake, a large number of low-level jobs have been created within the NGO hierarchy, but these jobs are largely temporary, low paying (USAID pays $5 per day), and do not represent any individual control over the conditions of labor or the choice of which recovery programs are emphasized or funded.4 The perpetuation of existing hierarchies in the relief effort continues the cycle of poverty and unemployment for the majority of the population, while contributing to the power of those who were influential before the earthquake.  

        The relationships between relief workers and civilians are influenced by the international power structure that separates them and indicate a somewhat Orientalist view of the Haitian people, as evidenced by myriad firsthand accounts of American physicians and nurses who flew to Haiti in the days following the disaster.  It seems clear that the Haitian physicians were not granted the same level of access and agency as the Americans.  The only instances in which local laborers were incorporated in the makeshift hospital system, according to an overwhelming majority of accounts, were patient transport and translation.  The public is viewed as a passive receptor of care, and their ability to contribute to their own recovery is seldom acknowledged.  In the accounts of the medical delegation from Stanford, the only Haitians mentioned are the “minimal local law enforcement,” who are then assisted by the U.S. military, whose valiant efforts are discussed ad nauseam.8 Haitians are even excluded in discourses of solidarity, most notably Robert McKersie’s accounts, which exalt the “heroic” actions of the foreign doctors who were “generous in their selfless sharing of skills.”  He marvels at the opportunity to “share this common experience” (with the doctors of other wealthy nations) and at their ability to “accomplish immense good when [they] all work together.”9 His borderline-Orientalist description of the benefactors of this generosity focuses on how the Haitian people are and not how they behave, a possibly unintentional but nonetheless telling occurrence shared by numerous relief workers who wrote about their experiences in Haiti.  “We” (the group of foreign physicians) is often contrasted with “they” (the population), indicating a subtle acceptance of the international power structure that predicates their interaction.

        While the earthquake certainly presented significant new issues to the strengthening of the Haitian economy and advancement of equality in labor relations in the nation, the fundamental issues are the same.  The current response to this long standing set of problems consists primarily of quick fixes and band-aids which, while meeting some of the immediate needs of the citizens, are damaging in the long run.10 The increased availability of free services has marginalized private sector transactions, weakening the Haitian currency and increasing dependence on bartering and private relationships, systems in which advantage invariably goes to the powerful. Permanent, comprehensive solutions to the existing labor issues must also be discussed in order to prevent a return to the poverty that was dominant in 2009 and earlier, and to empower the Haitian people to spearhead their own recovery.  It is misguided to believe that the existing plan to increase EPZ development without addressing preexisting labor issues therein will contribute to lasting economic growth.  A push to establish fair employee-employer relations in this setting, as a model for the rest of the nation, is an important step in assuring the protection of fundamental worker’s rights.  It has been observed countless times that in the communities where grassroots social movements and labor organizations maintained their existing power after the earthquake, the efforts of foreign organizations were able to more effectively meet the needs of the local population.3 Without the patronage approach dominant within foreign aid organizations, these operations and new structures have maintained a sense of accountability to the Haitian people, and many more residents were able to access the services provided in the initial response period.  By assuming positions as stakeholders in their own short term social and long term economic recovery, the Haitian people would adopt a heightened sense of agency, a greater pride in the rebuilding of their nation, and a comparative advantage in the structuring of labor relations within their country for the decades to come.    

Works Cited  

1. Schlein, Lisa. "ILO: Haiti's Children Vulnerable to Labor Abuse." VOA News 7 Mar. 2010. Print.
2. Padgett, Andrew, and Tonia Warnecke. "Diamonds in the Rubble: The Women of Haiti - Institutions, Gender Equity and Human Development in Haiti." Journal of Economic Issues 45.3 (2011): 527-51. Print.
3. Schuller, Mark. "Shattered and Scattered: Haiti's Quake Through the Lens of Human Rights." NACLA Report on the Americas 43.4 (2010): 20-27. Print.
4. Ellingwood, Ken. "Uncovering Jobs a Major Challenge Since Haiti Earthquake." The Los Angeles Times 12 Aug. 2010. Print.
5. Shamsie, Yasmine. "Time for a "High-Road" Approach to EPZ Development in Haiti." Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum Social Science Research Council, 2010. Print.
6. Gupta, Jhumka, and Alpna Agrawal. "Chronic Aftershocks of an Earthquake on the Well-Being of Children in Haiti: Violence, Psychosocial Health, and Slavery."Canadian Medical Association Journal 182.18 (2010): 1997-999. Print.
7. Romano, Lois. "Steady Supply of Medical Services Begins to Pressure Haiti's Doctors."The Washington Post 25 Mar. 2010: A12. Print.
8. Auerbach, P. S., R. L. Norris, A. S. Menon, I. P. Brown, and S. Kuah. "Civil-Military Collaboration in the Initial Medical Response to the Earthquake in Haiti." The New England Journal of Medicine 362.10 (2010): 32. Print.
9. McKersie, Robert C.  “Snapshots of Haiti: A Physician’s Relief Work in a Country in Crisis.”  Annals of Family Medicine 8.6 (2010): 556-58.  Print.
10. Schuller, Mark. "Trauma and Solidarity in the New Haiti." NACLA Report on the Americas 43.2 (2010): 4-5. Print.