Reblogging this from
March, 2010 because on MTP Mike Pence and then Hugh Hewitt insulted this effort to help Haiti.
Leaders from all over the world - government and NGOs - have convened to assist earthquake-stricken Haiti.
International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York
March 31, 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Thank you very much, Secretary General, and thank you for your
leadership and your personal commitment to this international endeavor.
President
Preval, to you and the members of your government, we thank you for the
extraordinary work that you have done leading up to this point.
To
former President Clinton, with whom I first went to Haiti many years
ago about two months after we were married, thank you for taking on
another assignment from the Secretary General.
And to all of the
countries and international institutions represented here, thank you.
Thank you for the immediate response to the overwhelming catastrophe
that afflicted the Haitian people and thank you for your continuing
commitment.
We have had over 140 nations working to support the
Government of Haiti in delivering food, temporary shelter, and medical
care to thousands of survivors. But the emergency relief is only the
beginning of what will be a long road to recovery, as the Secretary
General just pointed out; one that will require global support.
Some
people wonder, “Why Haiti? Why this great outpouring of international
humanitarian concern and commitment to Haiti’s future? Why is Haiti’s
fate of such consequence to the region and the world that it deserves
sustained help? Why should we hope that this time, with our collective
assistance, Haiti can achieve a better future?” These are questions that
deserve answers and I believe that this conference will begin to do so.
The
humanitarian need, we know, is great. Therefore, as fellow human
beings, we respond from a position of conscience and morality to help
those who, but for the grace of God, we could be in a world where
natural disasters are often unpredictable, inflicting great costs. Haiti
was a country of 9 million people before the earthquake. Today, more
than a quarter of a million of those people have died. More than a
million are homeless. Hundreds of thousands live in temporary camps
without enough food or sufficient access to sanitation. Nearly every
government agency has been destroyed along with universities, hospitals,
and primary schools, which we know are the foundations to a nation’s
long-term progress. Close to a million young people were preparing to
enter the job market within five years. Now their opportunities have
crumbled while the need for jobs has multiplied.
Before the
earthquake, Haiti was on a path to progress. The government, led by
President Preval, had started enacting critical reforms. Haiti’s economy
grew by nearly 3 percent last year. Two international chains launched
new hotels, a sign of a rising tourism industry. New factories were
opening and others had been contracted to begin production. But with the
earthquake, the results of much of this hard work were wiped away. But
the people of Haiti never gave up. As they mourn their losses, they
gathered the resources they had left and began working around the clock
to put their lives and their country back together. They relied on the
strength and the spirit that have carried them through tough times
before. But they need our help. They cannot succeed without the support
of the global community, and we need Haiti to succeed. What happens
there has repercussions far beyond its borders.
There are two
paths that lie before us. If Haiti can build safe homes, its citizens
can escape many of the dangers they now face and return to more normal
lives. If Haiti can realize broad-based, sustainable economic growth, it
can create opportunity across the country beyond Port-au-Prince so
Haitians don’t have to move to their capital or leave their country to
find work. If Haiti can build strong health and education systems, it
can give its people the tools they need to contribute to their nation’s
progress and fulfill their own God-given potentials. If Haiti can create
strong, transparent, accountable institutions, it can establish the
credibility, trust, and stability its people have long-deserved. And if
Haiti can do all of those things with our help, it will become an engine
for progress and prosperity generating opportunity and fostering
greater stability for itself and for countries throughout the hemisphere
and beyond.
But there is another path that Haiti could take, a
path that demands far less of Haiti and far less of us. If the effort to
rebuild is slow or insufficient, if it is marked by conflict, lack of
coordination, or lack of transparency, then the challenges that have
plagued Haiti for years could erupt with regional and global
consequences. Before the earthquake, migration drained Haiti of many
talented citizens, many of whom live in our country. If new jobs and
opportunity do not emerge, even more people will leave.
Before the
earthquake, quality healthcare was a challenge for Haiti. Now, it is
needed even more urgently. Haiti has the highest rate of tuberculosis in
the hemisphere, the highest rate of HIV, the highest rates of infant,
child, and maternal mortality, one of the highest rates of child
malnutrition. And with the public health system now shattered, those
numbers will climb. The lack of sanitation services could cause
outbreaks of lethal illnesses. And the lack of reliable medical services
could give rise to new drug-resistant strains of disease that will soon
cross borders.
Before the earthquake, hunger was a problem for
Haiti. Years of deforestation had stripped the land of its rich topsoil
and people struggled to grow or purchase enough food to feed their
families. The riots over food that broke out in 2008 toppled Haiti’s
government. Now, food is even more scarce, and people more desperate.
Before
the earthquake, security was a challenge for Haiti, and a United
Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSTAH, helped promote the rule of law.
Now the dedicated UN workers in Haiti have suffered terrible losses. So
have the Haitian National Police, which were building their ranks and
their capacity. With so much destruction and dislocation, security is
even more tenuous. Drug trafficking is a half a billion dollar a year
industry in Haiti. It thrives on political and social instability.
Trafficking in human beings is also rampant. Tens of thousands of
children are trafficked in Haiti every year, and now even more are
vulnerable.
Now, each of these problems directly affects the
people of Haiti, but they indirectly affect us all. And if they worsen,
it is not only the people of Haiti who will suffer. Yet I have great
confidence in the resilience of the people of Haiti. Their history has
tested them and now they are being tested again. So are Haiti’s leaders,
in whom I also have great confidence. So we are called to do better
than we have in the past. Many countries here have helped Haiti in the
past. Many NGOs have helped Haiti in the past. We cannot do what we’ve
done before.
The leaders of Haiti must take responsibility for
their country’s reconstruction. They must make the tough decisions that
guide a strong, accountable, and transparent recovery. And that is what
they are starting to do with the creation of a new mechanism that
provides coordination and consultation so aid can be directed where it
is most needed. And we in the global community, we must also do things
differently. It will be tempting to fall back on old habits – to work
around the government rather than to work with them as partners, or to
fund a scattered array of well-meaning projects rather than making the
deeper, long-term investments that Haiti needs now. We cannot retreat to
failed strategies.
I know we’ve heard these imperatives before –
the need to coordinate our aid, hold ourselves accountable, share our
knowledge, track results. But now, we cannot just declare our
intentions. We have to follow through and put them into practice.
Therefore, this is not only a conference about what financially we
pledge to Haiti. We also have to pledge our best efforts to do better
ourselves – to offer our support in a smarter way, a more effective way
that produces real results for the people of Haiti.
So let us say
here, with one voice, we will pass this test for us. To that end, the
United States pledges $1.15 billion for Haiti’s long-term recovery and
reconstruction. This money will go toward supporting the Government of
Haiti’s plan to strengthen agriculture, energy, health, security, and
governance. We are committed to working with the people and
organizations throughout Haiti, including civil society groups, private
businesses, NGOs, and citizens. And I’m very glad to see so many of them
represented here today.
We will also be looking for ways to
engage our Haitian diaspora. Haitian Americans have much to contribute
to this effort. And we will seek specifically to empower the women of
Haiti. I’ve said this so many times that I know I sound like a broken
record, but investing in women is the best investment we can make in any
country. And investing in the Haitian women will fuel the long-term
economic recovery and progress, not only for them, but for their
families.
Over the years, all of our countries have learned many
lessons, particularly from the tsunami that the United Nations was
instrumental in leading the response to. Now, we must put those lessons
to work in Haiti. I’m very excited and very committed on behalf of
President Obama, the Government of the United States, and the people of
the United States to help Haiti and to help the leaders of Haiti lead a
recovery effort worthy of their highest hopes.
Thank you so much, Secretary General. (Applause.)

- NEW
YORK - MARCH 31: (L to R) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Haitian President Rene
Garcia Preval and former U.S. President and U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti
Bill Clinton attend the opening session of the "International Donors'
Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti" at United Nations
headquarters March 31, 2010 in New York City. The United Nations and
United States are jointly hosting the donors conference for the Haitian
government which is seeking about $3.8 billion in funds to assist the
country in recovery from the devastating January 12 earthquake. (Photo
by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

- U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) speaks as U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon (C) and Hatian President Rene Preval (R) listen during the
International Donors' Conference meeting towards a "New Future for
Haiti" at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, March 31, 2010. Some
120 countries, international organizations and aid groups are meeting
at the United Nations in New York to pledge support for a Haitian
government recovery plan that includes decentralizing the economy to
create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4
million people. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

- NEW
YORK - MARCH 31: (L to R) U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Haitian President Rene
Garcia Preval and former U.S. President and U.N. Special Envoy for Haiti
Bill Clinton attend the opening session of the "International Donors'
Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti" at United Nations
headquarters March 31, 2010 in New York City. The United Nations and
United States are jointly hosting the donors conference for the Haitian
government which is seeking about $3.8 billion in funds to assist the
country in recovery from the devastating January 12 earthquake. (Photo
by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

- Canadian
Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon (L) speaks as U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton (R) listens at the International Donors' Conference
meeting towards a "New Future for Haiti" at United Nations Headquarters,
in New York, March 31, 2010. Some 120 countries, international
organizations and aid groups are meeting at the United Nations in New
York to pledge support for a Haitian government recovery plan that
includes decentralizing the economy to create jobs and wealth outside
Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people. REUTERS/Chip East
(UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

- Catherine
Ashton, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, speaks
as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) listens at the
International Donors' Conference meeting towards a "New Future for
Haiti" at United Nations Headquarters, in New York, March 31, 2010. Some
120 countries, international organizations and aid groups are meeting
at the United Nations in New York to pledge support for a Haitian
government recovery plan that includes decentralizing the economy to
create jobs and wealth outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4
million people. REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

- French
Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner speaks as U.S. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton (R) listens at the International Donors'
Conference meeting towards a "New Future for Haiti" at United Nations
Headquarters, in New York, March 31, 2010. Some 120 countries,
international organizations and aid groups are meeting at the United
Nations in New York to pledge support for a Haitian government recovery
plan that includes decentralizing the economy to create jobs and wealth
outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people.
REUTERS/Chip East (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

- NEW
YORK - MARCH 31: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (L)
speaks as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon looks on during the opening
session of the "International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future
for Haiti" at United Nations headquarters March 31, 2010 in New York
City. The United Nations and United States are jointly hosting the
donors conference for the Haitian government which is seeking about $3.8
billion in funds to assist the country in recovery from the devastating
January 12 earthquake. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

- Former
U.S. President Bill Clinton (R), a U.N. special representative for
Haiti, speaks as Haitian President Rene Preval (2nd R), U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2nd L) and U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton listen during the International Donors' Conference
meeting towards a "New Future for Haiti" at United Nations Headquarters,
in New York, March 31, 2010. Some 120 countries, international
organizations and aid groups are meeting at the United Nations in New
York to pledge support for a Haitian government recovery plan that
includes decentralizing the economy to create jobs and wealth outside
Port-au-Prince, the capital of some 4 million people. REUTERS/Chip East
(UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)

Hmmmmm... I thought helping Haiti was a
good thing! Did you think so too? Why not
chip in what you can to support our former secretary of state who was kind to a stricken neighbor on our behalf!