U.N. Embargo on Haiti Is Killing 1,000 Children a Month, Study Says

As many as a thousand Haitian children are dying each month as a direct result of the U.N.-imposed embargo on the Caribbean nation, the New York Times reported in today’s editions.

Citing a study to be released this week by public health experts at Harvard University, the newspaper said the oil embargo and other sanctions that had been designed to help restore democracy in Haiti have turned deadly.

Although international attention has focused largely on killings and political terrorism in Haiti since the September, 1991, coup that deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, “the human toll from the silent tragedy of humanitarian neglect has been far greater than either the violence or human rights abuses,” the study said.

Normally, it said, nearly 3,000 children aged 5 or younger die in Haiti each month. That figure has now increased by about 1,000 a month.

The study, titled “Sanctions in Haiti: Crisis in Humanitarian Action,” has also found that the embargo has contributed to as many as 100,000 new cases of moderate to severe malnutrition, the newspaper said.

In addition, it said that although the embargoes against Haiti have made exceptions for relief supplies, the sanctions have severely affected food production and the availability of drugs and vaccines.

Shortages have caused contractors to cut food distribution to 1,500 feeding centers in northwestern Haiti, the poorest region of the poorest nation in the hemisphere.

Trying to cushion the embargo’s impact on the poor, Prime Minister Robert Malval’s government has won exemptions for some fuels, such as propane for cooking.

But with no immediate end to the sanctions in sight, relief workers have said they expect continuing starvation and death.