Treading on the Downtrodden

To withhold promised and needed help to Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, may be politically advantageous, but it is wrongheaded and destructive.

The Republican-controlled Congress is tying up $13 million in already allocated aid on human rights grounds. Congressional leaders contend the 2-month-old administration of Rene Preval has not met human rights standards required by U.S. law to receive the aid. They cite about 30 cases of political violence over the last 17 months.

Those figures, regrettably, are accurate. However, in the context of previous political violence in Haiti they indicate a drastic and welcome improvement. There were 3,000 deaths attributable to political violence in the three years of military rule before Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Preval’s predecessor, was restored to power 17 months ago. Obviously, an effective justice system cannot be built in a matter on months. So how can the situation be improved by denying a popularly elected government assistance for education, health and self-help programs?

The main allocation of this aid package sets out $4.3 million for basic health services--things like vaccinations, essential supplies, family planning and AIDS prevention. The rest of the money would be used to train teachers and provide books and educational materials for children’s literacy programs. There are also programs to help small farmers make better use of Haiti’s scarce arable land. Altogether, the funds could enable about 2 million people to work better and stay healthy.

Preval should be given a fair chance to put his house in order.