January 22, 2010

GENEVA – In view of the tremendous loss of human life and the extent of the devastation as a result of the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January, the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, called for a new and lasting engagement with Haiti "going beyond emergency response and recovery to a deeper solidarity with Haiti's struggle for stability and development."

Even after the earthquake and its consequences disappear from the international news headlines, "the international community must continue to accompany Haiti in new long-term partnership based on a clear analysis and acknowledgement of the historical, political and economic processes that already before the earthquake had led Haiti into such a vulnerable situation," he said.

The disaster devastated the whole nation, destroying the infrastructure of most basic services, and crippling the machinery of government and its capacity to help its own citizens. As a result, the global emergency response to this disaster must match its unprecedented circumstances. Noko emphasized that the conditions for effective and comprehensive distribution of essential supplies to all affected areas must be secured as a matter of utmost priority.

For LWF General Secretary Noko, the time had come "to reverse Haiti's history of disaster and impoverishment, and to build hope in Haiti's future." He added that the prospects of the world's first black republic had been poisoned from the outset by external economic and political oppression. Haiti had descended into a spiral of debt and underdevelopment from which it has never recovered, he said.

In the light of Haiti's history of international and domestic exploitation, the environmental and social devastation it had suffered as a result, and now the calamitous effects of the earthquake, it was illegitimate for these debts to continue to be claimed, Noko said.

"I call for an immediate and complete moratorium on Haiti's debt service obligations and cancellation of the remaining debt. I call for international assistance to Haiti – including that now offered by the International Monetary Fund in the context of this emergency – to be provided in the form of grants, not loans such as that which set the newly-born republic on the road to intractable poverty."

The LWF general secretary also called for "international cooperation in repatriating funds stolen from the people of Haiti by former dictators." For the post-disaster period, Noko urged long-term international cooperation for education and the promotion of investment in Haiti.

The worldwide Lutheran communion through the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) in collaboration with ACT Alliance and UN partners is working hard to bring aid to the people of Haiti under exceptionally difficult conditions. The LWF is scaling up its emergency relief activities in Haiti, while maintaining its regular development work to support livelihoods for Haitians.

Noko pointed out that, in the aftermath of the earthquake, large population shifts were taking place, with people moving from the worst-hit cities to other communities and the countryside. The exact numbers of internally displaced people were still unclear, but would easily reach 500,000 to 600,000 people.

Noko assured that the LWF was planning to work, in cooperation with other ACT Alliance members and UN organizations, on giving secure and durable shelter to the displaced people. ACT Alliance is the world's largest global alliance of churches and related humanitarian and development agencies.

"I pray for the people, the government, and the churches of Haiti – including the Eglise Lutherienne d'Haiti – as they struggle to rebuild lives, communities and hope in the wake of this calamity," Noko concluded.

The full text of LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko's statement is available in pdf format at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF_Statement_Haiti-2009-EN.pdf.

Follow Communio in Action on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/Haiti_Quake.html.

You can support the LWF Department for World Service relief efforts in Haiti by making a donation on-line at: http://donations.lutheranworld.org/.

Further information about LWF/DWS Caribbean/Haiti is available at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-Caribbean-Haiti.html.

Lutheran World Information