The Island Nation of Haiti
FACTS ABOUT HAITI:
Haiti's ecology has been significantly damaged since its independence in 1804. Only 7% of the country's original forest remains unscathed by deforestation. Most of the trees have been cut down and used as firewood for heating and cooking. Some wood has been sold to surrounding island nations to provide much needed income. Massive soil erosion has also occurred due to the vast amount of deforestation. Thus, much of the soil in Haiti has been depleted of vital minerals.
Most of the water in Haiti is also polluted. This includes parts of the coastal areas, such as the Bay of Port-au-Prince, and most of the major ports and some coastal towns. The water throughout the country is nonpotable.
Map of Haiti
Haiti is located approximately 750 miles southeast of Florida and just to the east of Cuba. Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti has a land mass of 10,714 sq. miles. Haiti, an Indian word meaning "mountains," is made up of extremely mountainous country of which only 20 percent of the territory lies below 600 feet. The highest mountain in Haiti (Chain de la Sel) is almost 9,000 feet above sea level.
The climate in Haiti is tropical with average temperatures ranging from 80 degrees in January to 86 degrees in July. There are also two rainy seasons. The first runs from April to June and the second between October and November. Like in all Caribbean countries, hurricanes are common.
Most of the water in Haiti is also polluted. This includes parts of the coastal areas, such as the Bay of Port-au-Prince, and most of the major ports and some coastal towns. The water throughout the country is nonpotable.
Map of Haiti
Haiti is located approximately 750 miles southeast of Florida and just to the east of Cuba. Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti has a land mass of 10,714 sq. miles. Haiti, an Indian word meaning "mountains," is made up of extremely mountainous country of which only 20 percent of the territory lies below 600 feet. The highest mountain in Haiti (Chain de la Sel) is almost 9,000 feet above sea level.
The climate in Haiti is tropical with average temperatures ranging from 80 degrees in January to 86 degrees in July. There are also two rainy seasons. The first runs from April to June and the second between October and November. Like in all Caribbean countries, hurricanes are common.
Useful Contact Information for Haiti
CONTACT INFORMATION
U.S. Embassy in Haiti Consular Section (Adoptions Unit) Boulevard du 15 Octobre Tabarre 41 Tabarre, Haiti Tel: 509-2229-8000 (from Haiti); 1-866-829-2842 (from the United States) Email: papadoptions@state.gov
Mailing address in the United States:
U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince Consular Section 3400 Port-au-Prince Pl. Washington, DC 20521-3400
Haitian Adoption Authority Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches” (IBESR) 18 rue des marguerites PORT-AU-PRINCE
Embassy of Haiti 2311 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20008 Tel: (202) 332-4090 Fax: (202) 745-7215 Email: embassy@haiti.org
Note: Haiti also has consulates in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Boston. In addition, Haiti has honorary consuls located in the following cities who may perform authentication services: Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Evansville, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco and Trenton.
Office of Children’s Issues U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW SA-29 Washington, DC 20520 Tel: 1-888-407-4747 E-mail: AskCI@state.gov Website: http://adoption.state.gov
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) For questions about immigration procedures, contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY 1-800-767-1833).
CONTACT INFORMATION
U.S. Embassy in Haiti Consular Section (Adoptions Unit) Boulevard du 15 Octobre Tabarre 41 Tabarre, Haiti Tel: 509-2229-8000 (from Haiti); 1-866-829-2842 (from the United States) Email: papadoptions@state.gov
Mailing address in the United States:
U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince Consular Section 3400 Port-au-Prince Pl. Washington, DC 20521-3400
Haitian Adoption Authority Institut du Bien Etre Social et de Recherches” (IBESR) 18 rue des marguerites PORT-AU-PRINCE
Embassy of Haiti 2311 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20008 Tel: (202) 332-4090 Fax: (202) 745-7215 Email: embassy@haiti.org
Note: Haiti also has consulates in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Boston. In addition, Haiti has honorary consuls located in the following cities who may perform authentication services: Atlanta, Denver, Detroit, Evansville, New Orleans, St. Louis, San Francisco and Trenton.
Office of Children’s Issues U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW SA-29 Washington, DC 20520 Tel: 1-888-407-4747 E-mail: AskCI@state.gov Website: http://adoption.state.gov
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) For questions about immigration procedures, contact the National Customer Service Center (NCSC) at 1-800-375-5283 (TTY 1-800-767-1833).
Overview
Haiti has a long history of underdevelopment and political instability. Haiti is beset by widespread poverty, economic decline, unemployment, poor governance, and severe violence.
Haiti currently has a population of about 8 million people, and 1 million of those inhabitants are abandoned or orphaned children.
Haiti is a small island (it actually shares an island with the Dominican Republic) and with a surface area of just 27,797 square kilometers (km2), Haiti is second only to Barbados as the most densely populated country (306 people per km2) in the Americas.
Here are some staggering facts about the situation in Haiti:
statistics provided by World Bank Report 36060-HT
Haiti has a long history of underdevelopment and political instability. Haiti is beset by widespread poverty, economic decline, unemployment, poor governance, and severe violence.
Haiti currently has a population of about 8 million people, and 1 million of those inhabitants are abandoned or orphaned children.
Haiti is a small island (it actually shares an island with the Dominican Republic) and with a surface area of just 27,797 square kilometers (km2), Haiti is second only to Barbados as the most densely populated country (306 people per km2) in the Americas.
Here are some staggering facts about the situation in Haiti:
- Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere
- 50% of all Haitian households live in extreme poverty using the U.S. standard of a $1 per day
- Extremely poor households have about twice as many children as do the nonpoor.
- The country’s per capita GDP, has fallen by about 50 percent to $332 in the last two decades
- Most of the approximately 3.9 million who are extremely poor live in rural areas.
- About 4 in every 10 adults cannot read and write.
- More than 80% do not have access to clean drinking water.
- In rural areas only 10 percent of the inhabitants have electricity and just 3 percent have a telephone.
- The unemployment rate is highest in urban areas and runs close to 49%
- As many as 58 percent of residents in the metropolitan area feel unsafe “often or most of the time” in their own home.
- Haiti has one of the world’s weakest police forces. There are 63 police officers per 100,000 people, less than a quarter of the regional average of 283 per 100,000 and only a third of the average for sub-Saharan African countries.
- Haiti is in our backyard, but yet it is often overlooked. Many charitable organizations and international adoption efforts are focused in Africa while Haiti goes unnoticed.
- Chances for Children was formed specifically to focus on helping to improve lives for the children of Haiti. Haiti needs help to get it’s country back to stability. The future of the country rests in the hands of it’s current and future leaders. It is our belief that by focusing on the children of Haiti, its future leaders, we can begin to pave the way to solvency.
statistics provided by World Bank Report 36060-HT
1697 Spanish control over the colony ends with the Treaty of Ryswick, which divided the island into French-controlled St. Domingue and Spanish Santo Domingo. For over 100 years the colony of St. Domingue (known as the Pearl of the Antilles) was France's most important overseas territory, which supplied it with sugar, rum, coffee and cotton. At the height of slavery, near the end of the 18th century, some 500,000 people mainly of western African origin, were enslaved by the French.
1791-1803 A slave rebellion is launched by the Jamaican-born Boukman leading to a protracted 13-year war of liberation against St. Domingue's colonists and later, Napoleon's army which was also assisted by Spanish and British forces. The slave armies were commanded by General Toussaint Louverture who was eventually betrayed by his officers Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe who opposed his policies, which included reconciliation with the French. He was subsequently exiled to France where he died.
1804 The hemispere's second Republic is declared on January 1, 1804 by General Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Haiti, or Ayiti in Creole, is the name given to the land by the former Taino-Arawak peoples, meaning "mountainous country."
1806 Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines is assassinated.
1807-20 Civil war racks the country, which divides into the northern kingdom of Henri Christophe and the southern republic governed by Alexandre Pétion. Faced with a rebellion by his own army, Christophe commits suicide, paving the way for Jean-Pierre Boyer to reunify the country and become President of the entire republic in 1820.
1821 President Boyer invades Santo Domingo following its declaration of independence from Spain. The entire island is now controlled by Haiti until 1844.
1862 The United States finally grants Haiti diplomatic recognition sending Frederick Douglass as its Consular Minister.
1915 President Woodrow Wilson orders the U.S. Marines to occupy Haiti and establish control over customs-houses and port authorities. The Haitian National Guard is created by the occupying Americans. The Marines force peasants into corvée labor building roads. Peasant resistance to the occupiers grows under the leadership of Charlemagne Peralt, who is betrayed and assassinated by Marines in 1919.
1934 The U.S. withdraws from Haiti leaving the Haitian Armed Forces in place throughout the country.
1937 Thousands of Haitians living near the border of the Dominican Republic are massacred by Dominican soldiers under the orders of President General Trujillo.
1971 "Papa-Doc" Duvalier dies in office after naming his 19 year-old son Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) as his successor. Baby Doc proves more ruthless than his father.
1972 The first Haitian "boat people" fleeing the country land in Florida.
1976 Widespread protests against repression of the nation's press take place.
1970s-1980s "Baby-Doc" Duvalier exploits international assistance and seeks to attract investment leading to the establishment of textile-based assembly industries. Attempts by workers and political parties to organize are quickly and regularly crushed.
1980 Hundreds of human rights workers, journalists and lawyers are arrested and exiled from the country.
1981 International aid agencies declare Haitian pigs to be carriers of African Swine Fever and institute a program for their slaughter. Attempts to replace indigenous swine with imported breeds largely fail, causing wider spread hunger and despair.
1983 Pope John Paul II visits Haiti and declares publicly that, "Things must change here."
1984 Over 200 peasants are massacred at Jean-Rabeau after demonstrating for access to land. The Haitian Bishops' Conference launches a nation-wide (but short-lived) literacy program. Anti-government riots take place in all major towns.
1985 Massive anti-Government demonstrations continue to take place around the country. Four schoolchildren are shot dead by soldiers, an event which unifies popular protest against the régime. 1986 Widespread protests against "Baby Doc" lead the U.S. to arrange for Duvalier and his family to be exiled to France. Army leader General Henri Namphy heads a new National Governing Council.
1987 A new Constitution is overwhelmingly approved by the population in March. General elections in November are aborted hours after they begin with dozens of people shot by soldiers and the Tonton Macoute in the capital and scores more around the country.
1988 Military controlled elections - widely abstained from - result in the installation of Leslie Manigat as President in January. Manigat is ousted by General Namphy four months later and in November General Prosper Avril unseats Namphy.
1989 President Avril, on a trade mission to Taiwan, returns empty-handed after grassroots-based democratic sectors inform Taiwanese authorities that the Haitian nation will not be responsible for any contracts agreed to by Avril. Avril orders massive repression against political parties, unions, students and democratic organizations.
1990 Avril declares a state of siege in January. Rising protests and urging from the American Ambassador convince Avril to resign. In a campaign marred by occasional violence and death, democratic elections finally take place on December 16, 1990. Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide a parish priest, well known throughout the country for his support of the poor, is elected President with 67.5% of the popular vote.
1991 President Aristide is inaugurated on February 7th, five years after Duvalier's fall from power. A Government is formed by Prime Minister René Préval promising to uproot the corruption of the past. In September President Aristide addresses the UN General Assembly. Three days after his return military personnel unleash a coup d'état, ousting President Aristide. Over 1,000 people are killed in the first days of the coup. The OAS calls for a hemisphere-wide embargo against the coup régime in support of the deposed constitutional authorities.
1995 In June Haiti hosts the annual OAS General Assembly at Montrouis. Legislative elections take place that month and in December the presidential contest is won by former Prime Minister René Préval. (President Aristide is precluded by the Constitution from succeeding himself). In November Prime Minister Smarck Michel steps down and Foreign Minister Claudette Werleigh becomes President Aristide's fourth Prime Minister. 1996 President Préval is inaugurated in February. A Government is formed under Prime Minister Rosny Smarth. 2000 Municipal and legislative elections end in disarray because of a flawed vote count, alleged irregularities and fraud charges. The controversy triggers a boycott of the presidential elections later that year, won by Aristide. 2004 The crisis sparked by the allegedly fraudulent election deepens amid a failure of international mediation efforts, a foundering economy and growing political violence. A few weeks after the nation celebrates its 200th anniversary in January, a rebel movement seizes control of a number of towns in an uprising that leads to the resignation of Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004.
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