Haitian women's participation in national life, especially in politics, is essential to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. Credit: Valeria Vilardo/IPS

By Valeria Vilardo
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jul 18 2013 (IPS)

More than two years ago, Haiti’s parliament approved a landmark amendment to the country’s 1987 constitution to ensure that women fill at least 30 percent of elected and appointed positions at the national level.

But despite some advancements – for example, out of 23 ministries in the current Martelly-Lamothe administration (2011-2016), 10 are headed by women – implementation of the law has stalled."Women in political and decision-makers' positions are sensitive to defending other women from all forms of violence, especially sexual violence." -- Wany Berrenite of OFAC

“With the support of women’s organisations, traditionally active since 1986, women in political positions have the potential to transform the entire society, which is mostly supported on their work,” Marina Gourgue, state secretary for professional education, told IPS.

“Women in political power and in decision-making positions have the highest capacities to influence the political, legislative and economic agenda… to advance their rights,” she said.

“[But] it is necessary to have an implementation law that indicates in detail how to go forward for the concrete realisation of Constitutional Article 17-1, or to include this disposition in the new electoral law,” Gourgue said.

Haitian women constitute slightly more than half of the population, and their contribution to the social, political and economic life of the impoverished country is also greater by virtue of their dual roles at home and in the workplace.

Overall, women’s representation in legislatures around the world is 20 percent, far from gender parity.

In 2010, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Haiti ranked as one of the bottom countries in terms of women’s participation in politics and decision-making processes.

Things improved somewhat with the 2011 elections, which followed the devastating earthquake the previous year. Today, the lower house of the Haitian Parliament has five women deputies out of a total of 99 – Marie Jossie Etienne, Ogline Pierre, Guerda Benjamin Bellevue, Marie Denise Bernadeau and Ruffine Labbé.

In the Senate, they are practically invisible, with only one female senator, Edmonde Supplice Beauzile.

“It is necessary that the Haitian government takes action to implement the minimum quota of 30 percent and seeks to obtain full equality in terms of women’s participation, achieving 50 percent in all elected and appointed positions, in both the upper and lower houses,” Jean-Claude Muenda Kabisayi, UN Women’s representative in Haiti, told IPS.

Wany Berrenite is the director of OFAC (Organization Femme en Action, Women in Action Organisation), a grassroots non-governmental organisation that brings together women living in marginalised contexts in Petit Goâve, a coastal town 68 kilometres southwest of the capital Port-au-Prince.

“The adoption of the minimum quota can contribute to enable women to support gender-sensitive policies and to ensure that the needs and rights of Haitian women are attended to,” she told IPS.

OFAC provides training, tools and support to empower women at the social, political and economic levels to enhance their full participation in Haitian society.

Haitian law provides for equal working conditions regardless of gender, religious beliefs or marital status, but does not explicitly prohibit sexual harassment, which is rampant in the workplace.

“Sexual harassment is ordinary in Haiti,” Berrenite said. “Women in political and decision-makers’ positions are sensitive to defending other women from all forms of violence, especially sexual violence.

“Women’s organisations are calling on the Haitian government to seriously address violence against women and girls with appropriate laws that can punish these crimes that impoverish our threatened country,” she added.

Women’s participation in national life, especially in politics, is also essential to strengthen democracy and the rule of law.

One of the major obstacles for women is the structural discrimination associated with the patriarchal organisation of society and limited access to formal education.

“There are many cultural barriers and gender stereotypes that determine the common perception of politics as a male affair,” UN Women’s Kabisayi told IPS.

“It is in the political sphere that we have the instruments and budget for the development, through the formulation and implementation of laws. Women’s presence in politics is not just essential to advance women’s rights but the rights of the entire society,” he added.

These disparities are especially pronunced at the local level. In the last elections, only three percent of women were elected to the Administration Council and two percent to the judicial branch.

In March, the United Nations Security Council called on Haitian political leaders to break a 16-month impasse that has prevented the holding of long overdue elections, which were supposed to take place in January 2012.

The same month, Haiti’s National Palace noted that parliament had finally sent the names of three of its members to sit on a nine-member electoral council that will be tasked with holding elections for mayors and 10 of 30 senate seats.

However, ongoing political friction, disagreements and concerns about who will ultimately sit on the powerful council risk delaying the balloting further.

“Politics as a zero-sum game is not something that moves a country forward,” Nigel Fisher, the head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), said in a Mar. 21 statement calling on the government to immediately schedule new elections.

“Developing consensus around core elements of an inclusive, political process and democratic institutions is very important.”

Jaragua National Park, famous for housing the world’s tiniest reptile, will itself be in danger if the green light is given to mega-hotel projects instead of ecotourism and sustainable development initiatives, say Dominican ecologists.

Aguilas Bay in Jaragua National Park Credit: Valeria Vilardo/IPS

Tourism interests, focused on large hotels, stress the white-sand beaches and clear waters of this part of the Dominican Republic.

Located in the southwestern province of Pedernales, bordering Haiti, Jaragua National Park is the area of greatest biodiversity in the Antilles. Its 1,374 square kilometres encompass forests, beaches and islands.

Endemic species include the rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta) and Ricord’s iguana (Cyclura ricordi), which are both threatened. Since November 2002 the park has been one of three core areas in the biosphere designated by UNESCO, along with the Lago Enriquillo and Sierra de Bahoruco parks.

This is where the world’s smallest reptile was discovered, the Jaragua sphaero, or dwarf gecko (Sphaerodactylus ariasae), just 16 millimetres long.

On the beaches of Jaragua park, sea turtles lay their eggs, like the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and it is an important habitat to the freshwater turtle, the Hispaniola slider (Trachemys decorata), also endangered.

The name “Jaragua” comes from the language of the Taíno Indians, for whom the area was part of the Xaraguá Chiefdom. It is the only protected portion of the geological formation known as the Southern Paleoisland, one of the two that united 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to form what is now Hispaniola (the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

The Sierra de Bahoruco, the mountain range that covers the entire park and extends to Haiti, was a separate formation, which explains why it holds so many endemic species and has served as a centre for the propagation of plants and animals across the Antilles, say experts.

Aguilas Bay, a pristine seven-kilometre beach on the west coast of the park, has long attracted foreign firms interested in tourism development.

The government is considering several investment proposals. Since April it has been evaluating a plan from a Canadian mining company, whose name has not yet been divulged, to invest 850 million dollars in the construction of two hotels with golf courses in Pedernales, very close to Jaragua Park.

The project would be in Cabo Rojo, a few km from Aguilas Bay, the tourism deputy secretary for the southern zone, José Altagracia Santana, told Tierramérica.

Although it is not part of the park, Cabo Rojo does form part of the same ecosystem and is within the biosphere reserve protected by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation).

“Before any evaluation, the companies interested in building hotels are required to present an environmental impact study that includes all the elements established under Law 64-00,” Joselin Livian, deputy secretary for the environment and natural resources in the neighbouring province of Barahona, told Tierramérica.

Also in Cabo Rojo, the Sierra Bauxita Dominicana firm is mining for bauxite. A huge mining and port complex has transformed the landscape and blue seas, and has displaced the sea turtles that used to lay eggs there.

In order to protect the turtles in Cabo Rojo and the park’s beaches, the Jaragua Group, the most active environmental organisation in the area, works to prevent the eggs from being stolen and to stop the capture of the turtles themselves for their prized shells.

But tourism is another story. “The impact of a great number of tourists would not only threaten the endemic species in these areas, but the entire ecosystem, which is unique in the world,” the director of the Jaragua Group, Yvonne Arias, told Tierramérica.

Tourism is the second leading source of revenue for this Caribbean country, which has 676 hotels, receiving some eight million visitors in 2007-2008, according to Central Bank figures. The Dominican Republic has a population of 9.5 million.

“It is necessary to foment the development of environmentally friendly local micro-enterprises and infrastructure for equitable use of these areas, which includes the local population that is otherwise excluded from the benefits generated by ‘all-inclusive’ tourism,” said Arias.

Sustainable ecotourism could be a strategy to develop this province, where more than 60 percent of households are poor.

In Pedernales, mortality for children five and under is 38 percent, while chronic malnutrition affects 15 percent of young children between the ages of six months and 59 months – five percentage points higher than the national average, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Unemployment among young adults is also a serious problem, standing at 30 percent among people 15 to 24 years old.

Empowering the local population and institutions is one of the strategies to promote nature conservation in the area.

That is the aim of the Araucaria-Enriquillo Project, under way since 1999 with support from Spain’s international development cooperation agency, which is working in several parts in the south of the Dominican Republic to strengthen government management of sustainable development in the biosphere reserve.

(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.)

A unique natural and geological site in the Dominican Republic hangs in the balance in the debate between ecotourism and major hotel expansion.

Aguilas Bay in Jaragua National Park. - Valeria Vilardo/IPS

Tourism interests, focused on “all-inclusive” hotels, have set sights on the white-sand beaches and clear waters of this part of the Dominican Republic.

Located in the southwest province of Pedernales, bordering Haiti, Jaragua National Park is the Antilles’ area of greatest biodiversity. Its 1,374 square kilometers encompass forests, beaches and islands.

It has endemic species, like the rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta) and Ricord’s iguana (Cyclura ricordi), in danger of extinction. Since November 2002 the park has been one of three core areas in the biosphere designated by UNESCO, along with the Lago Enriquillo and Sierra de Bahoruco parks.

This is where the world’s smallest reptile was discovered, the Jaragua sphaero, or dwarf gecko (Sphaerodactylus ariasae), measuring just 16 millimeters.

On the Jaragua park’s beaches, sea turtles come to lay their eggs, like the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea), and it is an important habitat to the freshwater turtle, the Hispaniola slider (Trachemys decorata), also endangered.

The name “Jaragua” comes from the language of the Taíno Indians, for whom the area was part of the Xaraguá Chiefdom. It is the only protected portion of the geological formation known as the Southern Paleoisland, one of the two that united 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to form what is now Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic).

The Sierra de Bahoruco, the mountain range that covers the entire park and extends to Haiti, was a separate formation, which explains why it holds so many endemic species and has served as a center for propagation and spread of plants and animals across the Antilles, say experts.

Aguilas Bay, a pristine seven-kilometer beach on the west coast of the park, has repeatedly attracted foreign firms interested in tourism development.

The government is considering some proposals. Since April it has been evaluating a plan from a Canadian mining company, whose name has not yet been divulged, to invest 850 million dollars in the construction of two hotels with golf courses in Pedernales, very close to Jaragua Park.

The project would be in Cabo Rojo, a few kilometers from Aguilas Bay, the tourism deputy secretary for the southern zone, José Altagracia Santana, told Tierramérica.

Although it is not part of the park, Cabo Rojo does form part of the same ecosystem and is within the biosphere reserve protected by UNESCO (United Nations, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

“Before any evaluation, the companies interested in building hotels are required to present an environmental impact study that includes all the elements established under Law 64-00,” Joselin Livian, deputy secretary for environment and natural resources in the neighboring province of Barahona, told Tierramérica.

Also in Cabo Rojo, bauxite mining is being developed by the Sierra Bauxita Dominicana firm. A huge mining and port complex has transformed the landscape and blue seas, and has displaced the sea turtles that used to lay eggs there.

In order to protect the turtles in Cabo Rojo and the park’s beaches from threats, the Jaragua Group, the most active environmental organization in the area, works to prevent the eggs from being stolen and to stop the capture of the turtles themselves for their prized shells.

But tourism is another story. “The impact of a great number of tourists would not only threaten the endemic species in these areas, but the entire ecosystem, which is unique in the world,” director of the Jaragua Group, Yvonne Arias, told Tierramérica.

Tourism is the second leading source of revenue for this Caribbean country, which has 676 hotels, receiving some eight million visitors in 2007-2008, according to figures from the Central Bank. The Dominican Republic’s own population is 9.5 million.

“It is necessary to foment the development of environmentally friendly local microenterprises and infrastructure for an equitable use of these areas, which includes the local population that is otherwise excluded from the benefits generated by ‘all-inclusive’ tourism,” said Arias.

Sustainable ecotourism could be a strategy to develop this province, where more than 60 percent of the households are poor.

In Pedernales, mortality for children five and under is 38 percent, while chronic malnutrition affects 15 percent of young children between the ages of six months and 59 months – five percentage points higher than the national average, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Unemployment among young adults is also a serious problem, at a rate of 30 percent among people 15 to 24 years old.

Empowering the local population and institutions is among the strategies to promote nature conservation in the area.

That is the aim of the Araucaria-Enriquillo Project, under way since 1999 with support from Spain’s international development cooperation agency, which is working in several parts in the south of the Dominican Republic to strengthen government management of sustainable development in the biosphere reserve.

Fair trade, organic production, gender equality and education form part of the strategies of thousands of coffee-growers for escaping poverty in the south of the Dominican Republic.

Coffee plantation workers in Los Cacaos, a southern community of the Dominican Republic. - Valeria Vilardo/IPS

The life of 10 percent of the Dominican populations revolves around coffee. And for 700,000 people the crop is their livelihood and only source of income. But the coffee plantations have not brought prosperity to most.

According to the Dominican Institute of Agricultural and Forestry Research, 78 percent of the coffee-growing operations are small, with plantations from one to 50 hectares.

The Central Bank reports that in 2007 the country exported 90,880 quintales (one quintal is 100 kilograms) of organic coffee, with a unit price of 35 dollars wholesale on the New York Stock Exchange.

The coffee plantations are found in the mountainous areas of this Caribbean country — where poverty is also the most severe.

According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), 74 percent of the mountain population is poor. The per capita income among small coffee growers is just 80 cents on the dollar per day, which puts them below the poverty line.

In recent years, the status of the international markets and pest problems have forced many Dominican growers to emigrate or replace their coffee plants with shorter cycle crops.

According to the governmental Dominican Coffee Council, around 25,000 families have left coffee production in the past 20 years and have migrated in search of better living conditions.

Faced with these challenges, the Federation of Coffee Growers of the Southern Region (Fedecares) is working to represent the small and medium producers in 10 provinces.

Made up of 7,500 coffee growers in 215 associations, Fedecares grows 10 to 12 percent of the country's total output.

The small growers of the south and of the north together produce 30 percent of the nation's coffee.

Fedecares is in charge of collecting green coffee (selected and shelled before toasting) to be sold largely to markets in Canada, France, Spain, and the United States.

“All of the production of our coffee is part of fare trade initiatives. Ninety percent of our output is organic and environmentally friendly,” because it does not use synthetic chemical products for fertilizer or pesticides, Fedecares leader Refino Herrera tells Tierramérica.

The members of the federation produced between 20,000 and 25,000 quintales of coffee in 2008. The minimum wage in the sector — for men and women alike — is still low: equivalent to 185 dollars a month.

Improving their living conditions involves educational efforts. To promote university attendance of the children of the coffee-growing families, especially among the lowest incomes, Fedecares created a scholarship program financed by Dominican and Cuban universities.

In 2007, 10 scholarships were awarded for study in either of the two countries. Twenty-five percent of the scholarship recipients work in the coffee sector and in rural development.

“This scholarship has been extremely important, not only for my education and insertion in the labor market, but also because I'm using my knowledge to promote the development of my community, said Cesarina Encarnación, commercial manager for Agroesa, a coffee company in Las Cacaos, 70 kilometers from Santo Domingo.

To provide incentives for best practices, the federation launched an annual contest for fair trade, aimed at small coffee growers. The prize includes a cash award in addition to the portion corresponding to each grower for export sales.

“That money doesn't go to the producer who wins, but rather is used for social programs, for the development of the community, like infrastructure, education and health, Juan Lugo Franco, who has been working in the coffee sector since age 13, told Tierramérica.

“We have monthly meetings in Fedecares where we are informed of how the market is going. The men and women in these meetings decide the policies that we are going to implement,” said Franco.

Women are playing a more active role in coffee production and sales.

“We have trained 40 families so that there would be an equal distribution of land among men and women, Vivana Martes Lorenzo, member of the Association of Women in Action (AMA), told Tierramérica.

“When we began with AMA, we decided to try to get our spouses to give us part of the land. We talked to them to explain that if we worked together we would have more income,” said Felicia Lorenzo, 53 and a coffee plantation owner.

“Since I have had my land to manage, I am more independent and I fell that my work is more recognized,” said this mother of eight. The AMA works with Fedecares to foment and empower women-led coffee projects.

So far, 50 women own their land under this program, and 25 are participating in an women-focused initiative in the southern areas of Los Cacaos, Barahona, Polo and San Cristóbal.

“One of the biggest results of our effort is the greater empowerment of women. Previously, women did not manage the resources. Now they have the opportunity to manage their work and administer their income,” Herrera told Tierramérica.

The coffee exports of nine of the leading coffee producing countries of Latin America, aside from Brazil, grew an average of 3.8 percent by the end of the coffee-growing year (October 2007 to September 2008), according to Guatemala's National Coffee Association.

Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Dominican Republic exported 29.3 million 60-kilogram sacks of coffee in that period, surpassing by nearly four percent the export sales of the previous year.