Understandings of human rights can be different depending on the society. According to Donnelly: “The first world stressed civil and political rights and the right of private property. The second world gave priority to social, economic and cultural rights as prerequisites to civil and political rights. The third world also emphasized social, economic, and cultural rights, as well as the right to self-determination and the right to development.”[1] In this paper I will use the concept of human rights in the context of a third world country, Haiti. As the report of section V from the Nairobi Assembly put it, I will insist that human rights are: “Primary concern, the right to basic guarantees of life (work, food, health, housing, education), followed by right to self-determination and cultural identity, right to participate in decision making within the community, right to dissent, right to personal dignity and lasty right to relious freedom.”[2] In fact every responsible society should take care of its members; this is the fundamental need or the primary concern. I will about Haitian churches and the issue of human rights in Haiti because, after more than 200 years of independence, Haiti is still confronted by many problems about this primary concern or fundamental need.
Haiti is one of the Caribbean countries. The Caribbean region has known much social, political and economic turbulence and seeks stability. All the countries in the Caribbean have a common history of colonialism, neo-colonialism, exploitation and conquest, as well as resistance, dignity and the struggle for survival and for sovereignty. Haiti was the second country in the Western hemisphere, after the United States, to establish its independence from the colonial rules. But the country was immediately isolated, ignored and discrimated against by its slave-owning neighbors and the trading countries of Europe. “In addition, chaos and corruption have characterised Haiti’s politics since its inception.”[3]
Looking at this socio-historical image of Haiti, one can ask what the churches in Haiti did to help this nation to lift up from its misery. The churches in Haiti were and are a victim of this colonial context. “The European colonizers imposed their christocentric religious on both the indigenous people and the African slaves, so that outwardly Christianity became the religion of the newly settled colonies. Anglican and Catholicism were the major expressions of the faith.”[4]
Later from 1816 to 1823 the Protestant denominations started with some foreign missionaries who began fighting against the Catholics to have converts.[5] In consequences divisions persist until now.
Today, in the context in which the churches all over the world struggle with many challenges, it is necessary for the churches in Haiti to bring their forces together. It is for this reason that in this work I’d like to propose to the churches in my country that, instead of maintaining their confessionalist divison, they be inspired by ecumenical social ethics to face this issue. This paper will be developed in two parts. The first will give some details about the issue of human rights and the situation of the churches in Haiti. In the second part I will focus on the ecumenical attitude needed to face this issue.
A- HUMAN RIGHTS and CHURCHES IN HAITI: BRIEF DESCRIPTION.
As I mentioned in my introduction, my main focus will be the primary concerns (rights of work, food, health, housing, education). The following information about human rights in Haiti is not an invention. It is difficult to accept, but it is real. According to Country Reports on Human Rights Practices the conditions in Haiti are very critical.
In the matter of health, there is a lack of clean water and safe sanitation. Poor housing, shortage of doctors and environmental disasters contribute to poor health conditions, especially in the rural areas. The World Health Organization, UNICEF and other UN and donor agencies are supporting the government in rebuilding its primary health care system.
Nevertheless, nearly 50% of health services are provided by non-governmental organisations. In the absence of adequate health care, 80% of births in Haiti take place without qualified assistance, resulting in alarmingly high maternal mortality rates. Children are equally affected, comprising a third of all deaths in Haiti, with malnutrition, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections prevalent among many 0-5 year olds. The average life expectancy is only 51 years, primarily as a result of AIDS malaria and tuberculosis. Despite 60%-80% of Haitians being at risk of exposure to malaria, no national prevention plans are in place. [6]
The issue is not only the health, the economic and political life are very critical too. From the departure of Duvalier until now, the majority of citizens are unemployed. Some people have lost their jobs. Violence, turbulent politics, the absence of investment – all those things contribute to explain the following sad statistics found in an article by Anup Shah written on 1 September 2006:
·Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan
·The richest 1% of the population controls nearly half of all of Haiti’s wealth
·Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere
·Haiti is the fourth poorest country in the world
·Haiti ranks 146 out of 173 on the United Nations HumanDevelopment Index
·Haiti has a life expectancy of 52 years for women and 48 for men
·Adult literacy is about 50%
·Unemployment is 70%
·85% of Haitians live on less than $1 U.S. per day.
·Haiti ranks 38 out of 195 for under five mortality rate.[7]
Other reports relate that extreme poverty, combined with political, social and economic instability and recurrent natural disasters have exacerbated vulnerability to food insecurity for large sectors of the population in Haiti. Young children, pregnant mothers and lactating women are at particular risk.[8] Very few of the population are able to go to school. As a result, more than 70 percent of the population are confrontated by the problem of illiteracy.
When we observe this difficult or unbelievable situation, questions could be asked. Where are the churches in Haiti? What are they doing? Did they respond to the responsibility God gave to them? What is their real situation?
Situation of Churches in Haiti.
Christianity in Haiti was imported. First, Catholicism was brought by the Spanish colonizers; second, Protestanism was brought by imperialism. Since Haiti’s independence, the Haitian people are divided on different levels, including unfortunately the religious level. I have observed a lack of dialogue between the main confessions, such as Catholicism, Protestantism and Anglican. To help you to understand clearly why I said there is a lack of dialogue, let me briefly relate something which touched me. On Wednesday, 13 December 2006, I and two other students of the Master’s Course went to the minister’s office of Celigny Parish. We found the minister of this parish together with the Catholic priest leading a
programme for children. Immediately I asked myself if I could do this so easily in my context in Haiti. Another consideration is that among the Protestant churches there is not enough cohesion, also among the members of the local churches very often there are problems, and non constructive discussions. In 2005 a sister church in Haiti was split on three occasion. It’s one case among others. There is also rivality between the leaders? Last February there were
three Haitian pastors who wanted to become president of Haiti, and who in “the name of God” struggled in the media by accusing one another.
As long as we accept this situation we cannot struggle for human rights. The churches in Haiti should be inspired by
Ecumenical Social Ethics to face the issue of human rights
II- ATTITUDE OF THE HAITIAN CHURCHES
In this second part I would like to suggest some ways that the churches in Haiti can overcome their divisions, to lift up their witness in front of this Haitian nation full of pain. I will invite these churches to promote unity amongst themselves, to be inspired by some positions of WCC, and to find a theology of human rights. First, I think the promotion of unity is a very important issue to face. Jesus Christ, the Lord, recommended that his first disciples love one another, so that the world will recognise that they are his disciple. I want to suggest a unity not in conformism, but in love.
Many times I have heard from people their preoccupation with this divided Christianity in Haiti. In Haiti there are no religious wars but the polemic between the confessions is very strong, which is not a good image for the Haitian people divided. As Richard Snyder underlines it: “In a world as tragically divided as ours, it is scandalous that the church falls so short of the vision of unity that was promised in the New Testament epistles. Our divisions fly in the face of the fundamental claim of scripture that we are one n Jesus Christ.”[9] Snyder mentions the threefold tragedy of our division: first our division is against God s intention for us, then our divisions run counter to the delight of those moments when we have experienced that oneness firsthand, also our divisions irreparably damage the possibilities for redemption in our time. In front of those tragedies, the churches in Haiti need to reconsider their understanding of unity. They need to be ready to sit down at the same table to analyse seriously the effect of the colonisation at the beginning of the 21st century. They must remember that Christ prayed to the Father for unity, so God wants us to be one. All initiatives which contribute to keeping them divided are demoniac, coming from evil.
In fact, talking about unity among the churches in Haiti is not easy, because my fellow people have not had a culture of dialogue. But it is necessary for the Protestant churches to be united in a real Protestant federation of churches which could became a National Council of Churches in Haiti, so that they can have a common position to start a sincere dialogue with their Catholic and Anglican sister churches, and so together all those churches can struggle more to face the challenges. One of the exemples of a statement of unity that I would like to commend to the Haitian churches is this
part of Section II, 19 from the Nairobi assembly:
We ask the churches to undertake a common effort to receive, reappropriate and confess together, as contemporary occasion requires, the christian truth and faith, delivered through the apostles and handed down through the centuries. Such common action, arising from free and inclusive discussion under the commonly acknowledged authority of God s word, must aim both to clarify and to embody
the unity and the diversity which are proper to the church s life and mission.[10]
“Undertake a common effort to receive together,” here I understand and the Haitian Christians could understand this effort to receive together as a rethinking of their assessment about the other. The Catholics will not consider the Protestants as rebellious children, the Anglicans will end their silence, and the Protestants will give up their idea that the Catholic Church is the great Babylon and the Pope is the Antichrist. They will receive together in a symmetrical relationship. Also, to receive together without discriminating against one another, to have the courage to offer their mea culpa one to another, to forget the polemic of the pass, to overcome the accusations from one another. So the Christian Faith and Truth will appear clearly for the world, particularly for the Haitian people. Free and inclusive discussion implies
sincerity, honesty, respect; it reflects also a capacity to dialogue without loosing our identity, under the submission of the will of God’s word that we find in the commitment to love Him and our neighbour.
By understanding one another, the Haitian churches can struggle for respect of human rights in Haiti, starting with the fundamental concerns. They will be able to take up the difficult task conscientiously carrying out a prophetic and pastoral role in the face of the Haitian’s issues. “Christians and Christian churches should in their own relations set an example of respect for human dignity, equality and the free expression of thougtht.”[11] Together, these churches are invited to take a common action to struggle for the liberation of the Haitian people who need the fundamental things to survive. It is unacceptable, in this 21st century, to have a situation like that in Haiti. The churches should work in the spirit of solidarity, to help Haiti to find its dignity. Taking inspiration from some decisions of the WCC, the churches could work for the acceptance and full implementation of human rights standards through effective instruments.[12]
To finish my suggestions for the churches, I will consider an important point which is a theological view of human rights. This aspect is not easy because the theological approach to human rights sometimes appears problematic. Some people think that the quest for human rights should be kept independent of theology. Others think that it is better for theologians to learn the bitter lesson of history and leave politics to the politicians and human rights to the secular world. At the beginning of the article on “Human Rights” in the Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, Erich Weingartner does not give the churches to much credit in this area. He emphasises that: “In the light of official church opposition to human rights, viewed for much of their history as the product of humanistic philosophy, the claim of a theological basis of human rights might be considered somewhat presumptuous.”[13] However, I think the churches and the theologians, as in many efforts of the WCC, have to work and to engage in a deeper theological reflection to find a common perspective. This perspective could be what Charles Vicencio proposed in his book:
Humanrights have to do with the realisation that all people are created in the the image of God, enjoying equal human worth. In order to realise and fulfil their destiny as the bearers of God’s image, the fundamental rights of all people are to be fully claimed and concretely appropriated, recognising that without certain basic rights ( as outhned by WCC and the Vatican) people are not able to realise their full God-given potential. To deny these rights to people is to oppose the work and purpose of God in the world.[14]
The Haitian people are also created in God’s image. They need to live a normal life where the fundamental things such as food, work, health, education are taken in consideration. The churches in Haiti should recognise and act quickly under to enable this image of God to appear clearly on national level and international level. At this point also, I think some statements on human rights made by the WCC can be helpful. For instance, reflecting on different assemblies of the WCC, Ans van der Bent asks if is there is an ecumenical theological basis for human rights. He thinks in the St Polen consultation we can find a theological statement on human rights. One part of this statement is reported by Bent and I found it very interesting to encourage the churches in Haiti for the struggle for human rights: “The emphasis of the gospel is on
the value of all human beings in the sight of God, on the atoning and redeeming work of Christ that has given to man his true dignity.”[15]
CONCLUSION
The issue of human rights in Haiti is a large one, reflecting all aspects of human rights in the world. In this paper I have just proposed some reflections in order to help the Haitian churches which until now have not had a real or strong practice of ecumenism. The need for this kind of practice to face this issue persists. Haiti is in a sad situation. Many people have died. In the past, some people thought that the solution was to abolish the army, but nothing has changed. Others proposed elections on different occasion, again nothing has changed. The United Nations thinks the solution is to maintain the UN force in Haiti, they are present in Haiti, but the situation is still critical. All confessions in Haiti pray every day, some Christians think that because of their prayer God keeps the country alive. But I ask sincerely: where is God in Haiti?
Perhaps my question should be: Where are the people claiming to be Christian, to whom God has given a mission?
May all the Christians, all the churches, became responsible in Haiti, or more responsible. Responsible to participate in the struggle to liberate our theology from imperialism and from denominationalism, in order to live the word of God as human being created in God’s image. Responsible to help the Haitian society to repent of their mistakes in the pass, to recognise the misery of the Haitians, to work together for the development of the country. Responsible to defend our country at the national, regional and international levels. Responsible to act concretely for the koinoia and the diaconia. Responsible to build this Haitian nation. Asthe WCC acknowledged in the statement on Haiti adopted in September 2005, the churches in Haiti have an important role in building peace, justice and reconciliation, and the WCC called on them to intensify ecumenical initiaves in this respect.[16] May the churches in Haiti respond to the call of the Executive Committee of the World Concil of Churches meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, 16-19 May 2006, which invited the member churches and ecumenical partners to seek common approaches and develop common codes of conduct for promotion and defence of human rights of all people.[17]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS
Dicionary of the Ecumenical Movement, 2nd Ed., WCC Publication 2002
Gassmann, Gunter: Documentary, History of Faith and Order
Kinnamon, Michael: The Ecumenical Movement, An Anthology of key Text and Voices , 1997 WCC Publications
Raiser, Konrad: Ecumenical Social Ethics, Handout No.7
Snyder, T. Richard: Divided we Fall, Ed. 1992 Westminster, John Knox Press
Thompson, J. Milburn: Justice and Peace: A Christian Primer
Van der Bent, Ans: Commitment to God s World A concise critical Survey of Ecumenical Social Thought Uppsala Assembly 1968
Van der Bent, Ans: Vital Ecumenical Concerns,
Vicencio, Charles: A Theology of Reconstruction, Cambridge University, press 1992 NY, 10011-4211, USA
INTERNET RESSOURCES
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/executive-committee/geneva-september-2005/16-09-05-statement-on-haiti.html
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2257
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27902.htm
Human Rights For All, Haiti and Human Rights, http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Abuses/Haiti.asp
United Nations, World Food Hunger Programme 2006, http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=332
[1]
J. Milburn Thompson: Justice and Peace: A Christian Primer, p.94
[2]
Teacher s notes, Ecumenical Social Ethics, handout No.7, p.3
[3] J. Milburn, op. cit. P.106
[4]
Dicionary of the Ecumenical Movement, p.142-143.
[5]
According to our teacher of ecumenical theology. Odair Pedroso.
[6]
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27902.htm
[7]
Human Rights For All, Haiti and Human Rights, http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Abuses/Haiti.asp
[8]
United Nations, World Food Hunger Programme 2006,
http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=332
[9]
T. Richard Snyder: Divided we Fall, p.21
[10]
Gunter Gassmann: Documentary, History of Faith and Order 1963-1993, p.30
[11]
Ans Van der Bent: Commitment to God s World A concise critical Survey of Ecumenical Social Thought, p.91, Uppsala Assembly 1968
[12]
Michael Kinnamon: The Ecumenical Movement, An Anthology of key Text and Voices,
P.324
[13]
Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement, p.
[14]
Charles Vicencio: A Theology of Reconstruction, p. 126
[15]
Ans Van der Bent: Vital Ecumenical Concerns, p.249
[16]
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/executive-committee/geneva-september-2005/16-09-05-statement-on-haiti.html
[17]
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?id=2257
