Structural violence in Haiti: Difference between revisions
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===Race / Ethnicity=== |
===Race / Ethnicity=== |
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With regards to [[structural violence]], racial or ethnic differentiation has been well acknowledged as a mean of depriving certain racial or ethnic groups of basic [[human rights]], or from receiving the same quality of resources as others.<ref name=farmer2001infectionsandinequalities /><ref name=sencapabilities>{{cite journal|last=Sen|first=Amartya|title=Human Rights and Capabilities|journal=Journal of Human Development|date=July 2005|volume=6|issue=2|pages=151–166|doi=10.1080/14649880500120491}}</ref><ref name=Pathologiesofpower /><ref name=senpovertyinequality>{{cite book|first=ed. by David B. Grusky ... essays by Amartya Sen|title=Poverty and inequality|date=2006|publisher=Stanford Univ. Press|location=Stanford, Calif.|isbn=9780804748421|edition=Orig. print.}}</ref><ref name=Ingridsen>{{cite journal|last=Robeyns|first=Ingrid|title=SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH AND GENDER INEQUALITY: SELECTING RELEVANT CAPABILITIES|journal=Feminist Economics|date=January 2003|volume=9|issue=2-3|pages=61–92|doi=10.1080/1354570022000078024}}</ref> In Haiti’s context, such social discrimination exists predominantly from two areas: Antihaitianismo, which is the racist bias against Haitians and descendants of Haitians by Dominicans, and remnants of the Haitian colonial hierarchy via caste discrimination. While Haitian mulattoes make up only 5% of the Haitian population, they are regarded as the upper class and control roughly 44% of the national income. <ref name=congresshaiti>{{cite web|last=Library of Congress|title=A Country Study: Haiti|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ht0029)|publisher=Library of Congress|accessdate=16 Mar 2014}}</ref> |
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===Socioeconomic Status=== |
===Socioeconomic Status=== |
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Revision as of 21:00, 16 March 2014
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Definition of Structural Violence
As defined by Medical Anthropologist Dr. Paul Farmer, structural violence is way by which social arrangements are constructed to put specific members of a population in harms way.[1] According to Dr. Farmer, social inequalities are at the heart of structural violence, where the prevailing societal framework imposes invisible barriers that perpetuates the suffering of certain groups of people.[2] The term structural violence was first coined by Johan Galtung, the founder of the peace and conflict studies, in 1969. The term further gained exposure when it was used by Latin American liberation theologians.[2] These social arrangements are term structural as they are embedded into the cultural, political and economic realms of society. The term violence highlights the fact that these structures cause injury or inequality to certain groups of peoples and constrain individual agency in the society in which they operate.[1] While structural violence exist in many parts of the world, its effects is heavily felt within Haiti.[3]
Compounding Factors
While the negative effects of Structural Violence effects almost everyone in the nation of Haiti, there are a number of social factors that render certain demographics of the population to experience a more severe form of human suffering.[3] These included gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.
Gender
While structural violence impacts Haiti as a whole, due to the presence of gender inequality, women within Haiti tend to be more heavily impacted by structural violence than men.[3] In the 2004 United Nations Development Fund for Women report, Haitian women were found to remain as the target of oppression, independent of any political change within the nation. Among the 43% of households which are headed by women, more than 80% are reported to be living in poverty.[4] Moreover, according to the 2000 UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, a report on Haiti noted that structural gender disparities has made Haitian women not only disproportionately susceptible to physical violence, but also excluded from many forms of protection.[5] For example, spousal rape is not regarded as a crime under Haiti's judicial system.[6] Other forms of legal discrimination against women and girls include differentiated wage levels, as well as unequal penalties for both adultery and divorce.[4]
Race / Ethnicity
With regards to structural violence, racial or ethnic differentiation has been well acknowledged as a mean of depriving certain racial or ethnic groups of basic human rights, or from receiving the same quality of resources as others.[7][8][3][9][10] In Haiti’s context, such social discrimination exists predominantly from two areas: Antihaitianismo, which is the racist bias against Haitians and descendants of Haitians by Dominicans, and remnants of the Haitian colonial hierarchy via caste discrimination. While Haitian mulattoes make up only 5% of the Haitian population, they are regarded as the upper class and control roughly 44% of the national income. [11]
Socioeconomic Status
Coming from a lower socioeconomic background can also render individuals and groups to be more vulnerable to extreme human suffering.[7] This is because economic and political structural barriers tend to have a greater impact on those who are lower down on the social ordering or are stricken by poverty.[3][1] This stems from the fact that those who are of lower classes often have limited access to resources or do not shared quality of resources that those of higher socio-economic classes have access to.[3][12] UNICEF statistics shows that while less than 10% of births among poorest 20% in Haiti has a skilled attendant present, 78.1% of all births had a skilled attendant present for the richest 20%.[13] Underweight prevalence among the poorest 20% is 4.7 times greater than that of the richest 20%.[13] Economically, the poorest 40% only make up 8% of the nation's total household income while the richest 20% of make up 63%.[13]
Impacts of Structural Violence
The impacts of structural violence is far reaching, affecting not only on the level of an individual, but also overall social outcomes.
Poverty
Poverty is one of the biggest by-product of structural violence as structural violence inhibits individuals and communities from achieving basic human rights, such as access to healthcare and education. As identified by the 2012 World Development Report, health and education are two key human capital endowments that can influence an individual’s ability to reach his or her full potential in society.[14] Due to this inability to receive proper education and maintain good health, individuals impacted by structural violence often are less well-positioned to receive better socio-economic opportunities to be upwardly mobile. Today, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with approximately 77% of its population is currently living below the nation's poverty line.[15]
Education
Structural violence impacts one's ability to receive education.[3] Presently, education standards in Haiti are extremely low, where its literacy rate is only about 53%, well below the 90% average literacy rate for Latin American and other Caribbean countries.[16] Due to the oppressive political and economic structures that is plaguing the nation, the educational sector in Haiti has very limited financial support. The quality of education is also low due to the lack of organization, expertise and resources, where there is currently a shortage of school supplies and qualified teachers. This problem is particularly prevalant in rural areas. Many schools use either outdated curricula or a partially implement framework of the 1997 National Plan of Education and Training (NPET) curriculum.[17] Due to the state's lack of institutional strength and capacity to provide basic education to general Haiti population, the education sector is now predominantly privatized. A 2006 World Bank Study on the private education in Haiti found that 92% of all Haitian schools to be privately own, tuition-based institutions.[18] Due to Haiti's widespread economic hardship, majority of the nation's population are unable to meet the cost of education. This has led to low enrollment levels, as well as high dropout and withdrawal rates, where only 55% of children aged 6 to 12 are currently enrolled in school, with less than 20% reaching fifth grade.[17] Those who were able to receive and complete secondary schooling were also unable to find a place in universities.[19] However, the 2006 World Bank report notes that "the high dropout rate is generally not reflective of a Haitian disregard for or disinterest in education; rather, it is an unfortunate consequence of limited family resources".[20] In the poorest 20% of household in Haiti, schools fees can represent up to 25% of a family's annual household income per child.[18]
Access to healthcare
Health Outcomes
Life Expectancy
Mortality Rates
Risk to Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Causes
Colonialism
Social Inequalities
Political & Legal Corruption
Caste (Cultural) Discrimination
Management
Policy Measures
Grassroots & Community Activism
Empowerment & Agency
References
- ^ a b c Farmer, Paul E. (2006). "Structural Violence and Clinical Medicine". PLoS Medicine. 3 (10): e449. doi:10.1371/jou.pmed.0030449.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)rnal - ^ a b Farmer, Paul (June 2004). "An Anthropology of Structural Violence". Current Anthropology. 45 (3): 305–325. doi:10.1086/382250.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sen, Paul Farmer ; foreword by Amartya (2004). Pathologies of power : health, human rights, and the new war on the poor : with a new preface by the author (2° édition. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-520-24326-2.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b UNIFEM (July 2004). UNIFEM in Haiti: Supporting Gender Justice, Development and Peace (PDF) (Report). UNIFEM Caribbean Office. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Radhika Coomaraswamy (27 January 2000 2004). Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/44. Addendum: Report on the mission to Haiti (Report). UN Commission on Human Rights. Retrieved 15 Mar 2014.
{{cite report}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (11 March 2009). 2009 Human Rights Report: Haiti (Report). U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Farmer, Paul (2001). Infections and inequalities : the modern plagues (1. paperback print. ed.). Berkeley [u.a.]: Univ. of California Press. ISBN 9780520229136.
- ^ Sen, Amartya (July 2005). "Human Rights and Capabilities". Journal of Human Development. 6 (2): 151–166. doi:10.1080/14649880500120491.
- ^ Poverty and inequality (Orig. print. ed.). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press. 2006. ISBN 9780804748421.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help);|first=missing|last=(help) - ^ Robeyns, Ingrid (January 2003). "SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH AND GENDER INEQUALITY: SELECTING RELEVANT CAPABILITIES". Feminist Economics. 9 (2–3): 61–92. doi:10.1080/1354570022000078024.
- ^ Library of Congress. "A Country Study: Haiti". Library of Congress. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ Farmer, Paul (2009). "On Suffering and Structural Violence: A View from Below". Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts. 3 (1): 11–28. doi:10.1353/rac.0.0025.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b c UNICEF. "At a glance: Haiti". UNICEF. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ Revenga, [this report was prepared by a team led by Ana (2011). Gender equality and development : world development report 2012. Washington. DC: The World Bank. ISBN 978-0-8213-8825-9.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ The World Bank. "World Development Indicators: Haiti". The World Bank. Retrieved 16 Marc 2014.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Library of Congress - Federal Research Division (May 2006). Country Profile: Haiti (PDF) (Report). Library of Congress. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ a b Ketty Luzincourt; Jennifer Gulbrandson (August 2010). Education and Conflict in Haiti: Rebuilding the Education Sector after the 2010 Earthquake (PDF) (Report). United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ a b World Bank: Caribbean Country Management Unit (27 April 2006). Social Resilience and State Fragility in Haiti: A Country Social Analysis (PDF) (Report). The World Bank. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation (November 2007). Making a Qualitative Leap Foward: Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PDF) (Report). International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
- ^ World Bank: Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit (01 Jun 2006). Haiti - Options and opportunities for inclusive growth : country economic memorandum (PDF) (Report). The World Bank. Retrieved 16 Mar 2014.
{{cite report}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)