Tag: earthquake

Newsweek on Dominican-Haitian Relations

Posted on by Michele

An April 15, 2010 of Newsweek article by Jeneen Interlandi, “Enemies: A Love Story,” quotes me about the positive changes in the relationship between the Dominican Republic and Haiti since the January earthquake.

“We’ve had zero reports of violent attacks since the quake,” says Michele Wucker, executive director of the World Policy Institute and author of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola. Dominican officials have also been instrumental in helping international aid groups access their earthquake-ravaged neighbor, Wucker says.

Follow this link to read the whole article. The article is available in French at nouvelobs.com as “Comment Haïti et la République Dominicaine ont fait la paix.”

PublicAgenda.org -Immigration Reform and Climate Change

Posted on by Michele

Immigration Reform & Climate Change: Two Hot-Button Issues Intersect cross posted at www.publicagenda.org and the World Policy Blog

In the days following the earthquake that destroyed Port-au-Prince and killed over 200,000 people, the United States granted temporary protected status (TPS) to those undocumented immigrants from Haiti who were living in the United States prior to the date of the quake. It was the right thing to do after such an “act of God.” Yet, it stood in stark contrast to the failure of the United States to use its migration policy to help Haitians in 2008, when the island was struck by a series of natural disasters that were arguably man-made—a series of storms made increasingly more frequent and violent by rising sea levels and temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

Posted March 19, 2010. For the full article visit the links above.

Interview with Quebec Immigration Minister Yolande James

Posted on by Michele

Immigrant Policy in Québec:  Successes and Lessons Learned

Video of my discussion with Yolande James, Minister of Cultural Communities, Government of Quebec, at the World Policy Institute April 7, 2010.

Canada has long taken pride in its reputation for successfully welcoming immigrants. Nevertheless, like other immigrant destinations, it has faced challenges like combating racism, matching immigrants’ skills with appropriate jobs, and ensuring that immigrants have the language skills they need. Under a bilateral agreement with the Canadian federal government, Québec is able to make its own policies on the immigrants it selects, and to design and implement its own policies on integration and diversity -that is, “immigrant” policies, and not just “immigration” policies.

Québec’s Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities Yolande James, the daughter of Canadian citizens who emigrated from St. Lucia and St. Vincent, spoke with WPI Executive Director Michele Wucker about Québec’s successes and the lessons that it has learned.  Minister James also spoke about how Québec has used immigration policies to support Haiti following the January 12 earthquake.

Beyond Relief: Council on Foreign Relations Haiti panel Feb 18

Posted on by Michele

Video, audio, and transcript from “Beyond Relief: Helping Haiti,” a Council on Foreign Relations panel discussion in which Michele participated February 18, 2010.

Beyond Relief: Helping Haiti (Transcript)

Beyond Relief: Helping Haiti (Audio)

Speakers:

Pamela Cox, Vice President, Latin America and the Caribbean Region, World Bank Group

Arvind Subramanian, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Michele Wucker, Executive Director, World Policy Institute

Presider:

Marcus Mabry, International Business Editor, New York Times

Watch experts discuss the political and economic challenges facing Haiti and the role foreign aid can play in the country’s recovery and development.

Slate.fr: Les Haïtiens doivent être partie prenante de la reconstruction

Posted on by Michele

Les Haïtiens doivent être partie prenante de la reconstruction

Il faut à tout prix éviter de refaire les erreurs du passé et utiliser la reconstruction comme une occasion d’engager la société civile haïtienne…..

  • Par Michele Wucker
  • Michele Wucker est la directrice exécutive du World Policy Institute (Institut des politiques mondiales) et l’auteure de Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola [Pourquoi le coq se bat: Dominicains, Haïtiens et le combat pour Hispaniola]

(translation of the article that appeared on ForeignPolicy.com Jannuary 19th)

Toronto Star Jan 23-This little (Creole) piggy

Posted on by Michele

This little (Creole) piggy once stood for Haitian pride

That fact should be top of mind as leaders gather in Montreal this week to plan country’s rebuilding

by Kenneth Kidd

follow this link for the full story from the Toronto Star.

My two cents:

The danger, says Michele Wucker, executive director of the World Policy Institute in New York, is that talks could get mired in an ideological debate over the role of the private sector and the state in Haiti’s future.

“You need both,” says Wucker. “You need an engaged private sector, a strong state, and you need accountability for both.

“In the best-case scenario, the rebuilding process is done in such a way that Haitian civil society is engaged, that there’s a way for communities to communicate what their priorities are.”

And whatever the eventual details of that reconstruction, attaining one legacy may well be crucial.

“The focus (should be) on collaboration and building the capacity of the Haitian government, so that, at the end of the process, we have some institutions that can withstand changes of government at the top.”

Recent NPR appearances -Latino USA, Talk of the Nation

Posted on by Michele

Here are links to my recent appearances on National Public Radio talking about the Haiti earthquake and Dominican-Haitian relations.

Latino USA, January 21 The Haiti Tragedy (scroll down to  Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Latin America)

Talk of the Nation, January 25: To Rebuild, Put Haitians in the Lead