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American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 89, Issue 10 1499-1504, Copyright © 1999 by American Public Health Association

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The impact of economic sanctions on health and human rights in Haiti, 1991-1994.

E Gibbons and R Garfield

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York, NY, USA.

OBJECTIVES: This report examines the impact of an economic embargo from 1991 to 1994 on health, well-being, and human rights in Haiti. METHODS: Data from surveillance systems for nutrition, reportable diseases, and hospital diagnoses were combined with survey data and interviews with affected women, governmental representatives, diplomats, and staff of nongovernmental organizations. RESULTS: Changes included declining income, rising unemployment, poorer nutrition, declining infant mortality, rising mortality among 1- to 4-year-olds, decreased attention to children's well-being and education, and family breakdown. Survival strategies among poor Haitians included changed dietary habits, informal-sector economic activity, moving in with relatives, selling domestic goods, increased informal unions among couples, decreased school attendance, and indentured servitude among children. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of economic sanctions in Haiti resulted in extensive violations of rights; the impact was greatest on the most disadvantaged Haitians. Many Haitian and international supporters of democracy were unaware of the extensive negative impact that sanctions could have. The impact continues now, 5 years after sanctions ended. Modified policies reduced some of the burden of sanctions, and international assistance prevented what otherwise might have become a humanitarian disaster during sanctions.


Related articles in AJPH:

Economic sanctions as human rights violations: reconciling political and public health imperatives.
S P Marks
AJPH 1999 89: 1509-1513. [Abstract]  





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