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Haitian adoptions, the Chilcot inquiry, Sri Lanka, Israel and Gaza

by Tony Cross

Article published on the 2010-02-05 Latest update 2010-02-05 14:16 TU

Haitian police escort one of the ten American missionaries, accused of illegally trying to take children out of Haiti
(Photo: Reuters)

Fast-track adoptions of Haitian children, the UK's inquiry into the Iraq war, conditions in post-conflict Sri Lanka and Israel's army a year after the Gaza conflict are on our readers' minds this week.

The arrest of some American Christian missionaries in Haiti for trying to arrange the adoption of children whose parents were still alive has grabbed headlines around the world.

Before this case came to light, aid groups told RFI that they were worried about fast-track adoptions after the devastating earthquake that hit the country last month.

The phoney adoption case shocked Jan Clarke in the UK.

“Some of the parents I saw interviewed with regard to these lovely children must have really been put under pressure, so how can these so called 'charitable' people really be looking at the health of that child/family?” she asks. “I believe that the family were 'made' to believe that would be well cared for. All I would like to ask is that the parents involved will be helped into receiving their children back with lots of support and a definite help financially to support them and that's all they ask.”

She adds a note on her own experience before the earthquake.

“I sponsored a little girl a while back through Action Aid until they lost contact with her family around 4 years ago. I was wondering if there was any evidence that they could re-contact them. I would be very grateful. Last I heard they were living in Thiotte but were forced away to find work and food. The family is called 'Jean' and the little girl (who was 8 and 9 at the time) was called Micheline. Any news would be fantastic.”

“I am a Haitian living in the United States and this is a very sad, hard and difficult time for all Haitians,” writes Max Edme in a long “open letter” which is too long to quote in its entirety.

He is shocked by US evangelical preacher’s suggestion that the earthquake is divine punishment and disagrees with Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who claim that Haiti is now occupied by the US.

And he lays into Haitian leaders, believing that President René Preval’s government “does not have the capacity to govern Haiti”.

“I feel that now it would be appropriate to appoint a commission of reconstruction with serious, professional, dedicated people,” he suggests. “Find the best civil servants who have never participated in politics in the country, that is to say engineers, urban planners, people in business, etc.”

“A sorry spectacle,” was the comment of regular correspondent José Filardo’s comment on former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s answers to the Chilcot inquiry.

“Declaring that he only decided to invade Iraq 'not to leave the Americans alone in the enterprise' did not help his case at all. Pathetic. We have, though, to concede that it is hard to defend the undefensable, and Mr. Blair has done his best, to no avail...”

Puni Selvaratnam, a Sri Lankan living in the UK, sends news from “close friends visiting the North of the country in the last few weeks”.

“Those who were not born there were not allowed in at the army checkpoint unless clearance from Defence Ministry is obtained. Aid agencies are not allowed in,” she says.

They also report deaths from starvation “as a result of closing down the only road route to the peninsula in the last three and a half years” and poverty and harassment by paramilitaries in camps in which evacuees from the area have been kept.

“Preventing free access to journalists and foreigners and aid agencies should be taken very seriously by foreign governments and intergovernmental organisations,” she comments.

Ferdinand Bull of Grove City, USA, is not impressed with reports that Israeli officers were disciplined for actions during the Gaza offensive.

“And how did they discipline their lovely soldiers?” he asks. “Perhaps no Valentine this year? What a bag of lies.”

Most viewed on RFI this week:

• Parents reclaim children taken by US group;
• French movie "Un Prophète" nominated for best foreign film;
• Muslim organisation calls for action against Islamophobia;
• Art exhibitions in Paris in 2010;
• Sounds from the River Niger.

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