The Tribune

HAITI is struggling.

The detention of more than 900 Haitians since Wednesday last week has again thrown the spotlight on the problems facing the country.

The Bahamas is not the only country having to deal with an influx of Haitian refugees – the United States has found itself having to deal with a considerable number of Haitians at its border with Mexico.

Photographs have shown people wading across the Rio Grande as they try to reach a new home, capturing the world’s attention.

Closer to home, we routinely see photographs of boats packed tight with Haitians being detained by Bahamians or US ships on patrol.

Worse, we have seen too many instances of some of those boats overturning, with an unknown number of passengers being lost at sea.

What they are running from is a country shattered by a succession of problems. It was the first independent Caribbean state after throwing off French control, but all it seems to have had in recent years is crisis after crisis.

It has had dictators in charge. It suffered the 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 250,000 people. It suffered a cholera outbreak traced to United Nations peacekeepers in the aftermath of that quake that killed another 10,000 people.

Just last month, another earthquake rocked the country, with at least 2,200 people confirmed dead.

And its President was assassinated on July 7, with the country’s chief prosecutor wanting the acting Prime Minister to answer questions.

Around a quarter of Haitians live in extreme poverty, according to the United Nations. That means living on less than $1.25 per day. Even more, about 60 percent of Haitians, live on less than $2 a day. Could you manage that?

So it is no surprise that people in a bad situation look for a better life elsewhere for themselves and their families.

We can blockade the waters, we can throw up detention centres, we can do all those things – but as long as Haiti is hit by instability and poverty, people will still take a risk and buy their way onto a boat to smuggle into another country.

Looking farther afield, in the aftermath of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, refugees and asylum seekers from that country have been accepted in Germany, Turkey, Austria, France, Sweden, Greece, Switzerland, India, Italy, the UK and the US.

Who is opening the door to Haitians, as they flee from a country that offers them little to no future?

More than that, what are all those countries doing to give Haiti a helping hand?

There is a problem with trust. The support from outside for dictators and the cholera outbreak sparked by outsiders would give anyone pause.

The government itself in Haiti is unstable too – so who is it outsiders would be supporting anyway?

All of these are hurdles – but they are only hurdles if there truly is a concerted effort to help Haiti. And there doesn’t seem to be.

Haiti’s problems have been ignored for far too long.

CARICOM can be the start of a response. If CARICOM wants to show that it is of value, then it cannot leave a Caribbean country behind in this way.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis made a good impression in his first speech at the UN as leader of The Bahamas, calling for vaccine equality and action on climate change.

He is a familiar face in the region, but a new voice as a national leader – and he could make the most of that by calling on CARICOM to step up to the plate over Haiti.

We do not pretend this is a job for one man, nor put all the weight on his shoulders – far from it, but it is an opportunity to make a change.

Haiti is struggling. When will the world finally give it the help it needs?