{"id":55863,"date":"2025-04-19T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/haitis-independence-debt-to-france-focus-of-debate-at-un\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T12:00:00","slug":"haitis-independence-debt-to-france-focus-of-debate-at-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=55863","title":{"rendered":"Haiti\u2019s independence debt to France focus of debate at UN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The first country ever to free itself from slavery through a successful uprising, Haiti gained independence from France in 1804. But the price for defying the colonial order was steep. On April 17, 1825, besieged by French warships, Haiti agreed to pay an indemnity of 150 million gold francs to the European power.<\/p>\n
Officially, the payment was meant to compensate French plantation owners for \u201clost property\u201d following independence, but the amount far exceeded actual losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrance forced the winners of Haiti\u2019s independence \u2013 the former slaves \u2013 to compensate the losers, their former masters,\u201d said Monique Clesca, a journalist and activist of Haitian descent, said on Thursday at a meeting on the country\u2019s independence debt. The meeting was held during UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.<\/p>\n
The price of freedom: A double debt<\/h2>\n
This tax on liberty soon plunged world\u2019s first Black republic into a spiral of debt. When Haiti was no longer able to pay, France pushed its banks to lend it money, what we call a \u201cdouble debt,\u201d Ms. Clesca explained.<\/p>\n
By 1914, over three-quarters of the country\u2019s national budget was still being drained to repay French banks. It was not until 1947 \u2013 more than 140 years after independence \u2013 that Haiti finally settled its debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrance committed an enormous injustice that still resonates today,\u201d Ms. Clesca said.<\/p>\n
An in-depth 2022 investigation by The New York Times<\/em> found that Haiti\u2019s payments to France amounted to the modern equivalent of roughly $560 million. Had that money been retained in Haiti and invested domestically, it could have added more than $20 billion to the country\u2019s economy over time, according to some economists.<\/p>\n
Haiti today: The legacy of debt<\/h2>\n
Though Haiti stands a milestone in the global fight for emancipation, today it today is mired in instability, with armed gangs controlling 85 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. According to the World Bank, it remains the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
From institutional paralysis to arms trafficking and corruption, the country\u2019s challenges are immense. Yet, to the members of UN Permanent Forum, the roots of Haiti\u2019s crises are clear: they lie in history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entrenched human rights crises in the Republic of Haiti [are] rooted in legacies of enslavement, colonialism, debt payments, military threats and interventions,\u201d said the advisory body to the UN Human Rights Council in a position paper last month.<\/p>\nBroadcast of the meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A belated recognition<\/h2>\n
Responding to mounting calls for justice, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced the creation of a joint commission of Haitian and French historians to examine the impact of the 1825 indemnity.<\/p>\n
While welcoming the move, Martin Kimani, a member of the Permanent Forum, stressed that the commission\u2019s effectiveness would depend on its willingness to fully acknowledge the harm caused.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call for restitution of the financial sums extracted through this cost arrangement along with broader reparative measures to address Haiti\u2019s structural underdevelopment and international neglect,\u201d Mr. Kimani said during the meeting, held on the final day of the Forum\u2019s fourth session this week.<\/p>\n
According to media reports, so far the French president has stopped short of committing to financial reparations.<\/p>\n
Calls for restitution<\/h2>\n
\u201cThe colonial past creates responsibilities that must be assumed collectively by France and the international community,\u201d said Pierre Ericq Pierre, Haiti\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN, who took part in the discussion.<\/p>\n
According to the Haitian ambassador, the country\u2019s enduring inequalities are rooted in its colonial past and the burden of the \u201cransom.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his view, restitution would only be far. \u201cThis isn\u2019t about revenge,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about truth and justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Restorative justice<\/h2>\n
The Haitian people deserve a future free from violence \u2013 one that meets basic standards of development, said Gaynel Curry, another member of the Permanent Forum.<\/p>\n
In addition to returning the colonial debt, Ms. Curry called for the creation of an international reparations fund for Haiti and establishing an independent inquiry, under the Human Rights Council, to explore avenues of into restorative justice.<\/p>\n
For Verene Albertha Shepherd, Vice Chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, such steps would also honour another debt \u2013 the moral one owed by people of African descent to Haiti\u2019s revolutionaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese freedom fighters struck fear into the hearts of all slaveholders,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
More than two centuries after Haiti\u2019s independence, she added, the time has come to deliver justice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n