Sanctions In Haiti: Human Rights and Democracy under Assault

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Gibbons analyzes the ruinous three-year trade embargo imposed on Haiti in response to the September 1991 coup d'etat to President Aristide's return to office in October 1994. She dissects the multidimensional impact of sanctions on Haitian society by examining the economic devastation and social dislocation that they provoked, despite the mitigation of humanitarian exemptions consistently granted by the Security Council. Gibbons also examines the counterproductive, unpredictable effects that sanctions have had on Haiti's nascent democratic institutions and processes. Drawing on contemporary research of noted academics and international legal experts, this analysis places Haiti's experience of sanctions in a wider context. From the Haiti case, Gibbons draws conclusions about the utility of comprehensive sanctions as an instrument for the advancement of democracy and human rights and recommends measures that policymakers may find better suited to achieving these objectives.

Reviews

"Elizabeth Gibbons has written a thoughtful and penetrating analysis of one of the most difficult moral dilemmas facing the international community: should sanctions be used to try to advance democracy if it definitely harms poor people Her book makes a major contribution, both in identifying the many effects of sanctions on a regime and its people, and in recommending the replacement of comprehensive sanctions with targeted instruments."-Robert Pastor Professor of Political Science, Emory University Former Director, Latin American Program, The Carter Center
"Elizabeth Gibbons has written the most comprehensive study yet available on the humanitarian impact of the sanctions in Haiti. Her study meticulously documents the severe consequences of those sanctions. It also suggests a strategy for avoiding such hardships in future sanctions episodes. This is an invaluable contribution to the sanctions literature."-David Cortright President, Fourth Freedom Forum
"Ms Gibbons provides a deeply disturbing, authoritative account of how the multilateral trade embargo against Haiti, despite good intentions, had a devastating impact on the Haitian people, especially the poorest people and children. This book should be required reading for anyone who advocates comprehensive trade sanctions for human rights and humanitarian reasons."-Ernest H. Preeg Former U.S. Ambassador to Haiti
"The depth and comprehensive nature of this analysis will be a model for assessing the impact of future economic embargoes. Only someone who lived through the Haitian experience could have tied together all the different threads of the crisis in that country to make such a cogent, comprehensive picture....The policy successes and failures played out in this book will affect our thinking on embargoes for many years."-Richard Garfield, RN DrPH Professor of Clinical International Nursing Columbia University

Author Bio

ELIZABETH D. GIBBONS is Deputy Director of UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programs./e Ms. Gibbons's career in social development and humanitarian affairs has spanned close to 20 years, 15 of which have been spent as an international civil servant with UNICEF.