Appraising the Socio-Economic Turn in Reparations: Transitional Justice for Cholera Victims in Haiti

Nicolas Lemay-Hébert,Rosa Freedman

doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijab020

Abstract

Abstract∞ After belatedly apologizing for the cholera epidemic in Haiti, the ‘New Approach to Cholera in Haiti’ by the UN and the promise of material assistance to victims through a ‘victim-centred approach’ highlight how the victims turn and the socio-economic turn are increasingly pivotal in the field of transitional justice. In light of these growing calls, we suggest a matrix to clarify the debate made of two separate dimensions: the focus of reparations – collective versus individual – and the means of reparations – symbolic versus material. Based on fieldwork conducted in March 2017 in the communities most affected by the cholera outbreak, this article demonstrates how the tensions between reparations offered by the UN (with a preference for collective symbolic reparations) and the reparations demanded by the victims (individual material reparations) can help understand the current stalemate in Haiti, and hopefully inform the next steps in the process of remedy for the victims.

Highlights

There is a growing discussion in the literature on whether or not gross human rights violations occurring during natural disasters should be addressed through transitional justice processes, and in parallel, there is international legal momentum behind claims for reparations and compensation.[1]
One of the main findings of our research is the unmitigated desire from local communities to access individual material reparations instead of the standard collective reparation that is usually presented as the de facto solution for the compensation issue
In January 2020, Haiti celebrated one full year of being free of cholera, with no new case reported since 24 January 2019.59 if the illness has been stopped in its tracks, the issue of reparation to the cholera victims has not progressed, which has led a group of 14 UN mandate holders to send an allegation letter to the UN Secretary-General and Haitian government critiquing the ongoing failure to deliver effective remedies for victims of cholera in Haiti

Summary

INTRODUCTION

There is a growing discussion in the literature on whether or not gross human rights violations occurring during natural disasters should be addressed through transitional justice processes, and in parallel, there is international legal momentum behind claims for reparations and compensation.[1]. Transitional Justice for Cholera Victims in Haiti 3 effective remedy, and development projects are not a replacement for reparations.’[5] As such, this article answers the call for more empirical research on victims’ perceptions of justice,[6] and highlights the importance of material compensation in the process of reconciliation, an element that has been highlighted by previous landmark studies.[7]. The two ‘turns’ are closely connected together; victims have forced their way to the front of the transitional justice scene precisely through the mechanism of material reparations, prompting the field to look beyond traditional justice and truth-telling debates.[17] These two turns – victims-centred and socio-economic – have certainly been prominent in the specific context of UN peacebuilding, where there has been an increase of third-party claims, asking for material reparations in the case of human rights abuses. Jemima Garcıa-Godos, ‘Victims’ Rights and Distributive Justice: in Search of Actors,’ Human Rights Review 14(3) (2013): 241–255; Miller, supra n 15

Lemay-Hebert and Freedman

BACKGROUND

72 For Lachapelle

Findings

CONCLUSION