Following Haiti’s August 14, 2021 earthquake, IJDH’s Brian Concannon and Kathleen Bergin of Cornell Law School pen an opinion piece in The Hill on international disaster response and foreign aid.

“We again have the chance to create sustainable improvements by maximizing Haitians’ role in all aspects of disaster response. One framework for accomplishing this, called the “human rights-based approach,” requires a commitment to five objectives: a) capacity building, b) participation, c) transparency, d) accountability, and e) non-discrimination,” they write.

Concannon and Bergin conclude: “Those of us who worked in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake understand that humanitarian aid can be the difference between life and death. But it can also make things worse when programs are carried out for Haitians, instead of with Haitian input and influence. We owe it to ourselves to do better this time. More importantly, we owe it to Haitians.”

Read the full article here.