If you notice that some Haitian immigrants on the streets of New York City, Miami, Montreal, Boston, Jersey City and other parts of North America have an extra spring in their step, it isn't difficult to figure out why.
Many of the two million souls who comprise the Haitian Diaspora are floating on Cloud 9 in the wake of a decision by their birth place's legislature to end a ban against dual citizenship. Long denied a voice in their country's affairs, the overseas nationals of the Caribbean country who have taken up American, Canadian and French citizenship, for instance, would be able to vote and therefore influence their country's policies are crafted and implemented, up to a certain point, of course.
In a vote late on Sunday, lawmakers amended the Haitian constitution abolishing the dual citizenship ban. However, there is a restrained reaction, largely because of the limitations placed on overseas nationals when it comes to holding top political and judicial office.
"We have been sending billions of dollars in remittances to our country and yet we couldn't hold certain offices if we returned home, if we had become citizens of the country we have lived for years," said Antoine Rosier, a New York City resident. "It made sense, a lot more sense to change the constitution so that we can participate in the process should we decide to go back. The constitutional provision that made it impossible to have a voice, a meaningful one at that, should have been changed a long time ago."
Ricot Dupuy, general manager of New York City's Radio Soleil, welcomed it but said people were disappointed that it didn't go far enough. "Haitians abroad were hoping that it would remove all the obstacles to full participation, such as holding key posts, such as the presidency, members in the judiciary and in the legislature," he said. "Although we have to wait to see what recognition of dual citizenship really means, it seems there are too many restrictions. Haitians are still hoping that they would be able to hold any post. But we still have to wait and see what the amendment really means."
Michel Pierre, who lives in Florida, thinks the constitutional change would have come sooner if successive governments had exercised the necessary political will.
"Many of us were angry because we're no longer considered Haitian in the eyes of the law. With the amendment, we have many of the benefits some of our neighbors in the rest of the Caribbean enjoy and take for granted," said Pierre. "It seemed as if our money was good enough for our relatives and the Haitian economy but we somehow couldn't be trusted with the citizenship of our country, if we had become naturalized Americans or Canadians. As I understand it, many countries in Caricom allow their nationals overseas to assume the rights and privileges of citizenship once they have returned home. We welcome the move."
Haitians abroad remit about $1 billion every year to relatives, making remittances the largest single source of foreign exchange in Haiti.
Although the constitutional amendment wouldn't become the law of the land until it is promulgated in the Monitor, a Haitian government publication, members of the Haitian Diaspora say they can wait.
Daniel Augustin of Queens is one such immigrant.
"We have waited years for this so what's another few weeks or even months? However, we have to find out what it really means in actual fact," he said.
But while Haitians abroad are hailing the constitutional change, which is backed by the United States, health officials in the Caribbean country are concerned about something else: the approaching rainy season which they fear may trigger resurgence in the cholera outbreak that killed nearly 5,000 and sickened 250, 000 since last year.
Kathryn Mahoney, a spokesperson for Partners in Health, a United States NGO in Haiti, reported that treatment centers in Mirebalais, a town where the cholera epidemic was first detected, have seen as spike in new cases. She said that the number of news cases had tripled in recent weeks.
But Doctors Without Borders, a prominent international organization, which played a leading role in responding to the cholera outbreak, believes the increase in new cases a marginal spike and the incidence of the disease remains under control.
"There are little, little spikes," explained Sylvian Groulx, the body's chief of mission in Haiti. "We're not expecting to see a second peak."
Meanwhile, the United Nations has confirmed a previous report of the United States Centers for Disease Control that the outbreak was caused by a South Asia strain of the disease. While a UN panel declined to blame the Nepalese troops serving in Haiti under the UN Peace keeping banner, it stated that "the evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that the source of the Haiti cholera outbreak was due to contamination of the Meye Tributary of the Artibonite River with a pathogenic strain of current South Asian type vibrio cholera as a result of human activity."
Most Haitians blame the Nepalese troops and the poor sanitary conditions under which they were living before the outbreak. However, the panel insisted that the epidemic "was not the fault of or deliberate action of a group or individuals." Haitians are not convinced. Just last week demonstrators protested against the presence of Nepalese, contending that the UN was responsible for the health nightmare.
"We're happy that there's a process to ensure that the origins of the epidemic can be investigated, and that the (UN) report has been made public for full transparency," Groulx of Doctors Without Borders said.
As Partners in Health saw it, the UN findings highlighted the need for the world body and others involved in responding to the epidemic undertake a rigorous screening program to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.
