By Joseph Chamie and Sergio DellaPergola
PORTLAND, USA / JERUSALEM, Jan 27 2025 – Following the long-sought cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the major challenge for the Israelis and the stateless Palestinians is how to achieve a lasting peace that will end the disastrous cycle of death, destruction, displacement and despair.

Several major factors continue to play fundamental roles in the decades-old conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Among those factors are religious identities, demographics, land and the broader regional geo-political context.

Military action and terrorist acts simply won’t resolve the conflict. The major nations of the world need to be proactive in the pursuit of a plan for securing a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians

Closely related to those major factors are critical issues for achieving a solution to the conflict, including borders, refugees, civil/human rights and legal equity, authority over Jerusalem’s Holy Sites, and very importantly security.

A narrative of mutual recognition, tolerance, and pluralism should prevail. While the memories of the past cannot be forgotten nor dismissed, the emphasis today needs to be placed firmly on achieving a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Recent History

Along with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the western powers in World War I, its territory was partitioned into several British and French Mandates.

The British Mandate for Palestine, or Mandatory Palestine, initially intended to include Transjordan, was approved over the territory west of Jordan by the League of Nations in 1922. Among its declared goals was the establishment of the Jewish national home and the development of self-governing institutions, safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of religious affiliation and ethnicity.

The religious composition of the resident population of Mandatory Palestine at that time was approximately 10 percent Christian, 11 percent Jewish and 78 percent Muslim. Under the British, all those resident in the territory, irrespective of their religious affiliation, held Palestinian citizenship.

After many decades of violence and confrontations among the major populations of Mandatory Palestine and the various attempts by the British and others to resolve the conflict, the problem was turned over to the United Nations to resolve. By 1947, in large part due to immigration, the religious composition of the resident population of Palestine had become 7 percent Christian, 32 percent Jewish and 60 percent Muslim.

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution terminating the Mandate and dividing Palestine into two states. One state was Arab, primarily Muslim, and the other state was Jewish, with the Jerusalem area separately remaining under direct United Nations control (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The United Nations Partition Plan – 1947

On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared independence of the Jewish state of Israel. The opposing side, led by Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, rejected the partition plan. War immediately erupted between the armies of neighboring Arab states and Israel.

As a consequence of the war, the demographic composition of the territory underwent significant changes. In particular was the compulsory as well as the voluntary exodus (subsequently called the Nakba) of an estimated minimum of 625-650,000 and a maximum 725-750,000 Palestinians from Israel. They included persons who lived in Palestine in 1946 and those who stayed but whose property remained within the borders of the Jewish state.

In the newly founded state of Israel with a population of 873 thousand, the proportion Jewish was 82 percent. If the Palestinians had not been displaced but had remained in their homes, the proportion Jewish in Israel in 1948 would have been about 45 percent.

Following the 1948 war and subsequent armistice, the borders of Israel expanded to 77 percent of the original territory of Mandatory Palestine, including the western part of Jerusalem. The West Bank with East Jerusalem was occupied by Transjordan, later renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Gaza area remained under occupation by Egypt. In 1950 the combined population of West Bank and Gaza contained approximately 830,000 stateless Palestinians.

Following the 1967 war, Israel began expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied territories (Figure 2). From a few families in 1968, the number of Jewish settlers grew from 69,700 in 1987 to 293,400 in 2007. By 2024, the number reached 530,000, which does not include the 245,000 residents of new neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Figure 2. Map of Israel, West Bank, Gaza Strip and Neighboring Countries

Current Demographics

Israel is a relatively small country with about the territorial size of El Salvador. At the end of 2024, Israel’s population surpassed 10 million, which is about the same size as Sweden’s population. The proportion Jewish in Israel is 77 percent, including citizens who live in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories.

The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), which has about one quarter of the land area of Israel, has a permanently resident population close to 5 million, plus 380,000 living in East Jerusalem.

The combined population of Israel and the OPT is approximately 15 million. In that combined population, about 51% of the residents would be Jewish.

Peace Proposals

The first serious peace proposal examined here is the one-state solution. It calls for establishing a nation that includes Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. A major advantage of that solution would be the creation of a secular democracy with the separation of church and state with equal rights for each of the country’s citizens.

The chief disadvantage with the one-state solution is that at least at this time, it does not appear to be a realistic political scenario. The two opposing parties in the conflict still nurture considerable mutual hostility. Moreover, both are seeking their own independent statehood sovereignty, i.e., a continuing Jewish national homeland and a newly established Palestinian national homeland.

The peace proposal that is most widely supported is the two-state solution. It remains the internationally agreed way forward and is strongly supported by the United Nations, the Security Council and the world’s major powers.

The two-state solution involves a fully sovereign, independent State of Palestine comprising the West Bank and the Gaza area, existing peacefully alongside Israel, with borders along pre-1967 lines and security ensured for both nations.

A major difficulty with the two-state solution is the lack of territorial contiguity between the two parts of the Palestinian state. Israel could facilitate the establishment of a single Palestinian state by permitting a corridor connecting the two parts of the Palestinian state while ensuring their own security.

Another difficulty is the lack of political agreement and the prevailing de facto conflict between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.

A third peace proposal, if acceptable to the Palestinians, is the attainment of sovereignty separately for Gaza and the West Bank. Each territory would negotiate its own autonomy, boundaries, political structure and economic sustainment with separate governments and separate membership in the United Nations. In the future, if feasible and desired, the two Palestinian states may wish to negotiate a federal configuration or a full union.

Conclusions

It is time to stop the killing, violence and destruction and have the Israelis and the Palestinians negotiate a peace settlement.

It is also time to recognize that on this small territory known as Palestine /Eretz Israel/the Holy Land, at least two major actors exist, each with their historical rights, ethnic solidarity, cultural heritages, languages, political autonomy and religious rituals.

The Palestinians in their proposal for a lasting peace with Israel are essentially calling for a state of their own.

The Israeli government has developed extensive plans for war to ensure its security. However, it has not offered explicit plans to resolve the post-war situation in Gaza nor on how to achieve a lasting peace with the stateless Palestinians. The Israelis do demand that their Jewish nation is not menaced nor delegitimized in attempts to secure a lasting peace with the Palestinians.

Continuation of the status quo is untenable. It is certainly not a resolution to the conflict and continues to place Israelis and Palestinians in peril.

It’s time for diplomacy that leads to a negotiated settlement and a lasting peace. Military action and terrorist acts simply won’t resolve the conflict. The major nations of the world need to be proactive in the pursuit of a plan for securing a lasting peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Joseph Chamie in Portland, Oregon, USA is a consulting demographer and a former director of the United Nations Population Division.

Sergio DellaPergola in Jerusalem, Israel is Professor Emeritus and former Chairman of the Hebrew University’s Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry.

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 27 2025 – It was necessary to repel the “invasion” of mobile phones in Brazilian classrooms, even to spark a debate about the use of technology in education, according to Silvana Veloso, an educator with extensive experience on the subject.

On January 13, Brazil enacted a law that bans “the use of personal portable electronic devices by students during classes, recess, or breaks between classes at all levels of basic education,” making it the first Latin American country to impose such a nationwide restriction.”Technology must be introduced in each school in an organized manner, avoiding the current chaos”: Bernardo Baião.

An unusual agreement among various opposing political factions allowed the new law to be passed by the National Congress in December 2024. Only a few far-right lawmakers, primarily from the Liberal Party, voted against it.

They wanted students to have access to phones to film “indoctrinating practices” by teachers and expose Marxist ideological activism, which they claim is contaminating Brazilian education. However, even some of their legislators supported the law.

Restricting mobile phones in schools aims to “safeguard the mental, physical, and psychological health of children and adolescents,” as stated in the approved Law 15.100. It includes exceptions for pedagogical use, emergencies involving risks, or health and disability issues.

The new law took immediate effect, with no transition period, and will be enforced starting in February, when the school year begins in this country of 212 million people.

“This law is small and limited, but positive because it mobilizes the community, parents, teachers, and even the school cafeteria staff, sparking debate,” Veloso said. She does not reject technology in schools but advocates for its appropriate use.

As an educator, Veloso led the BH Digital program, a digital inclusion initiative in Belo Horizonte – the capital of the southern state of Minas Gerais, with 2.3 million inhabitants -, from its inception in 2004 until 2012.

The program established telecenters with 10 to 20 internet-connected computers in public institutions like libraries, assistance offices, cultural centers, and NGOs, as well as a mobile unit – a trailer equipped to teach computer classes in neighborhoods.

With 40 of her 60 years dedicated to education, Veloso also served as Secretary of Education for Rio Acima, a municipality of 10,000 residents, from 2022 to 2024. During her tenure, she implemented a technology program in local schools, including robotics labs. She continues to work as a teacher and advisor on the subject.

Rio Acima and many other municipalities received computer equipment, such as desktops and tablets, but lacked the knowledge to use them effectively.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, as they enact a law in Brasilia on January 13 that bans the use of cell phones and other mobile electronic devices in classrooms nationwide. Credit: Ricardo Stuckert / PR

Unprepared Schools and Teachers

Just as with the overwhelming presence of mobile phones, schools and teachers are generally unprepared to integrate new technologies into teaching, Veloso lamented. They have not developed pedagogical projects to incorporate these tools.

Regarding mobile phones, which are owned by a vast majority of students, Veloso has witnessed troubling cases. In response to school violence, which surged in late 2022 and early 2023 – with five assaults and 11 deaths in five Brazilian states – students aged nine and ten in Rio Acima organized self-defense networks via WhatsApp.

Instructions on using kitchen knives to “bleed the bandits” who might invade schools and the preparation of Molotov cocktails were part of the group’s discussions, until a mother found out through the students themselves, Veloso told IPS over the phone from Rio Acima, where she lives.

The leader of the movement was just 10 years old and headed several WhatsApp groups. “They were reproducing the violence” they feared becoming victims of, Veloso noted.

Another earlier case, from 2017, came to light when a student was found with cuts on her arm. It involved girls self-harming, encouraged by a website that promoted competitions among those who could cut themselves the most.

Training, particularly for teachers, to manage and leverage technological innovations is the central challenge facing education, Veloso argued.

“Technology does not cause regression; we are the ones responsible. Humanity has always sought interactive communication. What we have achieved is marvelous – phones that allow us to talk while seeing the other person’s image are fascinating,” but they require debate and dialogue for proper use, she concluded.

A poster by the Rio Acima City Hall promoting the use of tablets and computers in the environmental education of students. Credit: Rio Acima City Hall

The Harm of Mobile Phones

Numerous studies highlight the negative effects of mobile phones on learning, including attention deficits, social media addiction, and increased anxiety among students.

Brazil has become the first Latin American country to pass a law restricting mobile phones in schools, following a global trend. A quarter of the 194 member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have already adopted restrictive measures, particularly in Europe and Asia.

Although the law takes effect in February, its full implementation requires regulations and protocols for schools managed by states (secondary schools) and municipalities (primary schools).

After political consensus, driven by the proven distraction caused by mobile phones in both schools and workplaces, the new law now prompts reflection on pedagogical projects in schools.

“Technology must be introduced into each school in an organized manner, avoiding the current chaos,” said Bernardo Baião, coordinator of Educational Policies at Todos pela Educação, a nonprofit civil society organization advocating for quality basic education in Brazil.

Two students from Rio Acima participate in the municipality’s school technology program, aimed at better utilizing digital resources in education. Credit: Rio Acima City Hall

The proliferation of mobile phones, combined with social media, has a cognitive dimension, affecting learning. Students themselves admit that it distracts them from their studies.

“More screen time, less learning,” emphasized Baião, a history graduate turned educator, who has worked full-time for the Todos pela Educação movement in Rio de Janeiro for the past three years.

Other aspects of the technological challenge include the emotional impact on those who “cannot live without social media” and the social interaction aspect of “living and playing at school, making it naturally noisy, without the silence of mobile phones, which bring distant people closer while pushing away those nearby,” he told IPS.

“Technology is not the enemy. We must combine different tools. Printed books are better for memorization, but digital ones are more suitable for personalized teaching, addressing different needs and interests,” he added.

“The teacher is more important than the computer or phone screen; technology cannot replace them,” he stressed.

The ban on mobile phones in schools had already been implemented in many private schools, and four of Brazil’s 26 states had passed their own legislation. In fact, 28% of schools had already adopted a total ban, with few exceptions, by 2023, according to the Internet Steering Committee.

This committee includes government and civil society participants, including academics and industry representatives. It assists in internet governance, maintaining neutrality against political and private interests, and established the core principles of Brazil’s internet law, the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet.

The swift passage of the national law was due to near-consensus in public opinion. A survey conducted by the non-governmental Locomotiva Institute in October 2024 showed that 82% of respondents supported banning mobile phones in schools.

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Jan 27 2025 – Kenya’s young protesters are paying a high price for speaking out. Last June, a protest movement led by first-time activists from Generation Z emerged in response to the government’s Finance Bill, which would have introduced sweeping tax increases. The government quickly withdrew its plans, but protests continued, articulating anger at economic strife, elite corruption and out-of-touch politicians. The government’s response has been violent. Police have used batons, teargas and water cannon against protesters. On the worst day of violence, 25 June, when some protesters attempted to storm parliament, police fired live ammunition. Over 60 people were reported killed during the protests. At least 1,200 were reportedly arrested.

Since then, there’s been a wave of abductions of young activists. At least 82 people have reportedly been abducted by armed plainclothes groups since June. Some were taken ahead of major planned protests. More than six months after the protests began, abductions continue. While most have been released, as many as 20 people are still thought missing.

On 6 January, five young men who’d been abducted the previous month were found. Among them was Kibet Bull, known for his satirical cartoons. One of the five reported being whipped and beaten. Several others abductees describe traumatic experiences in detention, although there’s a chilling effect: many of those who’ve been released have decided not to speak out about their experiences.

Security forces deny any involvement. But a government minister, Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi, recently claimed that Kenya’s National Intelligence Service was responsible for the abduction of his son, Leslie Muturi. He was only released after President William Ruto intervened.

Ruto, whose resignation was demanded by protesters, promised on 27 December that the abductions would stop. But at the same time, he seemed unwilling to listen to activists’ demands, blaming parents for not raising their children properly and telling young people not to disrespect leaders on social media.

Now people are protesting to demand the release of the abductees and accountability for those responsible. These protests, like those before them, have been met with police violence. On 27 December, police responded to a protest calling for the release of six people with teargas and arrests. The authorities charged protesters with unlawful assembly and incitement to violence.

Protests against the abductions have continued in the capital, Nairobi, and elsewhere, as have protesters’ arrests.

In another disturbing development, youth activist Richard Otieno was attacked by three unidentified people and killed in the town of Elburgon on 18 January. He was known in the community for criticising the government and the local member of parliament, and had been arrested for taking part in the 2024 protests. His murder sparked local protests.

Police repression

Violent repression of protests has long been a problem in Kenya. In June 2023, six people died in opposition-organised protests against taxes and the high cost of living. More people were killed during the protests in June 2024, and when protesters gathered in Nairobi in October to hold a vigil for them, police lobbed teargas canisters and arrested several activists who tried to enter the park where the protest was taking place. Police also used violence against anti-femicide protests in November and December 2024.

But the current wave of abductions is a troubling further level of repression. It suggests that those in power have been seriously rattled by the emergence of a new generation of protesters and their demands, and by their persistence in the face of police violence, and are stepping up their tactics accordingly.

As well as routinely using violence against protesters, police are accused of complicity in abductions. Even if they don’t directly commit them, they’re accused of standing by and allowing them to happen, and failing to investigate them and bring justice to the victims. Few cases have been solved. As a result, the rule of law is being called into question.

Kenya is on a dangerous trajectory. As a result of the brutal crackdown on protests, in December the country’s civic space rating was downgraded to ‘repressed’, the second worst rating, on the CIVICUS Monitor, our collaborative research initiative that tracks the health of civic freedoms around the world.

Demand for change

Abductions may subdue some people who’ve found themselves at the sharp end of state violence. But they could also backfire. People who’ve argued that politicians and the state can’t be trusted are being vindicated. The result will be a further loss of trust in public institutions.

Young Kenyans have found their voice, proving their willingness to speak out, organise and demand an end to self-serving and corrupt politics. The protests were marked by creativity, full use of social media and unity across usually divisive ethnic lines. They helped inspire similar protests in several other African countries, including Nigeria and Uganda, creating a rare feeling of shared confidence that change could come. Those hopes haven’t been entirely subdued. The abductions may have silenced individuals, but the collective appetite for change hasn’t gone away.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org.

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By Catherine Wilson
BUDAPEST, Jan 27 2025 – The Central European nation of Hungary is officially a democracy. But civil society, the media and democratic norms have increasingly come under threat as the Fidesz-KDNP coalition government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has entrenched autocratic rule over the past 14 years. Now a new wave of energy and popularity is driving the younger opposition movement into the spotlight ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

“I believe that no matter how much Fidesz has dismantled the important pillars of democracy and the rule of law and cemented its own reliable cadres in two-thirds of the votes, despite spending hundreds of billions annually on propaganda, it can still be defeated in elections,” 43-year-old Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza (Respect and Freedom) Party in Hungary, said in a public statement. “Our country says enough is enough.”

Since winning the 2010 national election, the nationalist conservative Fidesz Party has introduced state and legislative measures that have eroded the independence of the judiciary and restricted and censored the media, while there has been greater surveillance and undermining of non-government organizations working on social issues and human rights in the country.

“Hungary is no longer a democracy, not just according to me, not just according to the opposition, but according to independent institutions. And, to be frank, according to most of the voters,” Ferenc Gelencsér, the 34-year-old member of the Hungarian Parliament for the centrist Momentum Movement Party, told IPS in Budapest.

Hungary transitioned to democracy after the end of Communist rule in 1991. Orbán, who was first elected Prime Minister from 1998 to 2002, was a vocal advocate for greater freedom, closer ties with western Europe and supported Hungary joining NATO in 1999. But, after re-election in 2010, his coalition government, which has a two-thirds majority in parliament, has moved toward a model of governance termed ‘illiberal democracy.’

Rising food prices and a struggling economy have contributed to cost of living pressures in Hungary. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

It routinely changes electoral laws and constituency boundaries to its advantage and ensures the country’s major courts, institutions and media are dominated by pro-government figures.

“The rules and regulations that govern the economy, that govern political processes—everything changes depending on what is the current interest of the government party. And there is constant adjustment in a way that constitutional rules don’t really exist anymore in reality, only on paper,” Professor Zsolt Enyedi at the Democracy Institute, Central European University, in Budapest, told IPS. “It is a very uneven playing field… distorted by the fact that the financial resources of the government and pro-government media outnumber the resources of the opposition in a ratio of about 10 to 1.”

They are major factors in Fidesz’s success in the last four consecutive elections. As well, Orbán “speaks the language of average Hungarians” and “alters his rhetoric to changes in the public mood,” Enyedi added. The ruling coalition secured 54.13 percent of votes in the 2022 election, but observers deemed it severely flawed due to media bias and misuse of state resources.

Its right-wing rhetoric has also targeted supporters of human rights and voices critical of its regime. In 2021, civil society organizations, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International, reported to the United Nations that those supporting refugees and vulnerable groups were being vilified by the government, there were frequent denials of freedom of information requests and human rights education programs were being removed from schools.

And while the constitution provides for freedom of expression, “ongoing efforts to sideline voices and perspectives that authorities find unfavourable, including many found at academic institutions, NGOs and media outlets, have discouraged open criticism of the government,” reports Freedom House, which rates Hungary as “partly free” with a score of 65 out of 100.

But Gelencsér says he speaks for the younger generation who want a different future. About 15 percent of Hungary’s population of 9.7 million people are aged 16-29 years and a study of youth published this year by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies reports that two-thirds want to live in a full democracy.

“The core voters of the Momentum [party] are under the age of 49 years and the main two things that matter to these people are democracy, rule of law and the fear of climate change. Most of our voters are looking for an alternative to the government and most of them are youngsters,” Gelencsér said. In another 2021 survey, 51 percent of young Hungarians believed their interests were not represented in national politics, a minority of one in five thought that elections were free and fair and only 19 percent trusted publicly available information.

There is also rising disillusion with the stagnant economy, corruption and poor public services. Hungary’s GDP growth declined from 7.1 percent in 2021 to -0.9 percent last year. And about three quarters of the population earn incomes below the level needed to meet the average cost of living, reports the Hungarian think tank, Equilibrium Institute.

“The atmosphere has changed. There is a general dissatisfaction with the government. In the last couple of years, especially after COVID, the economy is doing rather badly. And there is a general lack of trust in the government to manage these issues,” Enyedi said.

Ferenc Gelencser (Centre), Member of Parliament for the Momentum Movement Party, with MP Akos Hadhazy (Left) and MP Hajnal Miklos (Right), participate in a protest in Budapest in 2023, Hungary. Credit: Momentum Movement

Gelencsér added that “housing is a huge issue for the younger generation; everybody is renting, and our healthcare system and pension system are on the verge of collapse. It would be understandable if we didn’t pay any tax, but there are many different types of tax in this country, and I don’t know where it is going.”

Nepotism is prevalent in government circles and Hungary was ranked the most corrupt nation in the European Union (EU) last year by Transparency International with a score of 42 out of 100.

Increasingly, young people are voting with their feet and the number of citizens emigrating, mostly to western Europe, rose from 19,322 in 2020 to 35,736 in 2023.

But, in the last year, opposition voices have been emboldened by problems facing the government. A major scandal erupted in February 2024 when the government pardoned a man sentenced for obstructing justice in a child abuse case. In January this year, the EU cancelled 1 billion euros in funding to Hungary, which has rising state debt, due to its failure to address corruption and breach of democratic norms. And Antal Rogan, a government official, was subject to sanctions by the United States for his role in state corruption.

The Second Reform Era, a centrist party established in 2023, responded to the news. And on a late January afternoon, with the temperature close to zero, a crowd of several hundred supporters gathered on the bank of the Danube River in Budapest. Muffled in puffa jackets and woollen beanies, some holding flame-lit beacons, they came to hear party leaders call out the scourge of corruption and support for the sanctions.

But the resurgence of the Tisza Party since early last year under the new leadership of Magyar, an energetic and media-savvy lawyer and former member of the government, is galvanising a public shift. After last year’s pardon scandal, he stood to demand a new direction for the country based on transparent governance and rule of law while advocating for people’s grievances, including the neglected rural electorate. In an IDEA Institute public poll this month, Tisza led with public support of 33 percent, compared to 26 percent for the government.

‘We will give back to the country what has been taken away from it: decency, self-respect, justice and hope for a better life,’ Magyar said in a New Year’s message.

The ruling coalition will not miss any tactics to dominate the next parliamentary election in 2026. But, to date, the momentum of Tisza’s rise appears unstoppable.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By External Source
Jan 27 2025 (IPS-Partners)

While Mediterranean cities are meeting to discuss ways to address food waste considering land degradation and drought, former FAO communication specialist Issam Azouri focuses on tangible solutions led by consumers.

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By Harvey Dupiton
NEW YORK, Jan 27 2025 – As we commemorated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Day on January 20, 2025—a day that also marked America welcoming its newly elected president—we honor the legacy of this civil rights leader by reflecting on his powerful words: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now.”

These words resonate deeply as we grapple with the ongoing struggle to sustain hope in Haiti and reclaim our pride as the first Black republic to achieve freedom, won through the sacrifice and blood of our ancestors in their fight against colonialism.

How ironic it is that today, we—descendants of those who fought for liberty—are mocked in a land that proclaims itself the “Land of the Free.” We live in fear of deportation, our only crime being forced out of our homeland by unbearable circumstances. These circumstances have been shaped, in large part, by decades of misguided foreign interventions and interference.

Since the much-acclaimed U.S. military intervention in 1994, which was intended to uphold democracy, we have instead seen the dismantling of Haiti’s military and a reversal of order in our country. For the past 30 years, we have endured chaos and anarchy fueled by ineffective Haitian leadership, propped up under American tutelage.

Unless Haiti is allowed to chart its own course, the much-touted “assistance” provided in the name of empathy will only perpetuate the root causes of our problems, dooming yet another generation of young Haitians.

Recent statements by Senator Rubio, during his confirmation hearing as Secretary of State, praising the increased deployment of troops from Kenya and El Salvador, do not inspire hope for meaningful change. These actions appear to perpetuate the same failed policies that prioritize foreign-led solutions over empowering Haitians to reclaim control of their future.

Despite this, we take a moment to extend our prayers and best wishes to Mr. Trump as he assumes the role of leader of the free world. While his previous rhetoric may have reflected misgivings about us, we remain hopeful that he will prioritize the shared interests of our two nations.

We fervently wish that his administration will support The Future We Want embodied in the Ayiti 2030 Agenda Initiative as a path toward immediate order and stability in our country.

A Call to Action

We urge all members of the Haitian community and their friends to contact their elected representatives and advocate for support of The Future We Want: The Ayiti 2030 Agenda Initiative.

The Future We Want:

1. A United Haiti – Achieved through a transitional government authority that unites all factions and the nation without foreign interference.
2. A Country of Institutions – Guided by a transitional government committed to electoral reforms, ensuring that future elections reflect the true will of the people and inspire confidence among all stakeholders, rather than devolving into superficial popularity contests.
3. A Country of Jobs – Spearheaded by a transitional government that mobilizes resources from Haitians abroad to launch a massive, community-led relief effort focused on humanitarian intervention—not foreign armed intervention—paving the way for dynamic economic innovation.

The world must know that, as a people who have cherished freedom as deeply as Americans have, we are fully capable of rebuilding our nation without divisive foreign interference.

Haiti will rise again.

Haiti shall overcome!

Harvey Dupiton is Head of United Nations Association, Haiti, and Member of the NGO Community at the United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

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