Haiti – a human catastrophe!

I read a BBC article on Haiti this morning and it paints a vivid picture of what lawlessness looks like!

When people complain about law enforcement measures such as ‘stop & search’, yes, it is unfortunate if it is wrongly used or perceived to target some groups. But given the current spate of stabbings and shootings, it is clearly a very necessary measure and technology is what’s required, to remove the embarrassing aspect of it. Can we not have a knife/gun detection satellite of sorts, that can accurately detect and pinpoint those carrying weapons, so that stop & searches are specifically targeted instead or random?

But back to Haiti. What a tragedy! The levels of crime and homicide has apparently become impossible to police. Instead, people are fleeing the capital. Just imagine that!

Unfortunately, a very complex situation. Brings back memories of articles I read years ago, relating to South Africa. The article surmised that when a group of people have had to live through decades of being made to feel their life means little and they are not worth the effort, they begin to believe that themselves and develop an uncaring attitude to life, and when they can, they unleash the most unthinkable violence on each other.

One can only imagine that following years of poverty and deprivation, the various gangs that have now pretty much taken over Haiti’s capital city, are groups with little care for the taking of human life. Is there a solution?

Law enforcement on its own, cannot be expected to solve these situations! This is a socioeconomic problem. We simply cannot watch on, till people get to that point, where they can just stab or shoot someone else and casually walk away, and off to stab or shoot their next target! If you look at the recent and ongoing spate of violence in many parts of the world, it tends to follow on from deprivation and hopelessness. While that is never a tenable excuse for mindless violence, it is where the solution can be found. We have to avoid situations where people get to a state where it doesn’t bother them to just casually take a life. Whether the reason is evil or mental health or whatever society would like to call it, we have to find a way to avoid leaving sections of society to rot to such levels.

With all that Haiti’s been through; earthquakes and the rest, one would expect a high degree of people caring for each other, but unfortunately, combined with years and years of deprivation, it’s flipped the other way and the gangs that have taken over their capital, appear very willing to unleash horror!
If the Haitian government could sort itself out, find the means for a socioeconomic revival, create jobs, bring back hope; then train and equip law enforcement and as many community groups as possible for a robust stand-off to clear out these armed gangs, then they could take steps to chart a new path for Haiti. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to happen and theirs will be a continuing story of mindless violence. How sad…