On April 17, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the formation of a joint commission with Haiti to examine their intertwined history, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the original agreement that forced Haiti to pay France 150 million francs in reparations to former slaveholders following the Haitian Revolution.
According to The Guardian, Macron acknowledged the inequity involved in France forcing a nation that had only just became independent to pay them, a legitimate global superpower, reparations. “That decision put a price on the liberty of a young nation, which from its birth thereby confronted the unjust force of history,” Macron said in his announcement.
However, Fritz Deshommes, the president of the Haitian National Committee on Restitution and Reparations (HNCRR), indicated that the joint commission is a “very small step” in the right direction, but also called it a “delaying move that buys time and allows for a wait-and-see approach.”
Deshommes continued, “In reality, France has shown no intention of addressing the issue of restitution in a direct and determined way. Granted, there is acknowledgment of the original injustice and the need to build a better relationship between our two people – but nothing more. In the same way, France has recognised slavery as a crime against humanity, yet refuses to make reparations for that crime. The struggle for the restitution of the triple ransom of independence must therefore continue and intensify.”
Macron, for his part, said during his address that France is ready to accept “its share of truth in the creation of memory, a painful one, for Haiti, which began in 1825. Today, on this bicentennial, we must, here as elsewhere, face this history squarely…Haiti was born of a revolution, faithful to the spirit of 1789, which brilliantly affirmed the universal principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
Others, like CARICOM secretary general, Dr. Carla Barnett, joined Deshomes in calling for more concrete measures from France. Barnett used April 14th’s opening of the UN’s Permanent Forum on People of African Descent to make her case.
“The negative economic and social effects of this historical injustice are painfully clear, with arguable links to the situation in Haiti today. This anniversary presents an opportunity to bring global attention and a deeper understanding of the situation in Haiti and serves as a call to action to address the ongoing security, humanitarian, and governance crises in the country,” Barnett said.
Deshommes’ fellow HNCRR member Jean Mozart Feron described the original agreement as an unjust ransom in his remarks to The Guardian.
“This ransom plunged Haiti into a spiral of economic dependency from which it has never fully recovered and … strangled the young nation, stifling its development and diverting precious resources that could have been invested in education and infrastructure,” Feron said.
He also said that the debt also affected “the way Haiti is perceived and treated on the international stage without due consideration for this history of economic exploitation.” Feron also downplayed the current set of crises in Haiti, continuing his thoughts. “Our committee intends to work closely with the civil society to clearly advise the Haitian state on how this money should be used or could be used and how it should be managed with total transparency in a responsible manner.”
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