Nick Miles

Olen Nick Miles ja olen johtanut haitallisesta roolista muutamia kertoja alkuperäisissä vuosina. Pohjallisuudessa ja poliittisessa rauhallisuudessa, joiden jälkeen maa on tullut yhä laajemmaksi rauhallisuudesta. BBC-kysymyksen järjestäjällä Nawal Al-Meghafi, joka on huomannut haitallisesti, olen johtanut haitallisen demokraattisen aktivistin Monique Kleskaan.

women's rights group organiser Pascal Solage and Diana Manilla Arroyo, who works for the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Together we will talk about Haiti's current problems, but also look at the people who are working hard to resolve them and prove that their country is far from being beyond hope.

The lazy shorthand, the cliché, if you like, for Haiti is that it's the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. A hopeless case that's not known stability for decades, where violent gangs rule and international aid providers are fighting a losing battle with the chaos.

But let's interrogate that narrative a bit. First of all, some basics. Haiti is a country in the Caribbean, neighboring the Dominican Republic. Eleven million people live there. It famously gained independence from France over 200 years ago after a slave revolt.

A bold start for a new nation, but countless times since then it's been hit by waves of political violence and natural disasters. Poverty has led to hundreds of thousands of people leaving, looking for a better life abroad. But over the next half hour we'll be hearing from people who say it doesn't have to be that way.

Yes, there are huge problems. The government is only in control of small parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince. And we won't gloss over any of that or any of the other challenges that Haiti faces. What we will do is look at the seeds of change that can break the cycle of violence and instability. We're going to do that in the company of three people who know Haiti extremely well.

Noelle Al-Meghafi on BBC's investigations correspondent. She's been in Haiti twice this year, speaking to gang members and others trying to get by. Monique Kleska is a Haitian, a political rights activist, normally based in Port-au-Prince. Pascal Solage is another Haitian woman and runs a women's rights organisation for victims of sexual violence in Port-au-Prince.

We're going to start though with something that they're all very familiar with. Wael and I caught up with Diana Mania Arroyo, who ran the medical charity MSF in Port-au-Prince until earlier this year. She began by telling us the difficulties facing people in Haiti right now.

No while the breakdown in security across particularly Port-au-Prince means that children are also at risk. A lot of children are not at school because schools are closed in many areas. So it's a problem for children as well.

blaming, judging, survivor's behavior and also family rejection. Diana, I just wanted to move on to another aspect of the problems. It's that kind of financial insecurity, this widespread unemployment. People are in the casual sector just eking out a living. We've been speaking in Port-au-Prince with a local reporter and we heard from a couple of people living in the capital about the challenges they're facing.

A challenge for people to live in. What about working in Port-au-Prince? Noelle, you went there several times, and even as an international journalist, with all the backup that that comes with, it's a challenge, isn't it? It's incredibly difficult, but safety is definitely the biggest difficulty that you face day to day. I mean, we went in in a bubble.

As we record this podcast, about a thousand members of an international police and military force approved by the UN are on the ground in Haiti. To what extent is that helping the situation? They are in these big armoured vehicles. It's very hard for them to move around. And the gang members in their hundreds...

Kuuntelijana on haitallinen akademinen ja pro-demokraattinen aktiivinen Moni Gleska. Moni, kuitenkaan mitä olemme kuulleet, niin mitä uskomme, että haitalliset ja muut haitalliset ovat, että tämä Kenyän liittyvä sääntö ei ole mitenkään vaikuttanut?

Monique, that's an extremely well made point. And I think now we can speak to a Haitian woman called Pascale Solage, who runs an organization called Nigues Mawon, a women's rights organization that particularly helps victims of sexual violence. Hello, thanks very much for joining us, Pascale.

Thank you for the invitation and good morning everyone. Pascal, I was interested in reading one of the things you've been doing is trying to help women take part in and have a real impact on public affairs. How are you trying to do that and encourage people to do that?

Noel, in your trips to Haiti, what examples have you seen of that? People at a local level really thinking towards the future, a new Haiti, where things function and there is security for people.

Pascal Solage, mitä jatkuu motivoimaan sinua? Tietysti tunnet, että Haitiissa on edelleen mahdollisuus muuttaa.

Monique, I suppose it's worth mentioning also that Haiti has some advantages as a country. It's not ethnically split. Religious tensions are not high as they are in many other civil wars around the world. The civil war in Lebanon, what went on in Darfur, etc. So Haiti has the potential to have unity and national pride, doesn't it?

Monique, I love that strong note of optimism. You're talking about when, not if, Haiti retakes its rightful place on the world stage. Time now, unfortunately, to bring this discussion to a close. I'm going to ask you all, if I can, what one thing would help Haiti on the path to greater peace and prosperity? I'm going to start with you, Pascal.

Moni Kleska, Pascal Solage and my colleague Nawal Al-Meghafi here in London. Many thanks to all of you.