A group of 90 leading academics, authors, journalists and human rights activists from around the world has called on France to repay the 17 billion euros (£14bn) “extorted” from Haiti in the 19th Century. In 1825 France demanded 150 million gold francs in compensation after the Haitian Revolution, through which the country gained independence. The campaigners say that France’s demand vis-à-vis Haiti’s sovereignty was illegitimate and illegal. [Also see previous post Haiti: “The Hate and the Quake”.] Here are excerpts with a link to the full article below:

“The ‘independence debt’, which is today valued at over 17bn euros illegitimately forced a people who had won their independence in a successful slave revolt, to pay again for the freedom,” said the appeal to President Nicolas Sarkozy, published in the French newspaper Libération. The signatories included American linguist Noam Chomsky, French philosopher Étienne Balibar, and the Euro MPs Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Eva Joly.

Haiti gained independence from France in 1804, but French slave owners demanded compensation for lost property. The figure of 150m francs was reduced to 90m, but still not paid off until 1947. The authors of the letter said the case for repayment of the debt was “morally, economically, and legally unassailable”.

“In light of the urgent financial need in the country in the wake of the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010, we urge you to pay Haiti, the world’s first black republic, the restitution it is due,” the letter said.

For full article, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10988938

For a more detailed article, see http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/847863–billions-of-dollars-promised-for-haiti-fail-to-materialize

The letter can be read at http://www.diplomatiegov.info/openletter.fr.html. The original is at   http://www.liberation.fr/monde/0101652216-m-sarkozy-rendez-a-haiti-son-argent-extorque but one must subscribe to Libération to read it.

Photo of President Sarkozy from http://fr.euronews.net/tag/diplomatie/