Rethinking Statelessness from Within as embodying a need for ‘development’.42 Professor Nicolas Forsans in his piece entitled How Haiti Became a Failed State, spotlights Haiti’s turbulent history from the Duvalier regime to the earthquake, neglecting US interventionism and centuries of colonial history in his discussion.43 He cites the gangs ruling over Port-au-Prince as the reason for the turbulence, and then quickly states that democratic elections are necessary to reform the nation before ending the piece.44 Such disproportionate analysis frames the crisis of Haiti as an anomaly in need of development, reform and investment. It is also scored with an undertone of why Haiti should endeavour to become more Western, rather than an ethos of the fulfilment of Haitian individuals’ rights as citizens. For those in Haiti, notions of a failed state, third world poverty and a crisis of care by academics, governments and legal experts have framed Haiti as indefinitely ‘Other’ and engenders the top-down approach that restricts action on the conditions in Haiti to governments, major donors and development organisations. Where the Western bloc has sought to extricate themselves from the messiness of the current state of affairs in Haiti, examination of the lack of voting in Haiti since 2016 becomes more important than ever. Such an approach allows for an in-depth discussion into the historical factors, political instability and social issues, past and present, which contribute to de facto statelessness in the Haitian context. By focussing on the in situ unbelonging in Haiti, this piece provides a more nuanced understanding of how de facto statelessness can manifest within a person’s own country, even when legal citizenship is present, thereby enriching the theoretical concept itself. As this article foregrounds the Haitian public’s concerns in this matter, potential solutions become more than a paternalistic discussion of what it means to enjoy community, safety and effectuate a political existence. IV THE VALUE OF A DE FACTO STATELESSNESS LENS Theorists on statelessness have largely paid attention to the concept of legal or de jure statelessness, excluding those experiencing de facto statelessness. Current theorising overemphasises this group who lose ‘citizenship as a matter of recognisable fact’ and are without legal nationality. 45 Yet, this overlooks the category of the de facto stateless — those effectively without citizenship and political belonging.46 Although it may be sensible for legal frameworks to adopt this approach, the encroachment of this binary system in wider statelessness discussions is troubling; a trend has arisen in statelessness theory where it is primarily conceived as a legal status rather than a lived experience. The rigidity of this concept is wholly unreflective of the experience of those enduring statelessness, and it does not allow for theoretical reflectivity that enables analysis outside of the binary of citizen versus stateless. This piece aims to circumvent this by instead focussing on the complexities of de facto statelessness amongst the rooted communities within Haiti. 42 43 44 45 46 See Roy and Labrador (n 23). Nicolas Forsans, ‘How Haiti Became a Failed State’, The Conversation (online, 11 March 2024) <https://theconversation.com/how-haiti-became-a-failed-state-225116>, archived at <perma.cc/QW2S-5PC2>. ibid. Serena Parekh, Refugees and the Ethics of Forced Displacement (Routledge 2016) 84. ibid. 133