2007年VOA标准英语-Haitian PM Presses for Constitutional Reforms

By Brian Wagner
Miami
28 April 2007

Haiti's prime minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, has called for new efforts to reform the nation's 1987 constitution. From Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports that Mr. Alexis is seeking to correct what he believes are injustices² in the governing charter.

Prime Minister of Haiti, Jacques Edouard Alexis

Speaking to a group of scholars at Florida International University, Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis appealed for an open debate on the nation's political future. He said the Caribbean nation is facing significant challenges, in spite of the backing it has received from the United States and other international partners.

More than seven thousand United Nations peacekeepers are deployed³ in the country to help end violence following an armed rebellion that led President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to leave the nation in 2004. Elections were held last year, allowing the country to return to constitutional rule.

Prime Minister Alexis says, as the government struggles to rebuild, one key focus should be the constitution.

He said it is time to consider, not whether to maintain the 1987 constitution in its present state, but the best way to go about changing it.

Mr. Alexis told scholars at the university in south Florida that the constitution drafted in 1987 helped strengthen democracy and break with the nation's history of authoritarianism⁴.

He said the charter promoted agrarian⁵ reform and the decentralization of government as ways to integrate communities that were traditionally marginalized in the country.

But Mr. Alexis cited a list of possible reforms to the constitution that he said could further strengthen Haiti's democratic institutions. He said the current system places too much control in the hands of the legislature, and he criticized the charter's failure to allow for voters to organize referenda to consider political changes.

The prime minister also said the ban on Haitian nationals from holding citizenship⁶ in other countries is an injustice¹, especially in light of the financial support that Haiti receives from its diaspora community.

The Inter-American Development Bank reported that Haiti received nearly $1.7 billion from Haitians abroad last year, mainly from immigrants in the United States.

Haiti's president, Rene Preval, also has called for an end to the constitutional ban on double-citizenship, saying it will help expatriates take a greater role in rebuilding the country.

1 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

2 injustices   

不公平( injustice的名词复数 )； 非正义； 待…不公正； 冤枉

参考例句：

• One who committed many injustices is doomed to failure. 多行不义必自毙。
• He felt confident that his injustices would be righted. 他相信他的冤屈会受到昭雪的。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

5 agrarian   

adj.土地的，农村的，农业的

参考例句：

• People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
• This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。