Haiti

UN and Haitian government officials are scrambling to find a peaceful way to disarm a rogue group of former soldiers demanding the immediate return of the Haitian armed forces, 17 years after the country's notoriously brutal army was disbanded.

The report covers major developments from the issuance of the report of 25 August 2011 (S/2011/540) until 28 February 2012.

A U.N. Security Council delegation arrived in Haiti on Monday for a four-day visit to Haiti to assess security needs before a decision over reducing the 10,500-member peacekeeping force.

Haiti has made some progress in restoring the rule of law, the United Nations independent expert on the human rights situation in the Caribbean country said today, citing as examples the appointment of the president of the highest appellate court and the upcoming establishment of the supreme council of the judiciary.

Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille promised that 2012 would be a year of reconstruction and economic recovery in Haiti with a growth rate of eight percent. He made the pledge only days before Haitians mark the second anniversary of the earthquake that killed more than 200,000 of their people.

Chilean Defense Minister Andres Allamand announced Tuesday that his country will gradually withdraw its United Nations (UN) military contingent from Haiti starting in 2012. … About 500 Chilean military and police officers have been dispatched to Haiti since 2004, when the UN decided to intervene in the Caribbean country after a nationwide armed conflict that caused the fall of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Nigel Fisher, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti told reporters in New York that there have been significant advances on education, health, job creation, and infrastructure, among other sectors, through effective reconstruction projects.

The military was disbanded over human rights abuses in 1995 … But now President Michel Martelly is pledging to revive it, pressing forward with a plan to reconstitute the Haitian military as a kind of national guard or civil defense force to supplement the weak national police.

Haiti's new Prime Minister Garry Conille was sworn into office Tuesday along with 16 cabinet ministers. The new government took office five months after Michel Martelly was sworn in as president.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for another year and agreed to reduce the number of troops on the ground by 2,500.
In a resolution adopted unanimously, the 15-member body extended MINUSTAH’s authorization until 15 October 2012.