Haiti

Demand for justice outpaces the much-needed reform of the justice system in Haiti, the independent United Nations expert on the situation of human rights in the small Caribbean nation has underscored.

UN peacekeepers in Haiti should be reorganized to better monitor the country's border areas and coastline, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in a report released Thursday. The study, reviewing activities of the UN force known as MINUSTAH over the past six months, recommended that its mandate, which expires October 15, be extended for one more year.

Security has improved dramatically in Haiti, where just a few years ago large areas were controlled by heavily armed gangs that killed, kidnapped and raped with impunity, U.N. police said on Friday. The crime rate in the impoverished Caribbean nation has dropped thanks to a police force that is bigger, more professional and better coordinated with U.N. military and police personnel, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said.

At a meeting at the OAS called by Assistant Secretary General Ambassador Albert R. Ramdin, Chairman of the Haiti Task Force, representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) discussed this week mechanisms for stronger cooperation on Haiti among Inter-American agencies.

Haiti watchers were hoping last week’s Senate run-off election might reduce tension in the impoverished Caribbean nation. But violence during the polling may have dampened those hopes as the country tries to avoid crossing the breaking point.

The United Nations mission in Haiti has paid tribute to the people of the impoverished country and its security forces for holding well-run Senate elections yesterday. The second round of voting for seats in the Senate were conducted peacefully in all nine departments, the mission, known as MINUSTAH, said in a news release.

Bill Clinton, the former US president, has formally taken up a new role as United Nations special envoy to the impoverished Caribbean island of Haiti. Clinton, who accepted the role in May, is charged with improving the island's ailing economy and combating unemployment, particularly following last year's devastating tropical storms.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Bill Clinton as the United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti, building on the former United States President’s extensive engagement with the Caribbean nation. “I am confident that President Clinton will bring energy, dynamism and focus to the task of mobilizing international support for Haiti’s economic recovery and reconstruction,” said Mr. Ban.

The challenge facing Haiti of achieving stability and economic recovery remains great, especially after a year of damaging setbacks, but the impoverished nation has seen significant progress in the last two years, the head of a United Nations team that visited the country said today. “Last year was an extraordinarily difficult year for the country with the devastation wrought by four hurricanes, the rise in food prices and of oil prices,” Ambassador John McNee of Canada told reporters. … But he noted that the improving security situation and the continued recruitment and training of the Haitian national police were encouraging signs for the future.

A team of United Nations advisors set off on a visit to Haiti today following pledges worth nearly $325 million made at a donor conference in Washington last month for the impoverished Caribbean nation’s reconstruction and development. The Ad Hoc Advisory Group of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will use the four-day trip to study the most appropriate ways to support Government efforts towards economic and social development in Haiti.