Haiti

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, has expressed his concern about the decision of the Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti (CEP) to exclude all of one party’s candidates for the senatorial elections scheduled to be held in that country on April 19 this year.

In a series of high level meetings during his recent visit to Haiti, Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, reiterated the OAS longstanding and ongoing commitment to advancing peace, stability and socio-economic development in that country, and welcomed indications that partial senatorial elections have been scheduled for April 2009.

The United Nations peacekeeping chief is on a five-day field visit to Haiti, discussing with national and local leaders the Organization’s mission in the impoverished Caribbean country where it has been seeking to promote stability and development since an insurgency in 2004.

La commission européenne (CE) a décidé d'attribuer, fin décembre 2008, un montant de 785 000 eu-ros à 7 organisations non gouvernementales (Ong) haïtiennes pour la réalisation de différents pro-jets, devant être mis en oeuvre au début de l'année 2009, en soutien à la consolidation de la société et de la démocratie, apprend l'agence en ligne AlterPresse.

United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and the country’s police force have seized 50 kilograms of can-nabis in the first joint drugs bust of its kind in the impoverished Caribbean nation. The large-scale anti-drugs operation – between the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, and the Haitian National Police (HNP) – struck three sites in the south of the country.

Hundreds of demonstrators have marched through two of Haiti's main cities, demanding the return of exiled former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "We want our leader to come back to his country. He's the only one who cares about our situation," supporters said. … The demonstrations, in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the country's second largest city, Cap-Haitien, came on the 18th anniver-sary of Mr Aristide's first election as president.

Haitians beset by a staggering rise in acts of banditry, including kidnapping, are set to benefit from a new United Nations-backed urban security plan launched by the national police, including an increased presence and nighttime patrols. Under Operation Blue Shield of the UN Mission in Haiti, UN peacekeepers are expected to make up a substantial part of the patrolling force and will also double the number of mobile checkpoints.

Wrapping up a 10-day visit to Haiti, Michel Forst told a news conference in the capital, Port-au-Prince, yesterday that the country has made progress in the area of civil and political rights, including reform of the judiciary. However, it still had a long way to go in creating a penal system that meets international rule of law standards. Important in this regard has been reform of the Haitian National Police, carried out with the help of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.

(Times of India) As part of the UN stabilization mission, a 140-member CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) contingent reached Haiti on Saturday. Led by deputy-IG Jasbir Singh, the contingent will assist Haitian police in weapons' control.