Haiti

The arrival of a massive shipment of election equipment in Haiti has brought the process of legislative polls to a new phase, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) announced today. Voting booths and associated material for nearly 11,000 voting locations, divided into 12,000 kits, will be distributed throughout the country by the mission, for the election of a third of the Senate, slated to be held on 19 April.

Haiti is making strides in security sector and judicial reform but continues to grapple with widespread poverty and vulnerability to disasters, the leader of a United Nations Security Council mission to the impoverished Caribbean nation said today.

As the United Nations Security Council completed its four-day mission to Haiti this weekend, it stressed that national dialogue and international support were critical to meet coming challenges in security, stability, recovery and development.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who wrapped up a visit to Haiti today, urged the people of the impoverished nation to seize the current momentum to lift it out of its downward spiral and place it firmly on a path to economic security. “2008 was a difficult year for Haiti, from the violent reactions to the increase in food prices to the devastation caused by the successive hurricanes,” Mr. Ban told reporters in the capital, Port-au-Prince, yesterday.

To keep Haiti on course and avoid further unrest, its government needs to build a broad national consensus, reaching out to parliament and civil society. “Haiti 2009: Stability at Risk“, the latest update briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines a fragile political, social and economic situation. A series of crises in 2008 have pushed more Haitians into poverty and increased the potential for serious trouble this year.

For lasting stability in Haiti, neighbouring countries must help foil trans-national crime through the sharing of information, patrolling, and coordinated operations, according to the head of the United Nations mission in that country (MINUSTAH).

Haiti is on the way to recovering $6 million of assets allegedly plundered by former President Jean-Claude Duvalier and stashed in Switzerland thanks to an initiative backed by the United Nations.

The United Nations mission in Haiti has called for the widest possible participation of all political currents in April polls for a third of the Senate, stressing that this is the best way to ensure the credibility and universal acceptance of the results in the impoverished Caribbean country.

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.