Haiti: Building and Sustaining Peace - Press Conference | United Nations

Ahead of a conference on “Building and Sustaining Peace in Haiti,” the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Bob Rae today (11 Jun) said, “without development, we have no security. Without security, we have no development. And human rights are challenged by an extraordinary level of human rights abuses that we're seeing at every level that the population is facing.” Rae told reporters in New York said, “the crisis we have been describing is only getting worse. Last year, we used to talk about hundreds of thousands of displaced people, we now have 1.3 million Who are officially labelled as internally displaced within Haiti, and that's because of the progress the gangs have been making in Port-au-Prince and the displacement that's been occurring as a result of that.” He said the conference – taking place this afternoon - “will be both looking at the underlying causes of the situation, the impact that the conflict is having on the people, and what more we need to do to that side of the equation as well as with the development side.” For his part, German Ambassador Thomas Peter Zahneisen said, “what we see in Haiti is very clear that if we don't go to the root causes, we have a relapse from crisis to crisis and we have experienced that over the last 30 years. And this is why we come in with honest discussion, trying to create partnerships between Haiti and donor countries, South-South cooperation, and international financial institutions.” Also briefing virtually from Port-au-Prince, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), María Isabel Salvador, said, “this is a multi-factorial crisis that cannot only be treated through only one way, and we do believe that the international community's response needs to match the scale, urgency, and the complexity of the challenge. And that is why, of course, robust international security support must be paired with peacebuilding, with humanitarian action and political support that may allow, at some point, move Haiti forward on a development path, sustainable development path.” The conference will focus on measures to address community-level peacebuilding and violence reduction in Haiti, including the role of women and youth. The meeting could specifically serve to explore Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) efforts, provide socioeconomic opportunities, and engage international financial institutions in supporting these efforts. The outcome of the meeting will be a joint informal summary by the ECOSOC President and the Peacebuilding Commission Chair, highlighting the main conclusions and recommendations, focusing on peacebuilding and sustainable development efforts in Haiti.


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