DEVELOPMENT: UN Chooses Haiti to Test Long-Term Plan

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jul 27 1999 (IPS) - The United Nations (UN) will begin experimenting with new policies for countries in crisis by applying them to Haiti, a Caribbean nation that is attempting to recover from decades of dictatorship and economic crises.

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) decided Tuesday to recommend that the UN establish a long-term aid programme for Haiti in areas of education, peace-building, poverty eradication, durable recovery and sustainable development.

The UN’s focus for dealing with the problems of nations in crisis would now take a comprehensive approach, incorporating national authorities, the UN system, financial donors and non-governmental organisations. National authorities would be expected to take the lead role in all areas of the plan.

ECOSOC’s 54 member nations chose Haiti as the first country for the new policies because it is “a model of the co-ordination of UN work, which is considered exemplary,” explained Makarin Wibisono, Indonesia’s delegate to the council.

In other countries, international organisations follow separate plans without the co-ordination that, surprisingly, is found in Haiti, observed Wibisono, an ECOSOC vice president.

The international community came together to help Haiti in 1994, after the restoration of the constitutional government led by Jean- Bertrand Aristide, who had been overthrown three years earlier in a military coup.

Haiti, the only “least developed country” in the western hemisphere, received approximately 534 million dollars in foreign aid in 1995.

The total flow of foreign money fell to 423 million dollars in 1996 and to 351 million in 1997, stabilising last year at 353 million.

Janis Priedkalns, ECOSOC representative from Latvia, estimated that aid totals from recent years could serve as a reference point from which to calculate the total assistance required in a long- term plan.

Average annual income for Haiti’s population of nearly eight million is less than 250 dollars, much less than the 3,320 dollar average income of the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean.

There is urgency in implementing the programme because UN assistance is needed for the electoral process this year, said Wibisono. Parliamentary and local elections are slated for December. Elections to choose the successor to current president Rene Preval are scheduled for November 2000.

Representatives from international financial institutions stated in informal conversations that the flow of funds toward Haiti would increase after the new parliament is installed, said Priedkalns, a member of the UN assessment team for Haiti.

The new Haitian parliament is expected to open session by next January 11 at the latest.

ECOSOC plans to maintain the current Resident Co-ordinator mechanism as it has been “very effective in co-ordinating the activities” of UN agencies in Haiti.

The ECOSOC resolution asks the UN General Assembly to revise the orders for the International Civilian Mission in Haiti, a joint mission of the UN and the Organisation of American States (OAS). ECOSOC calls for the renewal of UN leadership in the mission.

The assessment team believes that another UN mission, the Civilian Police Mission in Haiti, should continue working in the areas of consolidating democracy, training the Haitian national police and turning it into a professional force.

The UN Civil Police Mission’s new role would include supervising the Haitian experts who train new police officers.

ECOSOC president Paolo Fulci supported the choice of Haiti as the first country to receive this type of UN assistance because it is an especially difficult time for the island nation.

Haiti is a founding member of the UN and will celebrate its independence bicentennial in five years, the longest independence in the Americas after the United States, said Priedkalns.