(2005-05) Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti (E/2005/66)
Summary — First report of the reactivated ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti after its April 2005 visit alongside the Security Council, assessing MDG status, the Interim Cooperation Framework, priority sectors and long-term development needs under the transition government.
Key Findings
- About 76 percent of Haiti's estimated 8.5 million people lived in poverty and 55 percent in extreme poverty, per capita GDP in 2002 stood at only 61 percent of its 1980 value, and Haiti was assessed as unable to reach any Millennium Development Goal by 2015. Donors had pledged over 1 billion dollars to the Interim Cooperation Framework in July 2004, but slow project design, tendering and disbursement produced few tangible results, and participants warned that lack of visible progress threatened the elections. The transition government was praised for restoring macroeconomic and financial stability under an IMF-monitored programme, while weak public institutions and insecurity limited execution. The Group emphasized decentralization beyond the Republic of Port-au-Prince, flexibility in disbursement for labour-intensive works, and priority action on economic governance, justice, land titles, environment and disarmament.
Full Description
This report is the first submitted by the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti after ECOSOC reactivated it in 2004 at the request of the transition government. It draws on a series of meetings with Haitian leaders and development partners and on the Group's April 2005 visit to Haiti, undertaken jointly with a Security Council mission, an arrangement highlighting the link between peace and development. The report describes a critical socioeconomic situation: about 76 percent of an 8.5 million population living in poverty, 55 percent in extreme poverty, per capita GDP in 2002 at only 61 percent of its 1980 value, severe environmental degradation with 97 percent of watersheds deforested, and Haiti unable to reach any Millennium Development Goal by 2015. It reviews the Interim Cooperation Framework, backed by donor pledges of over 1 billion dollars, whose slow disbursements and limited tangible results risked undermining confidence ahead of elections. Priority areas identified include economic governance, transport, environment, energy, agriculture, education, justice, land titles and disarmament. The Group presents recommendations to ECOSOC, MINUSTAH and the UN country team, the Haitian authorities and donors ahead of the government to be installed in February 2006.
Notes
UN document E/2005/66; ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group report series; ayitistats wave B