(2019-06) Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti (E/2019/80)

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) • 2019 • 17 pages

Summary — ECOSOC advisory group report on Haiti's 2019 multidimensional crisis, linking exclusion and economic inequality to political instability, and urging a robust mandate for the mission replacing MINUJUSTH in October 2019.

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Key Findings

Exclusion and economic inequalities are identified as the root causes of the political deadlock and deteriorating security, with over 6 million people (60 per cent) below the $2.41 per day poverty line and a Gini index of 60.6. The number of food-insecure people doubled from 1.3 million in 2018 to 2.6 million in 2019, while the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan had received only 11 per cent of its $126.2 million requirement. Cholera declined sharply, from 13,681 suspected cases in 2017 to 3,786 in 2018, with zero transmission considered possible by 2020. IMF cancelled a $229 million three-year credit facility agreed in March 2019 because prerequisites were unmet, and only 1 of 30 senators and 3 of 119 deputies were women.

Full Description

The fifteenth report of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti presents findings from visits to Washington, D.C. in April 2019 and to Haiti in May 2019, including a field visit to Ouanaminthe on the Dominican border. It describes a volatile political situation after fuel price protests and the PetroCaribe accountability movement, with a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Céant and no ratified government as of June 2019. The economic review records per capita gross national income of $1,800, 60 per cent of the population below the poverty line, inflation around 15 per cent and a fiscal deficit widening to 4.3 per cent of GDP, alongside untapped revenue potential and remittances of $2.4 billion. Humanitarian needs doubled, with 2.6 million food insecure, while cholera cases fell sharply. The report emphasizes the La Saline massacre investigations, gang violence and judicial weakness, and, in an annexed letter from the Group's Chair, argues that the special political mission replacing MINUJUSTH in October 2019 needs a broad, well-resourced mandate addressing root causes.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2018 — 2019

Keywords

E/2019/80, ECOSOC, Ad Hoc Advisory Group, PetroCaribe protests, MINUJUSTH transition, special political mission, La Saline, gang violence, food insecurity, cholera decline, fuel subsidies, remittances, series:ecosoc-adhoc-haiti

Entities

Economic and Social Council; Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti; Jovenel Moïse; Jean-Henri Céant; Marc-André Blanchard; MINUJUSTH; International Monetary Fund; World Bank; Inter-American Development Bank; Organization of American States; World Food Programme; International Organization for Migration; Haitian National Police; United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti

Notes

UN document E/2019/80 via ReliefWeb; ayitistats wave B; ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group report series (full, per user)