(2021-05) Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti (E/2021/65)

United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) • 2021 • 13 pages

Summary — ECOSOC advisory group report on Haiti's political deadlock, rule by decree, rising gang insecurity and COVID-19 impact, with 4.4 million people needing humanitarian aid and calls for coordinated international support.

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Key Findings

Some 4.4 million people, more than 40 per cent of the population, need emergency assistance, with food insecurity the main driver, and the 2021-2022 Humanitarian Response Plan requires $235.6 million. Reported kidnappings rose 200 per cent in the first half of 2020 compared with all of 2018, and homicides rose 20 per cent in 2020, while Haiti ranked 170th of 180 on the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index. The economy contracted 1.7 per cent in 2019 and around 4 per cent in 2020, inflation stood near 18 per cent, and 7 million Haitians live under the $2.41 per day poverty line. The gourde appreciated from 119.6 to 63.9 per dollar between August and October 2020 after central bank measures, and 4 million children were affected by school closures.

Full Description

The seventeenth report of the ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti, prepared through virtual consultations because of COVID-19 travel restrictions, reviews a period of deepening political crisis. President Moïse had ruled by decree for 16 months following the postponement of the October 2019 elections, amid disputes over a proposed constitutional referendum and elections planned for 2021, and Claude Joseph was named Prime Minister ad interim in April 2021. The Group documents a sharp rise in gang violence, kidnapping and homicide, and a dire humanitarian situation in which 4.4 million people, more than 40 per cent of the population, need emergency assistance, driven mainly by food insecurity. The economic review covers contraction in 2019 and 2020, high inflation, the October 2020 exchange rate appreciation, heavy fuel subsidies and weak tax collection. The report examines education losses affecting 4 million children, the pending COVID-19 vaccine rollout, aid effectiveness analysis, and support from IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, concluding with recommendations for a whole-of-system United Nations approach.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2020 — 2021

Keywords

E/2021/65, ECOSOC, Ad Hoc Advisory Group, political crisis, rule by decree, gang violence, kidnapping, COVID-19, food insecurity, humanitarian response plan, BINUH, PetroCaribe, aid effectiveness, series:ecosoc-adhoc-haiti

Entities

Economic and Social Council; Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti; Jovenel Moïse; Claude Joseph; Joseph Jouthe; BINUH; International Monetary Fund; World Bank; Inter-American Development Bank; Bank of the Republic of Haiti; Jean Baden Dubois; International Organization for Migration; Giuseppe Loprete; Transparency International; Peacebuilding Fund; COVAX

Notes

UN document E/2021/65 via ReliefWeb; ayitistats wave B; ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Group report series (full, per user)