(2009-04) Report of the Security Council mission to Haiti, 11-14 March 2009 (S/2009/175)

United Nations • 2009 • 19 pages

Summary — Report of the Security Council's March 2009 mission to Haiti, reviewing security gains under MINUSTAH, Senate elections and constitutional reform, hurricane recovery, food insecurity and the country's development agenda.

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Key Findings

Security had improved markedly since 2004: the Haitian National Police tripled from 3,000 to 9,247 active officers with a ratio of 1.366 police per 1,000 inhabitants, and gang dismantlement cut kidnappings, though drug trafficking was described as one of the most destabilizing threats. The 2008 storms caused about 900 million dollars in damage (14.6 percent of GDP), GDP growth slowed to 1.3 percent in 2008, and remittances of 1.4 billion dollars a year remained a key support. Three million people were moderately or extremely food insecure and Haiti produced only 45 percent of its food needs. Pretrial detainees exceeded 87 percent in the national penitentiary, and the mission urged electoral inclusiveness after Fanmi Lavalas candidates were excluded from the April 2009 Senate race.

Full Description

A Security Council mission led by Jorge Urbina of Costa Rica visited Haiti from 11 to 14 March 2009, the Council's second visit after 2005. It met President Rene Preval, Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, the Provisional Electoral Council, political parties, the private sector and civil society, and travelled to Cite Soleil, Fort Liberte, Ouanaminthe and Gonaives. The mission found security had improved through MINUSTAH and a strengthened Haitian National Police, though gains remained fragile amid drug trafficking, weak border control and rising socio-economic unrest. It reviewed the April 2009 Senate elections, the exclusion of Fanmi Lavalas candidates, and prospects for constitutional reform. The 2008 hurricanes had caused about 900 million dollars in damage, nearly 15 percent of GDP; three million people were food insecure, 78 percent of the population lived on under two dollars a day, and pretrial detention exceeded 78 percent of detainees nationwide. The mission highlighted the Collier report, the HOPE II trade preferences and the April 2009 donors conference as anchors for job creation and recovery.

Topics

Geography

Time Coverage

2008 — 2009

Keywords

S/2009/175, Security Council mission, MINUSTAH, Rene Preval, Haitian National Police, 2008 hurricanes, Gonaives, food security, drug trafficking, Senate elections 2009, constitutional reform, HOPE II, Collier report

Entities

Security Council, MINUSTAH, Jorge Urbina, Rene Garcia Preval, Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, Hedi Annabi, Provisional Electoral Council, Fanmi Lavalas, Haitian National Police, Paul Collier, Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, Core Group, Ouanaminthe, Gonaives, Cite Soleil, Fort Liberte

Notes

UN document S/2009/175; ayitistats wave B; Security Council mission report