Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti (E/2021/65)
- Some 4.4 million people, more than 40 percent 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 percent in the first half of 2020 compared with all of 2018, and homicides rose 20 percent in 2020, while Haiti ranked 170th of 180 on the 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index.
- The economy contracted 1.7 percent in 2019 and around 4 percent in 2020, inflation stood near 18 percent, 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.
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 percent 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.
How to cite
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti (E/2021/65), https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/report-ad-hoc-advisory-group-haiti-e202165