Documentary

AGENDA ITEM HAÏTI

The Twenty-First Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Roseau, Dominica, on 11-12 March 2010. The Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, presided.

The Meeting issued a communiqué at its conclusion which included interalia, the outcomes of the agenda item on Haïti. The following is therefore an excerpt from the Communique on the matters related to Haïti.

Haïti
Extensive discussions took place on the situation in Haïti with President Préval, the CARICOM Special Representative on Haïti, Most Honourable P. J. Patterson, as well as with the Presidents of the World Bank, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank.

In his interface with his colleagues, His Excellency René Préval President of Haïti made a presentation to the Conference on the historic context of the disaster, which befell his country on 12 January 2010. He underlined how the past helped to explain the present-day handicaps – weak institutional capacity, poverty - that contributed to the magnitude of the disaster.

The President also expressed the view that the international community needed to draw the proper lessons from this humanitarian crisis and called for the establishment by the United Nations of a civilian force that would respond to such crises. The Conference agreed to support this call.

In his vision of a new Haïti, the President placed emphasis on decentralization, the establishment of development poles provided with proper infrastructure and basic public services which could facilitate the creation of jobs as well as the redesigning of the devastated capital. He underscored the necessity for pledges for Haïti’s reconstruction to be informed by the vision of the Government of Haïti.

The President advised the Conference that beyond the vision, pressing urgencies remained to be addressed – the provision of durable shelter in view of the approaching rainy season, the relocation of temporary camps from areas prone to flooding, assistance in seeds and fertilizers to energize agricultural production, flood control measures, restarting schools in the affected and other areas, and strengthening Haïti’s depleted institutional capacity.

Haïti’s revenue flow had been decimated by some 80% by the disaster, hobbling the operations of the government. Consequently, Haïti’s need for budgetary support by the international community and the international financial institutions had emerged as a most critical priority at the moment. This pressing matter was raised with the President of the Inter-American Development Bank who had been invited to the Inter-Sessional Meeting. He agreed that the matter needed to be addressed urgently. He joined with the Caribbean Community and the OAS Secretary-General on the importance of drawing the immediate attention of the international donor community to this critical concern. There was also agreement on the need to dispel the misconception that pledges made by international donors were tantamount to resources in hand though they had not been disbursed.

In the exchange of views that followed with regard to CARICOM’s assistance to Haïti, The Conference commended Jamaica for the role it had played as the sub-regional focal point within the CDEMA framework in spearheading the Community’s emergency response to the disaster by the dispatch of troops and medical personnel. Among other activities, they provided emergency medical services, distributed relief supplies and secured relief convoys.

The Conference also expressed appreciation for the Regional Security System (RSS) aircraft support which provided a logistical lifeline to the Community’s operations as well as for the medical and other personnel from other Community Member States that worked alongside their Jamaican counterparts. Recognition was also made of the contributions of funds and supplies generated by individuals, civil society and corporate citizens in the Community’s Member States.

With regard to continued assistance to Haïti, the Conference was guided by the pressing urgencies indicated by President Préval. In this regard, it was decided that the funds pledged by the Community for the third phase of CARICOM’s health sector intervention would be contributed directly to the Government of Haïti as budgetary support to address these pressing needs. This gesture was also viewed as setting an example for the international community to follow.

The Conference also received a report from the Most Honourable Percival Patterson, the Community’s Special Representative for Haïti.

Economic Situation
As it related to the agenda item on the Economic Situation, in the matters related to Haïti, the Conference engaged the President of the World Bank on assistance to Haïti as one of the four key discussion points.

The Conference and the President agreed that a special fund should be established where all resources identified for Haïti in the aftermath of the earthquake should be placed and that the country should have immediate access to the resources.

The Conference emphasised that CARICOM should be included in all discussions on the reconstruction of Haïti in order to play the role of advocate as requested by the Government of Haïti.

The Conference also emphasised that the sovereignty of Haïti must be respected, the priorities of Haïti should guide the strategies and plans adopted and that these priorities had been indicated as including agriculture, infrastructure, governance and health.

The Conference stressed that the reconstruction of Haïti would require a long-term commitment of the international community and that strengthening the institutional and administrative capacity of Haïti must be a priority if the country is to play a lead role in its own reconstruction.

The Conference suggested that any financial assistance to Haïti should be grant aid and not loans, even if those loans were to be on concessionary terms