The Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, Mr. Néstor Osorio, has declared to the press, yesterday afternoon, at the UN Headquarters in New York, that the monthly program of work of the Security Council, a body that he chairs throughout the month of April, would be particularly "loaded" with, in particular, a debate on Haiti, this April 6, and the monitoring of the evolution "very worrying" of situations in Libya and Ivory Coast.

Mr. Osorio has confirmed that the Head of State of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, will preside over the meeting dedicated to Haiti this April 6, President René Préval, a representative of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (Minustah), and seven ministers of the region will participate to this meeting.

Former United States President Bill Clinton would present a special report on the recovery and rehabilitation efforts in his capacity as the United Nations Special Envoy for Haiti. Seven ministers from the region would also be present. The Latin American and Caribbean Group was deeply committed to addressing that situation.

Mr. Osorio said the overall aim of the open debate would be to examine why institutional reform and infrastructure rehabilitation was lagging more than a year after a massive earthquake had devastated the island nation. The Council hoped to propose a way forward to help create the necessary awareness and bolster commitment to Haiti. Ultimately, the international community should proceed without delay on a coherent, coordinated approach that included input from the Haitian Government, donor partners and the United Nations.

To a question about reports from human rights agencies that violence against women had become widespread in the wake of the quake, he said that one of the most serious concerns about Haiti was "the absolute lack of security there", as well as the country's ill-trained and undermanned police force, which lacked the capacity to protect the population.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2658-haiti-reconstruction-priority-of-preval-change-the-mandate-of-the-minustah.html

S/ HaitiLibre