Wednesday, May 25, 2011

APNewsBreak: New PM would end Haiti quake panel - CBS News

A woman gathers her belongings after being evicted from a camp for those displaced by the 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. City authorities are removing the camp in what they describe as an attempt to clean the area, without offering any resettlement options to residents, according to municipal authorities.

A spokesman for Clinton and officials with the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Help for Haiti Brings Cholera Instead | Top Secret Writers

About 10 months after the 7.0 magnitude hit Haiti in 2010, the country was stricken with a cholera outbreak that killed nearly 5,000 people.

There were more people who were killed in the violence that spread due to the outbreak than were killed in the actual Earthquake.

The Cholera outbreak sparked “witch hunts” throughout the country, which resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen people. Also, violent protests and riots broke out.

At the time, many Haitians believed that the U.N. caused the epidemic. Then, the U.N. denied the accusation. However, it has been reported that the U.N. is now taking partial responsibility for the outbreak.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

New UN head in Haiti to work with Martelly on pressing challenges

Strengthening of political institutions and social-economic development are two major challenges in Haiti and the United Nations will work closely with new Haitian President Michel Martelly to address these issues, the new UN head in the Caribbean nation said on Wednesday.

Mariano Fernandez, who on Tuesday was appointed new chief of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah), told Xinhua in an interview that the UN "will center our task of collaborating in the institutionalization of the country" which has been plagued by political instability in the past.

"There is a new President, Michel Martelly, with whom we expect to work together. The stability of the country is a fundamental task, a requirement before all other issues," said Fernandez.

He said firm steps toward a sustainable economic development of Haiti are "urgently needed" and one such step is the renewed attempt to normalize the institutionalism in Haiti, as Martelly has said he will work on.

The second major challenge is to achieve viable economic and social development, where the international community can participate," Fernandez said, adding it is important that the development targets are "kept on track."

Martelly was officially inaugurated as Haiti's new president on Saturday. Shortly after the ceremony he said one of his main tasks will be to accelerate the reconstruction of the country from the earthquake in January 2010 which killed at least 250,000 people and left about 1.5 million homeless in the poorest country in the Americas.

"The reconstruction work after the earthquake represents a series of urgent problems which have to be approached and where the international community can contribute in a substantive way," said Fernandez.

He also stressed the importance of Latin American countries' presence in Haiti as part of the UN peace troops.

"For what I have been able to see there is a commitment to keep this compromise with Haiti. Chile just approved an extension by one year of its presence (in Haiti)" and other South American countries have made similar pledges, he said.

Fernandez said he was hopeful that Haiti is now entering a new stage in its history.

"There is a moment of hope. Latin America has been doing well recently, it has gained stability and development, and it is time for Haiti to join this," he said. Fernandez will officially take over his new position during the second week of June 2011.

Source: Xinhua

 
 
     
 
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Monday, May 16, 2011

UF eases Haiti travel restrictions for students

UF eases Haiti travel restrictions for students

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The University of Florida is easing some restrictions on student and faculty trips to Haiti.

University officials had limited undergraduate trips to Haiti after an earthquake and a subsequent cholera outbreak rattled the Caribbean country. Faculty and graduate students could travel to Haiti with the university's approval.

A new Haiti travel policy was announced Friday. International Center Dean David Sammons said conditions had improved enough in Haiti for faculty, staff and graduate students to go there without needing his approval beforehand.

Sammons said undergraduate students in university-sanctioned groups may travel to Haiti for academic reasons, but under very limited circumstances and only with his approval.

Sammons said there's a "compelling interest for UF to be more prominently present in Haiti for educational, research and outreach activities."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/16/2218934/uf-eases-haiti-travel-restrictions.html#ixzz1MdlWL7IK

Call for new pact as Haiti president takes office Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/haiti_news/425823.html#ixzz1Mddr5a2H


imageMichel Martelly, a former musician, was inaugurated as President in a ceremony in the capital on Saturday, succeeding René Préval.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Monday May 16, 2011 – With Haiti’s new president now sworn in, the United Nations has urged him, his Government, politicians, civil society groups and the wider citizenry to enter a social, economic and political pact to "rebuild together a new Haiti."
That new Haiti, the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said, would be a country that "fully respects democratic values and human rights [and] which is proud of its entire human and cultural richness."
Michel Martelly, a former musician, was inaugurated as President in a ceremony in the capital on Saturday, succeeding René Préval.
MINUSTAH said the day was a historic one and carried with it “all the hopes of change for the people of Haiti: hopes for reconstruction, progress, stability, social peace, rule of law [and] development”.
In his inauguration speech, Martelly promised to rebuild the country and give it a new image.
“Haitians, this country is ours, let us gather to remake our country…It is necessary to have respect, so that investors gain confidence, come to invest, build, so that we can find the development that I seek,  so that you get out of poverty, so you can live another way,” he said.
President Martelly said the country also had to stop using poverty as a crutch, stressing that Haiti cannot continue with the humiliation of having to beg for help.
“This must stop. It is time to start selling our cultural riches, Haiti is a rich country, we have the most beautiful beaches in the world, the most beautiful sun of the Caribbean and the deepest culture, diverse and authentic, a glorious past, the Citadelle Henry and the ruins of the Palais of Milot testify it. Yes, Haitian people, this is not just poverty we have in our country…let us take this opportunity to ask the whole world to put the misery of Haiti in a drawer, to bury the misery of Haiti,” he said.
“For those who think that Haiti is only Port-au-Prince, the centralization will come, this is not only in Port-au-Prince which must be rebuilt, it's all the country that needs to be built, rebuilt, which needs to be developed...A Haiti where land will be tilled, where seeds are available, where crops will not be wasted, where crops are profitable, the land will not be ungrateful, because men will take care of it…A Haiti where the slum aren't the cities, where the Haitian people will find water, electricity, services so that this country can be called a country. A Haiti where we will give people the means of birth control, where health is not a luxury,” he added.
The new president promised free and mandatory education for children as one of the measures to get Haiti out of its misery.
Martelly also assured those living in tents since last year’s earthquake, others living on the streets, unemployed persons, the disabled, women, and others who have experienced the poverty in Haiti that “things will really change”.
He further called on the international community, to have confidence in him.


Read more: http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/haiti_news/425823.html#ixzz1Mde4qsht

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