I would
first like to express my warm and fraternal gratitude to
the President of the Republic of Haiti, His Excellency
Mr. Michel Joseph Martelly, for the trust he has placed
in me and, above all, for his courage and unwavering
determination to build a new Haiti. I would also like to
congratulate Mr. John Ashe, Permanent Representative
of Antigua and Barbuda, for his election to the
presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth
session, as well as to salute Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon.
I am proud to speak in this forum of modern global
history, one that has witnessed so many great leaders
discussing their vision for a world that is more just and
a humankind that is more enlightened and balanced.
It has been 13 years since the States Members
of the Organization, buoyed by the basic values of
freedom and equality, met to launch a new world order
for development when they adopted the Millennium
Declaration (resolution 55/2). It has been a strong period
for the United Nations, which continues to stand out
through its efforts to call on the peoples of the world to
unite to overcome the challenges linked to poverty and
social exclusion.
I speak on behalf of Haiti when I voice our pleasure
at the increasing vitality of the Organization, which
over the years has succeeded in preserving the ideals
of peace and solidarity. My country has always sought,
with the United Nations, to provide a better future to
generations to come. We have done so enthusiastically,
because over the past two centuries, Haiti — the land of
Toussaint Louverture, Alexandre Pétion, Jean-Jacques
Dessalines and Henri Christophe — has never missed
the great historic events. It is up to all of us to preserve
this vital tool for the future of humankind.
The theme of the sixty-eighth session of the General
Assembly is “The post-2015 development agenda:
setting the stage”. This is the ideal opportunity for
Haiti to present to the entire world an initial assessment
of the work carried out by the Government, work which
largely meets the aims of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) and which allows us to see a burgeoning
new Haiti.
Before presenting those achievements to the
Assembly, it is important to recall the situation that
Haiti found itself in when President Michel Martelly was
sworn in. In January 2010, Haiti was in a particularly
critical situation, especially because of the devastating,
large-scale earthquake. The natural disasters following
the earthquake exacerbated the already very difficult
problems. Despite daily difficulties, Haiti is now
resolutely and definitively on the path of progress.
Our country is gradually recovering from the natural
disasters it experienced and today is facing the future
with confidence. We have adopted effective measures
and policies that are focused on a strategic long-term
development plan.
The aims underlying our Government’s action go
hand in hand with the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals. However, the development under
way cannot take place without a deep-seated reform of
the public administration and good political governance.
That is why the rule of law is one of our priorities.
In that regard, we have made great strides in 28
months. A Supreme Council of the Judiciary has been
put in place to ensure the independence of judges and
of all the justices appointed to the Court of Cassation.
The professionalism of the Haitian National Police
enables us today to provide and guarantee security and
to create a climate conducive to investment, which is
necessary to combat extreme poverty. The performance
of our police force has meant that Haiti is now ranked
as one of the safest countries in the Caribbean.
Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the
military and police presence of the United Nations
in Haiti. The Haitian Government welcomes the
implementation of the plan for the gradual withdrawal
of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti,
which is now possible thanks to the considerable
progress achieved in the area of security.
The implementation of the constitutional
mechanisms envisaged in the context of the rule of law
is an ongoing priority for the Government. We have
managed to create a climate conducive to political
stability and to the expression of ideas and democratic
values. The Haitian press enjoys full freedom, and
members of the political opposition exercise their rights
without restrictions.
I would also like to mention the commitment and
work of the Government in consolidating the rule of
law and ensuring the sustainability of democratic
institutions. To that end, the Government continues to
give its full support to the transitional college of the
Permanent Electoral Council to ensure that legislative
and local elections take place as soon as possible.
Despite its lack of resources, the Haitian Government
has already allocated significant funds to the electoral
body. The President of the Republic of Haiti is personally
involved in initiating a dialogue with stakeholders and
political parties and is encouraging them to participate
in the upcoming elections in order to respect the process
of democratic change, as it is essential to the rule of law.
With regard to education, more than 1.2 million
Haitian children have benefited from the free education
programme put in place by the Government. We have
achieved that in particular by establishing a universal,
free and compulsory education programme. That
is a major achievement for Haiti, and one that is in
keeping with one of the most important Millennium
Development Goals: the achievement of universal
primary education by 2015. The Government is aware
that this achievement does not resolve the challenge
of providing access to quality schooling for everyone.
That is a new objective that we are determined to
achieve. Moreover, an ambitious programme to combat
illiteracy is under way. It will impact more than 250,000
people in 2014.
With regard to combating hunger and extreme
poverty — another Millennium Development
Goal — despite the serious social inequality in Haiti,
the Government has made considerable efforts to
avoid a humanitarian crisis. To achieve its goals in the
fight against extreme poverty, the Government has
invested more than $150 million in social assistance
and protection programmes, which is a first for our
country. The programmes are aimed at helping the most
vulnerable.
Since 2012, three ministries have been established
to strengthen public policies for the elimination of
extreme poverty. The Government is pursuing a
national food-security policy that includes a series of 15
measures that are expected to yield results in the short,
medium and long terms. In the short term, the objective
is, first, to stabilize the price of basic consumer goods
and, secondly, to provide assistance to those living in
extreme poverty. In the medium and long terms, the
objective is to increase national production and to reduce
our food dependence. We have also introduced a social
innovation that is unprecedented in the history of our
country by initiating a series of social programmes for
the most vulnerable groups under the theme “Help the
poor”. After one year of operation, those programmes
are now reaching more than 1 million Haitian people
living in extreme poverty: thousands of mothers,
students, older persons, disabled people and victims of
natural disasters.
Finally, along the same lines, I would like it to be
noted that of the 1.5 million earthquake refugees who
were living in tents in subhuman conditions, more than
1.25 million have now been rehoused.
In the twenty-first century, people are still starving
in Haiti. That is unacceptable and intolerable. As
Nelson Mandela said, “overcoming poverty is not a
gesture of charity, it is an act of justice.” For President
Martelly and myself, combatting extreme poverty is a
commitment that we make to history.
In terms of health care, there are considerable
challenges to be met in Haiti. The prevalence of
certain diseases, the high rates of infant mortality
and the shortcomings in health-care infrastructure
have deprived millions of Haitians of good-quality
health services. That situation was exacerbated by the
earthquake in 2010. Furthermore, in October 2010,
there was a very serious outbreak of cholera in Haiti,
for which the Haitian people continue to pay a heavy
price in human lives.
Given the catastrophic consequences of that
scourge — more than 8,000 dead and 650,000 people
infected — the Haitian Government is proposing that
a significant amount of the new global fund to combat
cholera be earmarked exclusively for the eradication of
the disease in Haiti. While we continue to believe that
the United Nations has some moral responsibility with
regard to the outbreak of the epidemic, it is nonetheless
true that the Organization has already supported some
of the Government’s efforts to combat the disease.
However, those efforts are far from enough. We
would therefore like to propose the establishment of
a joint commission, including members of the Haitian
Government and representatives of the United Nations,
to consider ways and means to definitively eradicate
the disease in Haiti.
In the face of those major public health challenges,
the Haitian Government has not stood idly by. Working
with our national and international partners and public
health experts, we have managed to curb the spread
of HIV/AIDS. In terms of treating AIDS today, Haiti
has moved from a prevalence rate of 5.5 in 2000 to 2.2
today, with a projected 1.5 for 2015. Such results are a
just reward for the years of effort that have made Haiti a
model universally recognized in international scientific
and academic circles. But we will not stop there. Much
remains to be done in terms of prevention and treatment.
We very much hope that we can definitively halt the
spread of AIDS and make treatment more affordable.
In Haiti, the public health network and the provision
of health care are largely insufficient. New efforts in
terms of prevention must be made.
The question of the environment is of major concern
to the Haitian Government, because the vegetation
cover over a very large area has disappeared. In order to
raise awareness among people about the need to replant
that vegetation, large-scale programmes have been
set up, and others are being drawn up, with the aim
of meeting the challenges of replanting, reforestation,
providing drinking water and sanitation and protecting
ecosystems — all of which have been neglected for
far too long. Without appropriate protection of the
environment, there will be no sustainable development;
no food security is possible for a growing population,
nor can there be a decline in poverty and misery.
As set forth in the noble Millennium Development
Goal on the topic, the Haitian Government, aware of the
need for gender equality, has made significant efforts to
ensure equality between Haitian men and women. While
Haitian society has always accorded an important role
to women, the Government has undertaken significant
initiatives to enable women to have access to highly
responsible positions in public administration. Thirty-
five per cent of the Cabinet is made up of women, and
they have important portfolios. Much remains to be
done to ensure the full emancipation of Haitian women,
particularly among the most vulnerable populations. In
our country, women deserve better access to education
and health-care services.
I conclude by asking the Assembly to observe
more closely the new Haiti that has been emerging
over the past two years despite its day-to-day problems
and the extremely difficult legacy, of which we are all
aware. That Haiti is one where more girls and boys
go to school, where new international-class hotels are
opening up their doors every day, breathing new life
into our tourism, where the economy is growing at the
rate of 4.6 per cent, where inflation has been stabilized
at 6.7 per cent, where for the first time foreign direct
investment has increased by more than 19 per cent
annually, where a fierce fight against smuggling and
corruption is being carried out and where today the
lowest rate of homicide in the Caribbean is seen. The
new Haiti is modernizing the old Haiti little by little
and is adopting courageous reforms. The new Haiti is
increasingly focusing on constructive dialogue with the
country’s social partners — the press, political parties
and the private sector. That Haiti has the courage to
invest in the worst-off and the poorest, despite a degree
of misunderstanding and some criticism.
A new Haiti is emerging. More than ever before,
Haiti feels that it is taking its place in the great family of
the United Nations and in the international community,
without which many of the achievements of the past
three years would not have been possible.
We are doing a great deal with very little.
If the international community had fully met its
commitments — amounting to $10 billion — made at
the 31 March 2010 meeting, the results would be even
better, and the suffering of the Haitian people would be
less harsh. Today, we are still far from our goal, because
only a part of those commitments have been honoured.
Based on its desire for transparency and efficiency
and to avoid duplication of effort on the part of
non-governmental organizations, the Government
has stepped up its leadership role and set up a
mechanism — the National Coordination Framework
for External Development Aid in Haiti — to take over
the management of international assistance.
Haiti is once again present on the regional scene.
This year alone our country has hosted three major
regional summits, including those of CARICOM, the
Ministers of the Association of Caribbean States, and
Petrocaribe. During those meetings, there were also
discussions on the best regional strategies to combat
hunger, abject poverty and exclusion, topics that are in
line with the Millennium Development Goals.
Finally, the Haiti of which I speak is the one that
Haitian men and women are working tirelessly to forge
each and every day. The results are coming; progress
is already palpable. Our country is no longer on the
front pages of the international press owing to repeated
coups d’état, social turmoil, insecurity and instability.
Our country is henceforth stable and secure, thanks
in particular to the tremendous efforts of the Haitian
National Police, with the support of the United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti.
Work on infrastructure and on the reconstruction of
public buildings destroyed by the earthquake has begun.
The country offers excellent investment opportunities
in all sectors. Haiti today is on the right track, moving
towards a new era of social and economic progress and
respect for human rights. We are acting specifically to
achieve progress towards a Haiti that is more solidarity-
based and more prosperous — a Haiti that the entire
world will want to visit to see its extraordinary sights.
Long live Haiti!