Haiti

Human Rights for Western Sahara?; a Cease-Fire Comes to Central African Republic; Weapons Spending Drives Gender Inequalities

• October 22, 2021

The UN boss points to rising global military spending as a source of gendered violence; the UN’s tech envoy, mired in controversy, may be exiting; the Human Rights Council rolls out a multimillion-dollar project with the Philippines. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is …

Africa, Asia, Gender Violence, General Assembly, Human Rights, ICC, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, UN Agencies, UN Special Envoys, US-UN Relations

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From Tiny Barbados, a Scolding to the World: ‘We Have Not Moved the Needle!’

Anna Bianca Roach

• September 24, 2021

The fourth day of the United Nations General Assembly debate soldiered on, with pointed speeches by, among others, the Caribbean island nation of Barbados, whose prime minister, Mia Amor Mottley, asked the General Assembly Hall, “How many crises and natural disasters need to hit before we see that old conventions of aid mean that …

Climate Change, General Assembly, Health and Population, UNGA76, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

US Delegation to Haiti Cut Short; Risks for the UN Pension Fund?; an Ex-Guantánamo Detainee May Face Torture in Russia

Ivana Ramirez

• July 24, 2021

A US delegation to Haiti returns early; potential risks for the $87 billion UN pension fund; an ex-Guantánamo detainee may face torture in Russia. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We are inching closer …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, SDGs, Secretary-General, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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THIS WEEK @UN

Crucial Aid Into Syria; Will a Feminist Lead UN Women?; Haiti’s Downfall

Ivana Ramirez

• July 9, 2021

Crucial aid into Syria continues; will a feminist head UN Women?; the good and bad of Security Council Arria meetings; Haiti on the edge. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. We are closer …

Africa, Asia, Human Rights, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

On the 10th Anniversary of Haiti’s Cholera Outbreak, What Has the UN Learned?

Beatrice Lindstrom and Joey Bui

• October 30, 2020

Ten years ago this month, Haiti confirmed the arrival of a deadly cholera epidemic that killed more than 10,000 people. The disease — and the United Nations’ response to it — has caused immeasurable harm in Haiti and undermined the UN’s moral standing when it is sorely needed. As victims in Haiti pause to …

Caribbean, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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COVID-19

Haiti Could Face a ‘Perfect Storm’ With the Pandemic

Fiona Shukri

• August 4, 2020

As Covid-19 continues to ravage many parts of the world, the effect of the virus in Latin America and the Caribbean region has been particularly devastating. The situation in Haiti, for example, has alarmed international humanitarian groups, as the country lacks sufficient virus-testing ability and has limited health-care infrastructure, among other serious problems. On …

Caribbean, Covid-19, Human Rights

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TOPIC: WOMEN

In Haiti, a Result of Peacekeepers Who Abuse Their Power: ‘Petits Minustahs’

Susan A. Bartels

• January 16, 2020

In Haiti, a young woman I’ll call Marie became involved with a United Nations peacekeeper from Brazil when she was 14 years old. She became pregnant. He was sent back to Brazil; she was ostracized by her family. In 2017, when our research team met with Marie, she said that she and her son, …

UN Peacekeeping, Women

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GEOPOLITICS

Judging the UN in Haiti: ‘We Let the Haitians Down’

Susan Manuel

• November 9, 2017

The population it serves can misunderstand a United Nations peacekeeping mandate. In the host country, with people’s lives, infrastructure and administrative systems often rendered dysfunctional by conflict, the population expects peacekeepers to restore order, build roads and other essentials, provide work, render justice and make life like it was before if not better. They …

Caribbean, Gender Violence, Geopolitics, Secretary-General, UN Peacekeeping

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As Conditions Worsen in Humanitarian Crises, Aid Workers Also Feel the Pain

Barbara Crossette

• January 26, 2016

The images of refugees washing up, living or dying, on the southern shores of Europe leave no humanitarians unmoved. Behind those images and others from Asia, Africa and Latin America are scores of mostly unseen relief and aid workers whose efforts to meet crises are being squeezed to the point of triage. Militants have …

Development, Humanitarian Aid

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WORLDVIEWS

Haitian Letters Remind the UN of Cholera Victims’ Sadness

Nancy Young

• December 13, 2015

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Here in the office of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Haiti’s capital, more than 2,000 letters of cholera victims seeking justice came pouring in to be delivered on Dec. 10 to the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping mission as part of a protest on Human Rights Day. It was a …

WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

As Cholera Resurges in Haiti, the UN’s Commitment to Prevent It Fails

Nancy Young

• October 18, 2015

HINCHE, Haiti — We were driving back from watching a soccer game here in central Haiti when my friend instinctively rolled up his window. It can get dusty on Haitian country roads, so I rolled up mine, too, even though I didn’t see anything in the air. I did see the man up ahead …

WORLDVIEWS

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The UN Tightens Rules on Peacekeeping Troops’ Medical Status

Barbara Crossette

• July 6, 2015

Almost five years after a rampaging cholera epidemic coursed through the Artibonite River region of Haiti and moved rapidly around the country, the United Nations, which acknowledges that a deadly strain of the disease originated in or around a Nepali peacekeepers’ base, is tightening medical prevention rules for soldiers and police. National governments will …

UN Agencies, UN Peacekeeping

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Health Services Still Lag in Haiti, Shadowed by Cholera

Barbara Crossette

• June 15, 2015

More than five years have passed since the heart of Haiti was crushed by a cataclysmic earthquake that killed at least 230,000 people, only to be followed by an outbreak of cholera later that year that has left about another 9,000 dead. Billions of dollars in international aid have begun to show gains in …

Caribbean, Health and Population, UN Peacekeeping

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WORLDVIEWS

On Peacekeeping Day, a Time to Begin Making Crucial Changes

Rosa Freedman

• May 29, 2015

BIRMINGHAM, England — Today is International Day of United Nations Peacekeeping — a day to acknowledge and celebrate the hundreds of thousands of men and women who work in UN peace missions across the world. Despite not being mentioned in the UN Charter, peacekeeping has become an essential mechanism for maintaining peace and security …

WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Haitians’ Rights Were Violated Over Cholera Outbreak, UN Experts Assert

Rosa Freedman

• April 20, 2015

In September 2014, four United Nations human-rights experts wrote to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon alleging that the UN had violated human rights through the cholera epidemic in Haiti, which broke out in October 2010. This is the first time that an allegation letter — a formal complaint procedure typically used against governments — has been …