Haiti and the UN: Failed Missions, Failed State

Later this year the UN will debate the report of a high-level panel which looked at how the organisation should deal with threats, challenges and change. There could be no better case study than Haiti, which has received no less than five UN missions in ten years and yet is still wracked by violence and under-development.

The World Today
4 minute READ

A year ago Haiti was consumed by a serious political upheaval that could easily have led to civil war. After pressure from France, Canada and the US, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled, or was forced to leave, in order to avoid bloodshed. This paved the way for a transitional administration of technocrats, under the leadership of a former International Monetary Fund economist, Prime-Minister Gérard Latortue.

A government of national reconciliation has been temporarily installed to re-establish order, disarm the population, design a development programme, and prepare for municipal, legislative and presidential elections later this year.

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