Former Jamaica Prime Minister PJ Patterson at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday reiterated a call for the international community to honour pledges to disaster-ravaged Haiti and he also urged greater coordination in reconstruction efforts.
Patterson, who is Special Representative of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government on Haiti, expressed grave concerns to the Security Council that the ordinary Haitian was not feeling the impact of the recovery efforts to date, a statement from the CARICOM Secretariat said yesterday.
He was at the time participating in an open debate of the Security Council on the “Question Concerning Haiti,” promoted by Colombia, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
While Patterson acknowledged the efforts of the international community in the reconstruction programme in Haiti, he pointed out that 15 months after the January 2010 earthquake, pledges made had fallen short and “the inflows to the Haiti Recovery Fund have been insufficient to make a visible impression on the ordinary Haitian even as another Hurricane season draws nigh.”
“Now more than ever, the people of Haiti are entitled to see tangible democratic dividends which have a significant impact on the quality of their lives, [and] in particular, durable shelter for those internally displaced, access to basic services which include water and sanitation, [and] the provisions of jobs,” Patterson was further quoted as saying.
He told the meeting that CARICOM regarded “strong, robust and flexible institutional capacity as a sine qua non for sustainable development, good governance and security,” and in this context, he pointed to the dire need for the international community to focus on re-building Haiti’s institutional and administrative capacity. “The restructuring, strengthening and building of Haiti’s institutional capacity is the lynchpin and lies at the heart of any plan for national recovery and sustainable development,” he explained.
Meanwhile, noting CARICOM’s role in the recovery efforts, Patterson reminded the meeting that the Community was concentrating its efforts on institutional development and augmentation by making available experienced personnel in different areas of governmental administration; providing opportunities for training in areas of high need; and helping to establish regional standards in such areas as in the establishment of a building code, regional standards for goods and professional services.
He reiterated the Community’s desire to work with UN agencies, and hemispheric groupings that had expressed an interest in those areas and emphasised the need to avoid duplication through greater coordination. “We contend that there is a compelling need for greater coordination between the multilaterals, the bilaterals and the NGOs to fulfil the urgent needs and priorities of the government of Haiti and its people,” he said. “Rest assured that CARICOM remains determined to work for Haiti as we seek, with the help and support of the international community, to rebuild and develop the most populous state within the single Caribbean Community to which we belong,” Patterson added.
