YouSaid · the spoken record

Hudicourt Ewald

lines on the record: 16
first: 2021-06-17
most recent: 2021-06-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It was able to help the country address that issue. However, today the population is in danger. So, in addition to the gang threat, this point should be underlined. Apart from that, I think everything has been said and we do need to find a solution to security and political matters in order to move forward in Haiti.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“Ms. Hudicourt Ewald: I think that most of the issues have been covered. However, I am very concerned that one aspect of the issues covered was not mentioned, which in my view is an emergency — the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health crisis. I mentioned in my presentation that vaccines were not available. In addition, oxygen, which is the first product used to treat COVID-19, is also very scarce in the country. We have received some machines, but some of them have not yet been installed. As recently as this morning, gangs broke into the site with the only operating industrial tank-filling centre in the country. This is an emergency. Today, some people in the hospital may be at risk as a result. I would like to thank UNICEF for its support during the COVID-19-related problems we had last year.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“The current concern of Haitians is to ensure the survival and protection of their families. People are afraid. Despite the difficult context, solidarity exists in Haiti. In their awareness of the State’s chronic weakness, members of civil society and everyone else within their power is supporting care centres and displaced populations. The country is in dire straits.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“Despite the key roles they play in the social and economic dynamics of the country, their work remains undervalued. Moreover, the political marginalization of women and their exclusion from all positions of responsibility in public administration continue to perpetuate their lack of participation in the country’s governance system. For example, the 35 per cent quota for women provided for in the 2011 constitutional amendment has not been upheld by successive Governments. Concerned with meeting their basic needs, women often perceive involvement in any political issue as a threat to their families’ well-being. In conclusion, there is no trust in the State or political class. The people do not believe in the will or the ability of those in power to combat insecurity.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“The markets are littered with garbage and rarely have restrooms. The women are the best clients of microcredit organizations. For example, they represent 94 per cent of the clients of microcredit organization Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze, S.A. throughout the country and 75 per cent of the clients of FINCA S.A. Despite the difficult economic situation that Haiti has experienced over the past few years, particularly the past 12 months, the loan repayment rate for Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze, S.A. is around 97 per cent. Haitian women are found in large numbers in public and private management positions. However, owing to the culture, they rarely reach the highest levels and avoid getting too involved in politics. They continue to suffer from their marginalized status in Haitian society.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“Businesses have difficulty accessing the currency needed to pay their international suppliers. They face long delays as investment agreements are not respected. Let us now talk about the situation of women. Approximately 52 per cent of the Haitian population is made up of women. They are most often the heads of their families. Haitian fathers, for the most part, abandon their children to their mothers and do not contribute anything. For Haitian women, no sacrifice is too great to ensure the subsistence and education of their children. Women are the pillars of the Haitian economy. In the countryside, they tend to their gardens. In appalling conditions, they sell what they grow to the public in the cities, where they invade the sidewalks and streets and squeeze into public markets.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“Images of the clashes and the victory cries of the gangs are trending on social media. The resurgence in late April of the coronavirus disease in the form of a much more virulent variant has compounded the general insecurity landscape. Access to hospitals and medical oxygen supplies is limited. To date, no vaccines are officially available in Haiti. With regard to the financial situation, the exchange rate of the Haitian currency against the United States dollar is artificially maintained at a low level by the Haitian State, to the detriment of the Haitian people, who live on remittances received from abroad. A Haitian who receives $100 a month has lost the equivalent of three days’ worth of food for his family. The formal business sector has not been spared.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“The National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration was created on 27 February 2019, with the primary mission of coordinating and implementing State policy on disarmament, disbanding illegally armed groups and reintegrating disarmed individuals. To date, there has been no information indicating that any gang has been disarmed or its members reintegrated into society. On the contrary, the main gangs in Port-au-Prince have joined forces. Armed struggles between members and non-members of that confederation are causing numerous casualties among the civilian population, which have not been officially recorded. The gangs are well supplied with heavy weapons and ammunition in a country that is, in principle, under a weapons embargo. The police seem totally powerless.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“The courthouse in Port-au-Prince — the capital of Haiti — is located in a dangerous area bordering neighbourhoods under the control of heavily armed gangs. Despite repeated requests from the Port-au- Prince Bar Association and judiciary personnel, the Government has refused to relocate the courthouse and been unable to effectively ensure its security. In recent months, the gang war in the commune of Cité Soleil and Martissant has resulted in numerous deaths and injuries. Two students in their last year of the same Cité Soleil high school were killed in the space of a week. People have had to flee their homes. The bodies are not counted. Often, when a body is found, it is buried on the spot on the order of the authorities who have been called to write up a report — if they show up or are able to show up.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“The southern, northern and eastern exit routes of Port-au-Prince are under the control of armed gangs. The Artibonite valley — an important agricultural area of the country — has been under threat by armed gangs for more than two years. A special edition of the Moniteur, published on 18 March, declared a state of emergency in the areas of Village-de-Dieu, Grande Ravine, Delmas, Savien and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite. Insecurity and violence are disrupting travel to and from the various neighbourhoods within Port-au-Prince and between Port-au-Prince and other cities. Getting to work presents a daily risk for employees. Businesses are sometimes forced to close their doors owing to gang activity.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“A similar process to that I have just outlined could have been followed, with the exception of the referendum stage. With regard to the security environment, the current sociopolitical context is making it very difficult — if not impossible — to motivate the population to participate in any form of electoral process. The primary concern of the people, most of whom are poor, is to meet their needs and those of their families. Their financial and security situations are precarious. Gangs rule. The threat of kidnapping, theft, rape and crime is facing us all. No one is immune. Those residing in underprivileged and densely populated neighbourhoods are the main victims. Those communities are mostly found along the west coast of Port-au-Prince and the nearby hills.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“In our opinion, the Government, in the absence of a parliament, could have drawn on the procedure used in 1986, described as follows, which allowed for a broad participation of the population. That involved, first, setting up a committee to draft a constitutional text; secondly, organizing elections and consultations for the formation of the constituent assembly, which was made up of 61 members, 41 of whom were elected and 20 of whom were appointed by the country’s social and professional associations; thirdly, broadcasting the work of the constituent assembly live on national radio and television, allowing the public to see that its suggestions had been taken into account and to understand the reasons underlying the proposed constitutional provisions; fourthly, a vote by the constituent assembly on the final version of the text of the constitution, article by article; and, lastly, holding a referendum so that the population could vote on the text adopted by the Constituent Assembly.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“At the invitation of the Haitian diaspora organization Haitian Studies, we participated in a debate, together with Mr. Georges Michel, a former member of the Constitutional Committee in 1986-1987; Ms. Danielle Magloire, a university professor and women’s rights activist; a law professor from the city of Cap-Haïtien and a sociologist university professor in the United States of America. The general opinion was that constitutional changes are necessary. However, although the Independent Consultative Committee claims to have consulted all the work that has been done on the subject over the past several years, the current process is not legitimate and the full participation of all civil society is required.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“It is in that polarized backdrop that the executive decided, by presidential decree, to undertake constitutional reform and to organize elections. A Provisional Electoral Council has been appointed with the mission of organizing a referendum for a new constitution, followed by elections at all levels. A five-member Independent Consultative Committee has also been appointed to draft the text of the new constitution. The Committee circulated its text for opinion and comments through some associations at the beginning of March. I was asked by four of the major business associations to provide a comparative analysis of the text of the 1987 Constitution and the proposed draft. We also attended a debate organized by the Bar Association of Port-au- Prince, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law of Quisqueya University.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“That situation has polarized society, including the judiciary, which makes any attempt at dialogue extremely difficult, if not impossible. The already tense relationship between the executive branch and the judiciary has been exacerbated by the dismissal and appointment of members of the judiciary by the executive branch, which has prolonged the strikes by members of the judiciary. Those strikes have made it impossible for citizens to exercise their constitutional right of access to justice and to appear before a regular judge within a reasonable time frame, which has accelerated the overcrowding of prisons. The judiciary is weakened and entirely dysfunctional. In addition, the executive branch has been exercising legislative power for 17 months, issuing decrees and presidential orders of a legislative nature.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source
“I would like to thank the President of the Security Council for inviting me to provide Council members with an overview of the current situation in Haiti in my capacity as a professional, as a member of Haitian civil society and a former member of the Haitian National Assembly from 1986-1987. With regard to the political context, the steps required for the convening of elections enabling the replacement of the members of the legislative branch and those of the executive boards of the local communities were not undertaken within the legal deadlines. Since January 2020, Haiti has been operating without a chamber of deputies and with a senate that is currently reduced to one-third of its members. The local communities are administered by officials appointed by the executive branch.”
2021-06-17 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8799 (2021) · source