Haiti

The Haitian government is "vehemently" protesting travel advisories recently issued by the United States and Canada.
The U.S. State Department last week strengthened a travel advisory on Haiti. It warned Americans planning to visit the Caribbean nation about kidnappings, robbery, lawlessness and cholera. Canada followed with a similar statement.

On the eve of the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010, the country remains in a fragile state. Billions of dollars in aid and lofty promises to “build back better” have brought it only so far. A recent article by Deborah Sontag of The Times showed, in disheartening detail, the distance between hope and reality.

President Michel Martelly on Tuesday declared 2013 as Haiti's Year of Environment and called on citizens to join government efforts to preserve the country's ecosystem. Speaking at a ceremony in northern Haiti to commemorate the 209th anniversary of Haitian Independence, Martelly also urged every Haitian to plant a tree this year. Haiti is currently in an "ecological catastrophe," according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which warned that between 25 and 30 drainage basins in the country are "severely degraded."

(CARICOM Secretariat, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  Job creation and strengthening the capacity of the Haitian Government were the top two priorities laid out to the Bureau of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) during its two-day mission to Haiti.

  (CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The CARICOM Secretariat has embarked on a series of stakeholder consultations in five Member States – Belize, Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines - to solicit feedback on the draft CARICOM Youth Development Action Plan (CYDAP) 2012 - 2017.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government, the Honourable Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada, has commended the calm dignity and maturity displayed by the Haitian people during the second round of elections and following the publication of preliminary results of the poll.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) “The world’s pledged generosity to Haiti has little value until and unless it translates into improved conditions for the people of that country.”

This is the view of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Acting Secretary-General as she received, on Thursday, Letters of Credence from the Plenipotentiary Representative  of Italy to CARICOM, His Excellency Paolo Serpi, at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Special Representative of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government on Haiti, the Most Honourable Percival Patterson, on Wednesday, expressed grave concerns to the United Nations Security Council that the ordinary Haitian was not feeling the impact of the recovery efforts to date.