Hervé Ladsous, the UN's Deputy Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, conducted this week in Haiti a strategic assessment mission as required by UN Security Council resolution 2313 (2017) . This assessment will identify critical needs in Haiti in order to make recommendations on the configuration and future presence of the United Nations in Haiti. These recommendations will be presented in the next report of the Secretary-General in mid-March https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20002-haiti-flash-the-departure-of-the-minustah-will-not-end-the-presence-of-the-un-in-haiti.html

Thursday in a press conference, Hervé Ladsous, said about the departure of the Minustah "[...] As the Secretary-General must make recommendations to the Security Council on March 15, I wanted to come immediately to work with our colleagues in Minustah, but also with our Haitian counterparts to see what was their vision of the Minustah and its future. All this will obviously be the prerogative of the Security Council to take decisions. But I can share with you some great parameters that seem to me quite clear.

The first is that the military component of the Minustah should in all likelihood disappear in a relatively near future. We are looking at the modalities. A second parameter is the fact that we have worked a lot in recent years, we have invested a lot in a relationship, whose I wish to salute the consistency and quality. We worked on the development of the National Police of Haiti (PNH). We worked on the numbers. We will reach in the course of the year, when the promotion that is presently training, will join the regular strength of the PNH, a workforce of 15,000 police officers. But I think there is room to continue because the needs are there. In the same way, we will continue to work on the strengthening of the police capabilities that I want again commend the professionalism, the commitment of its leaders [...]

[...] I think that when we look at the situation in Haiti, compared to what it was a few years ago, we have made a lot of progress. Security is not perfect, but I think it is much better.

[...] We are not speaking at this stage of a complete erasure of the Minustah. We are talking about a reconfiguration which may be formally translated into a new name, I do not know.

But I repeat it, if the military tasks will fade because they no longer impose themselves in the security context of Haiti, there is still a lot to be done on the police, on the rule of law, a whole series of projects like this, not forgetting the rights of man, the status of women, I believe that in this sense we still have work and that we remain ready."

It should be recalled that in October 2016, the Security Council called for this transition towards a future United Nations presence after the expiry of the mandate of the Minustah https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18931-haiti-flash-mandate-of-the-minustah-unanimously-renewed.html

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-20002-haiti-flash-the-departure-of-the-minustah-will-not-end-the-presence-of-the-un-in-haiti.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19989-haiti-security-brazil-withdraws-from-minustah-ambassador-bring-clarifications.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18931-haiti-flash-mandate-of-the-minustah-unanimously-renewed.html

SL/ HaitiLibre