By Amelie Baron
(Reuters) – Haiti on Friday installed a Provisional Electoral Council in a key step toward averting a constitutional crisis after weeks of protests and political uncertainty.
The swearing in of the nine-member council representing different sectors of society took place at the Supreme Court shortly before a United Nations Security Council mission was due to arrive in Haiti.
This gallery contains 15 photos →
As the United Nations Security Council prepares to travel to Haiti this week, human rights groups in Haiti and the United States are urging the delegation to address the worsening cholera crisis that has plagued Haiti since UN peacekeepers introduced the disease in 2010. Since then, cholera has sickened over 720,000 and killed 8,700 people in Haiti alone— more than the total number of people killed by Ebola worldwide over that span.
By Joseph Guyler C. Delva
Haiti has now moved closer to organizing crucial elections with the imminent installation of new provisional electoral council and with Haitian President Michel Martelly having the authority to issue an executive order to declare elections in the absence of a functional parliament in the impoverished Caribbean country.
By Kathie Klarreich
A United Nations presence in Haiti has become as familiar as the country’s barren hillsides. Troops of some sort have been there almost continuously since 1993, including five peacekeeping missions. The most recent, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, arrived in 2004 to provide a peaceful transition following months of armed conflict. Like its predecessors and most of the UN’s 16 peacekeeping missions worldwide, MINUSTAH, composed of troops from dozens of countries, is also charged with the protection of local citizens.
This gallery contains 29 photos →
By Farah Louis
Last week, New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito alongside her colleagues and bill sponsors, Council Member Daniel Dromm and Council Member Carlos Menchaca, held a press conference at the Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn Public Library where they launched the IDNYC municipal identification program and signed up for their ID cards.
IDNYC is an opportunity for New York City residents to get access to city services, regardless of immigration status. The IDNYC card is a fundamental step to providing New Yorkers with a sense of equality and opportunity.
This gallery contains 14 photos →
PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Haitian President Michel Martelly announced the formation of a new government via Facebook late yesterday in a bid to rescue the impoverished Caribbean nation from political crisis. Martelly on Friday promised to use his executive authority to form a consensus government after parliament was dissolved last week due to the failure to…
By Melissa P. Bernier
Dayanne Danier, founder of Bien Abyé, designs with the fabulously chic woman in mind. At the heart of Bien Abyé’s Fall/Winter ready to wear collection is “a French style that is sophisticated and chic with a Creole influence.” The philosophy behind the brand is simple – to make women look fabulous at all times.
WE REMEMBER HAITI commemorated the 5th anniversary of the disastrous earthquake on Jan. 12 with an all day tribute at 1199SEIU’s New York headquarters. Over 80 Haitian-American organizations, businesses, and elected officials from Southern Brooklyn to Nassau County partnered for the tribute and candlelight vigil. “Haiti, a jewel of the Caribbean, suffered an unimaginable tragedy in…
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti has a new prime minister as it enters a phase of political uncertainty, with its parliament dissolved, opposition activists promising intensified street protests and its president ruling by decree because of a bitter standoff with lawmakers. Prime Minister Evans Paul was selected last month but a political deadlock meant the…
By Max A. Joseph
Unlike the other species to ever roam this planet we, humans, are an intelligent group that can manage our differences, be they philosophical, political, racial, religious, or social. Nevertheless, we are also full of inveterate flaws that are somewhat ignored by utopists schooled in the notion of universal values. Aptly, the cowardly assassination of 10 journalists working for the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and 2 police officers offers a unique opportunity to revisit the impractical notion of universality of values as an essential precondition for peace among nations.
By Jean McGianni Celestin
During the “Millions March” demonstration in New York last month, tens of thousands of protestors marched from Greenwich Village through parts of upper Manhattan before concluding on the steps of the NYPD’s headquarters downtown. The demonstration was one of the largest organized responses to recent police killings of unarmed blacks around the country and came after the grand jury decisions not to indict the police officers who killed Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The rally made modern-day Martin Luther King disciples proud: it was a fusion of races, genders and nationalities, all marching peacefully for justice.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says preliminary data suggest that Haiti will record economic growth of nearly four percent in 2014. In a final review of the country’s performance under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) arrangement, the Washington-based financial institution said that the programme contributed to maintaining macroeconomic stability, and there was progress on structural…
