Haiti captures first-ever CU17W win
Haiti won for the first time after seven attempts in the CONCACAF Under-17 Women’s Championship, submitting a record-equaling performance in a 13-0 victory over host Grenada in the Group A opener for each on Thursday at the Grenada Athletics Stadium.
The result lifted the Haitians into first place on goal difference over Canada, which defeated Guatemala 3-0 earlier in the evening.
In Haiti, cholera quietly still kills dozens a month
(AP) – Cholera, which arrived in Haiti in October 2010, has sickened more than 770,000 people, or about 7 percent of the population, and killed more than 9,200. So far this year, it has sickened more than 6,000 and is killing an average of 37 people a month.
The persistence of the preventable disease has alarmed public health experts who fear that attention and resources have been diverted by newer challenges, including the regional spread of the Zika virus and the political crisis that recently halted Haiti’s elections.
World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl said cholera is now considered “endemic” in Haiti, meaning it’s an illness that occurs regularly. Others have noted the cholera bacterium now appears to be firmly established in Haiti’s rivers, estuaries and even coastal waters.
UN’s own experts chastise Ban Ki-moon over handling of Haiti cholera outbreak
The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has been chastised by five of the UN’s own human rights experts who accuse him of undermining the world body’s credibility and reputation by denying responsibility for the devastating outbreak of cholera in Haiti, the Guardian reports.
In a withering letter to the UN chief, the five special rapporteurs say that his refusal to allow cholera victims any effective remedy for their suffering has stripped thousands of Haitians of their fundamental right to justice. The letter is believed to be the first time that the UN’s guardians of human rights have turned their spotlight onto the UN hierarchy itself, as opposed to individual nation states that are the usual target of their criticism.
70 percent of Haitian pre-trial prisoners have long jail time
Prolonged jail time for inmates awaiting trial was denounced Wednesday by a UN expert who visited the Croix Des Bouquets jail, a commune located in the Ouest Department of Haiti, Fulton News reports.
Gustavo Gallón, branded as “deplorable” the circumstances of prisoners and urged Haitian authorities to work to correct the “serious problem”.
“There are people who have almost five years in prolonged detention”, he said.
Some of those in detention have committed misdemeanors that do not warrant extended prison stays.
A lack of judges, courts and workers dedicated to justice matters have led to more than 70 percent of Haiti’s pretrial prisoners in jails for extended periods, sometimes years, without a conviction, as they await trial.