The constitution square is full of dirty old clothes, the bricks are starting to loosen. Graffiti almost covers everything that was written in the monument. Champ de Mars, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Marvens Compère for The Haitian Times
The constitution square is full of dirty old clothes, the bricks are starting to loosen. Graffiti almost covers everything that was written in the monument. Champ de Mars, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Marvens Compère for The Haitian Times

A government consensus agreement is in place for the country’s future, the United Nations leader in Haiti said Jan. 24. This, against a backdrop of rising kidnappings, deaths and displacements in parts of Haiti, no elected government officials and a slew of sanctions against high-level Haitian politicians. 

During an update to the Security Council Tuesday, Helen La Lime, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Haiti, detailed several closed-room diplomatic meetings that took place in late 2022, culminating in the new National Consensus Agreement announced Dec. 21. The agreement, signed by political figures, religious authorities, trade unions and private industry, according to La Lime, includes a calendar for installing an elected government for Haiti by February 2024. It also lists steps for fiscal reforms required to increase state taxes and restore public services. 

Overview:

A National Consensus Agreement for Haiti, timeline to install an elected government by February 2024 and steps for fiscal reforms are among the outcomes of closed-room meetings the United Nations has supported since October 2022, BINUH's leader reported.

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J.O. Haselhoef is the author of “Give & Take: Doing Our Damnedest NOT to be Another Charity in Haiti.” She co-founded "Yonn Ede Lot" (One Helping Another), a nonprofit that partnered with volunteer groups in La Montagne ("Lamontay"), Haiti from 2007-2013. She is a 2022 Fellow for the Columbia School of Journalism's Age Boom Academy. She writes and lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.