With the end of the UN’s peacekeeping presence in Haiti in sight, Michelle Bachelet told the Security Council on Wednesday that the country now stands “at the crossroads between peacekeeping and development”, urging all concerned parties to continue building on progress made, or “risk losing it” altogether.
While encouraged by civil society’s engagement in promoting and protecting human rights, along with the victims of human rights violations, the UN’s human rights chief acknowledged that “it has not been able to fully assume monitoring and advocacy role.”
She noted that some civil society organizations continue to be targeted by acts of intimidation saying that it “must stop”, urging everyone with a stake in the Caribbean nation’s future, “to work together to strengthen the human rights protection system”.
Calling Haiti’s return to constitutional order, following presidential, legislative and local elections in 2017, “a significant achievement”, Ms. Bachelet added that standing “at the crossroads” between peacekeeping and development, “we must recognize the progress accomplished”, and “also continue building on it, or risk losing it”.