NewsWhore
01-28-2010, 01:40 PM
Former Dominican ambassador to the Organization of American States and the United States, lawyer Flavio Dario Espinal calls today for a plan for international guardianship for Haiti in view of the "atomic bomb" that he says the 13 January earthquake has represented for the nation.
Mentioning the entrance of international aid and the humanitarian military intervention by United States forces, which he says is justified by the magnitude of the damages and the Haitian government's inability to respond to the challenges that it faces.
"In this context, there is talk of creating a great Haiti reconstruction fund, a kind of Marshall Plan, as some have called it, with contributions of 10 to 20 billion dollars, sums that are reasonable given the devastation," he comments.
He lists the questions that must be asked:
What is the strategic focus for the use of the funds?
What organization will coordinate the efforts?
What would be the scope of the mandate for international presence in Haiti?
What degree of institutional control and autonomy of decision will the international presence have in Haiti?
What judicial modality will the international community have in the process of rebuilding Haiti?
He says that the answers to these questions lead to the basic premise that Haiti needs international tutelage not only to confront the immense task of humanitarian assistance, but also to start the road to reconstruction of the state and the establishment of the pillars that make possible, stability, security and social and economic development.
He makes the point that Haiti before the earthquake suffered from severe and persistent economic, political, ecological and security crises. A certain level of stability had been reached under the government of President Preval with the support of the United Nations Minustah forces.
He recommends that the Security Council of the United Nations extend the mandate of the Minustah as a international civilian force so that it can exercise direct, autonomous and effective control on vital institutional areas, such as internal and external security, customs administration, tax collection, hospital and education administration, construction of infrastructure and environmental management, so that the standards and systems for their operation, human resources and customs that make them viable and sustainable in the long term can be developed.
"This is about creating the conditions so the Haitian people can truly exercise their sovereignty because the magnitude of the problems that the people need to confront, the judicial fiction and the political rhetoric have to be left behind so that the steps for practical solutions be taken with the commitment and support of the international community, especially the US, France and Canada, following Security Council guidelines.
"If international action is limited to humanitarian relief or channeling of funds without strategic purpose, an extraordinary opportunity to rebuild the Haitian state will have been lost. This is the opportunity to set the bases for social-economic and environmental development, as well as for a regime of security that benefits Haiti and the Caribbean region," he writes in today's Listin Diario.
www.listin.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=129588 (http://www.listin.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=129588)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
Mentioning the entrance of international aid and the humanitarian military intervention by United States forces, which he says is justified by the magnitude of the damages and the Haitian government's inability to respond to the challenges that it faces.
"In this context, there is talk of creating a great Haiti reconstruction fund, a kind of Marshall Plan, as some have called it, with contributions of 10 to 20 billion dollars, sums that are reasonable given the devastation," he comments.
He lists the questions that must be asked:
What is the strategic focus for the use of the funds?
What organization will coordinate the efforts?
What would be the scope of the mandate for international presence in Haiti?
What degree of institutional control and autonomy of decision will the international presence have in Haiti?
What judicial modality will the international community have in the process of rebuilding Haiti?
He says that the answers to these questions lead to the basic premise that Haiti needs international tutelage not only to confront the immense task of humanitarian assistance, but also to start the road to reconstruction of the state and the establishment of the pillars that make possible, stability, security and social and economic development.
He makes the point that Haiti before the earthquake suffered from severe and persistent economic, political, ecological and security crises. A certain level of stability had been reached under the government of President Preval with the support of the United Nations Minustah forces.
He recommends that the Security Council of the United Nations extend the mandate of the Minustah as a international civilian force so that it can exercise direct, autonomous and effective control on vital institutional areas, such as internal and external security, customs administration, tax collection, hospital and education administration, construction of infrastructure and environmental management, so that the standards and systems for their operation, human resources and customs that make them viable and sustainable in the long term can be developed.
"This is about creating the conditions so the Haitian people can truly exercise their sovereignty because the magnitude of the problems that the people need to confront, the judicial fiction and the political rhetoric have to be left behind so that the steps for practical solutions be taken with the commitment and support of the international community, especially the US, France and Canada, following Security Council guidelines.
"If international action is limited to humanitarian relief or channeling of funds without strategic purpose, an extraordinary opportunity to rebuild the Haitian state will have been lost. This is the opportunity to set the bases for social-economic and environmental development, as well as for a regime of security that benefits Haiti and the Caribbean region," he writes in today's Listin Diario.
www.listin.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=129588 (http://www.listin.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=129588)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)