Haiti
Tackling insecurity must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering. It is equally important to protect institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been attacked to their very core.
Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in statement on the situation of human rights in Haiti, 28 Mar '24
María Isabel Salvador, UN Special Representative for Haiti
On 1 March, Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of María Isabel Salvador of Ecuador as his Special Representative for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
Ms. Salvador succeeded Helen Meagher La Lime of the United States to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedicated service and steadfast commitment to the work of the United Nations in Haiti.
Ms. Salvador brings to this position over 25 years of experience in managerial, advisory, political, and diplomatic functions.
She has served as President of the Governing Council of the Galapagos (2013-2015), Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the Organization of American States (2010-2013), Member of the Andean Parliament (2009-2010), as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration (2007-2008) and Minister of Tourism (2005-2007) of Ecuador.
She also has vast management experience from the private sector having served as General Manager and Legal Representative of Air France in Ecuador (1995-2005).
She was Director of External Relations at UDLA University of the Americas in Ecuador, a post she has held since 2015.
Ms. Salvador holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Andrés Bello University, Chile, and the European University of Madrid, Spain, and a Bachelor’s degree in French Language and Civilization from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. She is currently completing a law degree in Human and Nature Rights at the University of the Americas in Ecuador.
She is fluent in English and French, in addition to her native Spanish.
On 19 August 2016, the Secretary-General announced the United Nations’ new approach to cholera in Haiti. The Secretary-General indicated that he deeply regrets the terrible suffering the people of Haiti have endured as a result of the cholera epidemic and that the United Nations has a moral responsibility to the victims of the cholera epidemic and to support Haiti in overcoming the epidemic and building sound water, sanitation and health systems. He stressed that eliminating cholera from Haiti will take the full commitment of the Haitian Government and the international community and, crucially, the resources to fulfil this shared duty.
Ulrika Richardson, Deputy Special Representative for the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti.
Ms. Richardson, a Swedish national, has dedicated more than 30 years to international cooperation. Most of her professional life has been devoted to international civil service in the field through the United Nations primarily in West and Central Africa, the Caribbean as well as Western Balkans and South-East Europe. Ms. Richardson has extensive experience in a broad range of development, conflict, post-conflict, and humanitarian settings in a wide range of complex political, socio-economic, fragility, and human rights contexts with a strong track record in advocating for women and children’s rights. She is also known to have in-depth knowledge of the multidimensional challenges Small Island Developing States are facing.
BINUH’s mandate focuses on two main areas:
Advising the Government of Haiti in promoting and strengthening political stability and good governance, including the rule of law, preserving and advancing a peaceful and stable environment, including through supporting an inclusive inter-Haitian national dialogue, and protecting and promoting human rights; and
In an advisory role, assisting the Government with its efforts in the following areas: dialogue and reforms; elections; police professionalism; community violence reduction and gang violence; justice reform; and prison condition and human rights protection and accountability.