International community must seek common approach in Haiti, Fréchette says

With the United Nations preparing for a peacekeeping mission in Haiti, an integrated and common approach must be the hallmark of the international community's involvement in the Caribbean country, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette said today.

In opening remarks to a meeting in New York between representatives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the UN system, the Deputy Secretary-General said the UN is seeking to draw in all relevant actors and pursue a common strategic aim in Haiti.

"We will explore with CARICOM, as well as with the OAS [Organization of American States], what each of us is best positioned to contribute, in cooperation with our Haitian partners," she said. "And since CARICOM, the OAS and the UN system will remain in Haiti long after the peacekeeping phase ends, we need to ensure that an integrated and common approach is followed."

Looking at the broader issues facing the Caribbean region, the Deputy Secretary-General noted that one of the main areas of collaboration between the UN and CARICOM is trade, particularly the joint effort to press for greater liberalization and an international trading system that brings development gains for the bloc's countries.

Ms. Fréchette also pointed to working together to cope with the AIDS epidemic, which affects the Caribbean like no other region in the world except for sub-Saharan Africa. Among Caribbean teens, girls are five times more likely to contract HIV, she noted. "CARICOM itself has proved a useful forum for region cooperation on this issue," she said. "We need to continue and step up such efforts."

As for the upcoming 10-year review conference of an action plan to help Small Island Developing States, the Deputy Secretary-General said she shared the hope that it will produce not only renewed political commitment, but also practical initiatives that will generate progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of anti-poverty targets endorsed at a 2000 UN summit.

"Security threats - from political violence through money laundering to drug trafficking and smuggling - have serious consequences for the functioning of the region's economies, for governance and stability, and for social well-being," she said.

"Our enduring hope is to prevent such crises, and to build solid foundations for balanced, sustainable development throughout the region," she added.