Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations

Statement by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy at UNSC briefing on the situation in Haiti

Mme.President,

We welcome Minister of Foreign Affairs of Haiti Jean Victor Geneus to this meeting. We listened carefully to the remarks by Dr. Arnoux Descardes, and we thank Special Representative of the Secretary-General Helen La Lime for the briefing on the situation in the country and the work of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).

We are following the developments in Haiti with growing concern. The recent four-month reporting period was characterized by continuing deterioration at all key tracks – from political settlement to security and humanitarian situation.

Key stakeholders in the government, civil society, and business retain some fundamental contradictions regarding prospective ways to address the political deadlock. We see Prime Minister Henry try to establish dialogue with some forces. But it is yet too early to speak of any tangible results.

Unfortunately, BUNUH assistance in convening informal discussions between various groups yields no results either. We look forward to some fresh ideas in the discussions of the Trilateral Committee composed of academia, religious representative, and businesses.

Security situation is exacerbated by the fact that armed groups fight not only against the government, but also against each other. Over the five months of this year, the number of abductions has grown by one third, the statistic of murders also has been on the rise, the number of IDPs again stands at 17,000, the record of sexual crimes is skyrocketing. All this requires the Haitian law enforcement system to be consolidated and effective, as it is among the first to confront Haiti’s outstanding challenges. Besides, we must not forget about possible implications of the global food crisis that has been provoked by irresponsible actions of Western states and they vainly try to blame on Russia.

We accept the logic of the Secretary-General, who in his recent report concludes that the current internal political and security situation in Haiti leaves little chances that long due elections may be held before the end of this year. At the same time, we proceed from the assumption that only political settlement of internal disputes can become a prerequisite for a truly lasting settlement.

We have studied closely the conclusions of the Secretary-General following the independent review of BINUH operations that was prepared in accordance with UNSC resolution 2600. We noticed that he provided most detailed recommendations as to how to build capacity of Haiti’s national police. We stand ready to consider corresponding recommendations as we work on the next draft resolution on Haiti. However we would welcome more details with regard to the mandate of BINUH and its ways to help the people of Haiti establish domestic dialogue. Unless there is progress at the political track, attempts to solve Haiti’s security problems risk turning into a struggle with windmills, because it is chaos in legislative, executive and judicial branches of power that creates favorable environment for an increase in crime.

Mme.President,

Haitians have to elaborate a viable solution to address their political “nosedive” themselves. External scenarios are unable to account for the complex nature of underlying causes of Haiti’s crisis. We believe one of those causes is years-long external interference and imposing of democratizing models that do not take on board country-specific features. This coarse approach, which can be called “a bull in a china shop”, was the primary cause of countless crises worldwide. All international assistance, including assistance via UN channels, must be responsible and proceed from a broad national discussion.

On our part, we will set forth efforts to help the Security Council and BINUH achieve results that would be centered around Haitian-led and Haitian-owned settlement process.

Thank you.