KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – Minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, senator Kamina Johnson Smith, is reporting that there has been significant improvement in Haiti’s political situation since the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council earlier this year.
Haiti has been experiencing humanitarian, security, socio-economic and political crises. The Council was the landmark outcome of a high-level meeting of regional heads, international partners and Haitian stakeholders on March 11, which paved the way for a peaceful transition of power and the road to free and fair elections.
Addressing Wednesday’s post-cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, senator Smith advised that Haiti is close to establishing a Provisional Electoral Council, which is the body constitutionally authorised to implement all the steps and requirements needed for elections.
“You might recall that the life of the Council is [actually] scheduled for 2026. So, the hope is to have things in place to allow that timeline to be met, and the Electoral Council is there for one of the critical milestones in ensuring Haiti’s return to democratic governance,” she explained.
Senator Smith noted that there have been some challenges and encouraged their continued engagement with the eminent persons group that continues to give guidance on working through some of the difficult issues.
“These stakeholders that are represented on the Council are bodies that have traditionally been competitive with each other. They have never worked together, so it means that they will continue to have challenges. Being able to have experienced states persons from a Caribbean background to work with them and international partners has been very important to part of the process, and CARICOM and, indeed, Jamaica’s support takes place to quite an extent through this,” said senator Smith, who further expressed the hope that the Council will continue to work in a way that facilitates consensus and credibility; and that security remains the greatest area of concern, coupled with its very interlinked humanitarian issues.
“In light of this context, in the [United Nations] UN high-level week, Jamaica advocated throughout the week in different fora for continued and additional support of the international community for the work of the Multinational Security Support Mission. On October 2, the UN Security Council voted in favour of extending the mandate of the Mission for one year. We’re very pleased with that result. It is critical to ensure that we’re able to advocate for more funding,” senator Smith added. “Jamaica deployed its initial command contingent to Haiti on September 12 and will honour its further commitment.”
