FAAE Committee Report

RECOMMENDATION 1

As part of a clear policy framework on Canada’s role in fragile states, the Government should set out concrete objectives, focusing on the Millennium Development Goals and anti-corruption activities, for Canadian “whole of government” interventions in recipient states. Thereafter, the Government should table in Parliament annual progress reports detailing by country the funds expended and results achieved in the stated objectives.

RECOMMENDATION 2

The Government should, as part of its long-term assistance plan for Haiti, table in Parliament a report on Canada’s assistance to Haiti at the end of the current extended mandate of the Interim Cooperation Framework in 2007. The report should provide concrete details on all actions taken to correct flaws identified in donor evaluations — such as the 2004 CIDA study for the OECD — and should also provide concrete details of results from Canadian aid to Haiti in terms of meeting the Millennium Development Goals, in order to develop the future model for parliamentary reporting.

RECOMMENDATION 3

In the area of security, the Committee agrees that MINUSTAH must have clear authoritative direction and a clear mandate to disarm criminal gangs. Canada must work with international partners and Haitians to facilitate the preeminent need of Haiti for normalization and security in all areas. Canada should also consider increasing its contribution to the UN Mission during the period of its renewed mandate.

In regard to police reform, Canada should make a greater contribution over the next two to three years to the establishment and training of a professional politically neutral national police, taking into account lessons learned from its past Haitian police reform program.

RECOMMENDATION 4

In the area of justice and corrections, considering that impunity still prevails across the entire country, Canada should work closely with Haitian authorities and international partners on putting an end to impunity, on establishing a national system of human rights protections, on the training of judges and on the reform of the prison system.

RECOMMENDATION 5

Canada should work with international partners and the new Haitian government to ensure that the establishment of an economic plan, job creation and tangible improvements for Haiti’s poor are an immediate priority of development plans. Overall development strategy should also pay particular attention to: rural and local development, including agricultural production and food security; basic education for children; the empowerment of women; the formation of strong civil society and labour organizations; and the creation of a climate conducive to private-sector investment.

In view of the degree to which the environment in Haiti has deteriorated, Canada must work with its international partners and the new Haitian government to ensure that priority is also given to solving the serious environmental problems Haiti is facing, such as deforestation causing severe flooding, shoreline pollution and the accumulation of garbage in the streets of towns and villages, to name just a few.

RECOMMENDATION 6

Canada should ensure that the voting infrastructures put in place are maintained and consolidated. With that in mind, it should provide more support, both financial and logistical, in order to ensure that the municipal elections, including those scheduled for December 2006, go ahead. These elections are essential in safeguarding all the work that has been done and ensuring that the government is not tempted to appoint mayors and thus perpetuate a situation that in the past was one of the biggest sources of corruption in Haiti.

Beyond continued electoral assistance; the Committee strongly supports long-term Canadian involvement in building sustainable institutions of democracy and good governance in Haiti. In particular, Canada should strive to strengthen Haiti’s parliamentary system to help enhance true voter representation of constituent communities in the national Parliament.

RECOMMENDATION 7

As part of the policy statements called for in Recommendations 1 and 2, Canada should formally commit to a “whole of government” strategy for Haiti that envisages involvement for at least 10 years and that indicates long-term funding — beyond the five-year allocations already announced in July 2006 — will be available to fully support this strategy.

Consideration must be given to the cancellation of Haiti’s multilateral and bilateral debt, which totaled some (US) $1.3 billion in 2005, of which the Haitian government is faced with payments of some (US) $60 million per year. Canada should work with other countries and international organizations towards the objective of canceling Haiti’s debt, in conjunction with the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.

Canada should also work with and lend support to civil society organizations. A long-term aid strategy for Haiti must include both government and civil society.