Caribbean

The United Nations has said it will not pay hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation claimed by cholera victims in impoverished Haiti, where an epidemic has killed thousands of people and been blamed on UN peacekeepers.

The top United Nations official in Haiti today called on the Government of the beleaguered Caribbean country to carry out free and fair elections, which have been delayed for over a year, as soon as possible within 2013.

Some 1.8 million Haitians have been affected by Hurricane Sandy, the United Nations relief agency said today after its first assessment of the situation in the region, adding that food security remains an urgent concern in the Caribbean nation.

Haiti must focus on strengthening its rule of law institutions, including its national police and electoral council, to consolidate the gains it has achieved in recent years, the United Nations Security Council heard today as it reviewed developments in the Caribbean country.

The United Nations refugee agency today voiced concern over the number of people from Haiti and other Caribbean countries who have risked their lives trying to escape by sea from difficult living situations in their homelands.

The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti today welcomed the confirmation by parliament of the appointment of the country’s Prime Minister designate, Laurent Lamothe, a move that paves the way for him to assume office.

The United Nations human rights chief on Friday urged Barbados to adopt more effective legislation measures to combat discrimination and domestic and sexual violence in the country, adding that an attitudinal change is needed in society as a whole to tackle these issues.

The United Nations and the Government of Haiti today voiced concern over a lack of resources to fund humanitarian services that are still required to help people in the Caribbean country recover from recent crises, including the 2010 earthquake and the cholera epidemic, and enhance preparedness ahead of the hurricane season.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines will send off its 15th Contingent to Haiti on Friday as part of its commitment to the United Nations’ (UN) Stabilization Mission in the country that has suffered political unrest over the past decades and a devastating earthquake in 2010.

Three Pakistani police personnel, serving in one of the United Nations' peackeeping missions in Haiti, have been found guilty in a sexual exploitation case and will be imprisoned on their return to Pakistan.