Global Policy Forum

Against a background of calls—either for a ringing declaration of support, or a stinging indictment against—the CARICOM summit in St Kitts came down the middle on the Haiti question. The leaders could be congratulated for holding their ground in not rejecting outright the interim administration, nor did they succumb to the strong urgings to recognize either.

What they held to was the idea that the social and economic well-being of the Haitian people remains paramount. This is the sentiment as expressly stated in the Statement on Haiti, issued as a separate document coming from the St Kitts summit. "Heads of Government reiterated their view that there had been an interruption of the democratic process in Haiti," the statement said. From that perspective, the region's leaders said they would renew their call for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as President of Haiti. That call will be made through the United Nations, either via the Secretary General, the General Assembly or the Security Council, on the basis of legal advice, as explained by Ralph Gonzalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Alongside this, the St Kitts summit further decided to reconstitute the Core Group of Prime Ministers. It is now to be headed by the newly elected Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer, who assumes the CARICOM chairmanship, to continue monitoring the developments in Haiti, while at the same time they have decided to honour earlier commitments for direct assistance to the Haitian people, including the deployment of peacekeeping forces. Towards this end, the St Kitts decision also involves the appointment of a Special CARICOM Envoy, as an adjunct to the Core Group.

Rehabilitation of the Haitian state, humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people, the restoration of the process of democracy are some of the elements making up the cornerstone of the CARICOM position. With an emphasis on working through the international communities such as the United Nations and the Organisation of American States, the renewed CARICOM initiative appears comprehensive in scope.

Speaking with reporters as he prepared to leave the summit late Friday evening, it was the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister who encapsulated the decision on Haiti. He said it was the best attempt possible to match principle with real politics. This represents the wisest course of action which the leaders could have pursued, bespeaking the kind of mature statesmanship which all too often is misunderstood by many of the very people in whose name such decisions are taken.

Read accurately then, the St Kitts statement on Haiti has to be seen for what it is—a steadfast determination not to bow to pressures from any quarter other than what is deemed to be in the best interests of the Haitian people at this time.