What role for the United Nations in Haiti?
By Robert Maguire BACKGROUND On October 13, 2009, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a one-year extension of the mandate for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The sixth mission since 1995, MINUSTAH was first authorized in 2004. The mission, under Brazilian command, comprises 6,940 soldiers and 2,211 police. It also has unprecedented star power since the May 2009 appointment of former U.S. President Bill Clinton as U.N. special envoy to Haiti. The day after MINUSTAH’s reauthorization, a panel of experts met at the United States Institute of Peace to discuss the U.N.’s future in Haiti and the continuing need for peacekeeping forces. The panel consisted of: – David Harland, director of the Europe and Latin America division, U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations; – Ambassador Raymond Joseph, ambassador to the United States, Republic of Haiti; – David Beer, director of business development, Pearson Peacekeeping Centre of Canada; – Eduar
