25322: Leiderman: (news) fingerprints and national ID cards: "establishing a modern national civil registry in Haiti" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Stuart M Leiderman <leidermn@cisunix.unh.edu>


OAS HAILS AGREEMENT TO SUPPORT THE ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL ELECTIONS
   IN HAITI
   January 17, 2005

   UNITED NATIONS
   United Nations
   Stabilization Mission In Haiti

   MINUSTAH
   NATIONS UNIES
   Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haïti


   PIO/PR/78/2005
   PRESS RELEASE


   Port-au-Prince, 17 January 2005 ? The Acting Secretary General of the 
Organization
   of American States (OAS), Ambassador Luigi R. Einaudi, welcomed the signing, 
in
   Port-au-Prince on Monday, January 10, of a $US44 million global agreement as 
part
   of a project to support the organization of general elections in Haiti in 
2005. The
   agreement was signed by the Haitian Government, the Provisional Electoral 
Council
   (CEP), the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), and the
   United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

   Ambassador Einaudi underscored ?the strong collaboration among his 
organization, the
   United Nations, the CEP, and the Haitian Government, as well as the other 
partners in
   the international community, whose combined efforts were a vital asset for 
the electoral
   process.? A protocol of understanding, signed on November 3 by the OAS and
   United Nations, established the respective responsibilities of the two 
organizations as
   well as measures for cooperation and coordination between them, in support 
of the
   CEP?s efforts to organize and hold free and fair elections. The OAS will be 
in charge
   of providing all technical support for voter registration with a view, in 
the long term, to
   establishing a modern national civil registry system in Haiti.

   The Chief of MINUSTAH, Juan Gabriel Valdes, went to Washington on Tuesday,
   January 11, to confer with the Acting Secretary General, Mr. Einaudi, and 
the Chief of
   the OAS Special Mission in Haiti, Ambassador Denneth Modeste, and to share 
with
   the Permanent Council his principal observations on developments in the 
situation in
   Haiti. The OAS member countries commended MINUSTAH for its efforts, and
   several representatives emphasized the importance of holding ?inclusive 
elections open
   to all political parties in order to strengthen democracy in Haiti.?

   ******************

   For additional info, please contact MINUSTAH?s Office of Communication and
   Public Information at
   tel.: (509) 510-2563 ext.: 6343 or 510- 3183/84/85 ext.: 6037- 6034-6035
   or consult MINUSTAH?s website at http://www.minustah.org.





   Reference: HA-01-17E