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Sunday, May 25, 2025

UN group calls for participation of women in public electoral process

by

30 days ago
20250424

UN Women says that the mean­ing­ful par­tic­i­pa­tion of women in the pub­lic elec­toral process is “a pil­lar for con­sol­i­da­tion of democ­ra­cy” in Haiti.

The UN group says the re­cruit­ment of women to the com­mu­nal elec­toral of­fices (OECs) and de­part­men­tal elec­toral of­fices (OEDs) is “a step for­ward in en­sur­ing greater equal­i­ty and in­clu­sion in the Hait­ian elec­toral process.

“Their par­tic­i­pa­tion is a tes­ta­ment to their re­silience and com­mit­ment to ac­tive­ly con­tribute to or­ga­niz­ing the elec­tions, de­spite the sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges they face in their com­mu­ni­ties,” UN Women said.

It said women in Haiti have long played a trans­for­ma­tive role in re­spond­ing to so­cial and en­vi­ron­men­tal crises, mo­bi­liz­ing for de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process­es, and ad­vanc­ing hu­man rights, all while fac­ing bar­ri­ers like gen­der-based vi­o­lence, which al­so hin­ders their pub­lic en­gage­ment.

“Their par­tic­i­pa­tion en­sures in­clu­sive and rep­re­sen­ta­tive elec­toral gov­er­nance, guar­an­tee­ing the coun­try’s de­mo­c­ra­t­ic le­git­i­ma­cy.”

The group how­ev­er, said re­cent in­for­ma­tion on the per­son­nel re­cruit­ed by the Pro­vi­sion­al Elec­toral Coun­cil (CEP) at the lev­el of BED and BEC shows sig­nif­i­cant progress.

UN Women said some de­part­ments show a par­tic­i­pa­tion of more than 30 per­cent of women in elec­toral man­age­ment, no­tably in the South (38.1 per­cent), Les Nippes (33.33 per­cent), and the Cen­tre (32.5 per­cent).

Fur­ther­more, in the South de­part­ment, nine women have been ap­point­ed to lead the of­fices and two women in the Ouest 1 de­part­ment, adding that pos­i­tive re­sults demon­strate the com­mit­ment and ef­forts of the CEP to pro­mote an in­creased in­clu­sion of women, as well as the pos­si­bil­i­ty of sub­stan­tial progress if in­cen­tive mea­sures for the ap­pli­ca­tion of the quo­ta were im­ple­ment­ed.

How­ev­er, UN Women said progress is not uni­formed through­out the French-speak­ing Caribbean coun­try, show­ing ge­o­graph­i­cal and struc­tur­al dis­par­i­ties that need to be ad­dressed.

In the Ouest 1 de­part­ment, UN Women said 10 women were re­cruit­ed, rep­re­sent­ing 27 per­cent of the elec­tions, be­low the min­i­mum quo­ta of 30 per­cent.

Sim­i­lar­ly, it said in the Art­i­bonite de­part­ment, the rate of 27.77 per­cent of elect­ed women re­mains in­suf­fi­cient for ef­fec­tive par­tic­i­pa­tion in de­ci­sion-mak­ing.

Fur­ther­more, UN Women said mu­nic­i­pal­i­ties such as Lasc­a­hobas (Cen­tre), Arni­quet (South), Ducis (South), and sev­er­al oth­ers in the North-East and West have not reg­is­tered any women among the can­di­dates, “which, in most cas­es, could ex­plain the to­tal ab­sence of women in some mu­nic­i­pal­i­ties.”

In Cité Soleil, Pe­tit Goâve in the Ouest 1 de­part­ment and Cap Haï­tien in the North de­part­ment, UN Women said this is­sue is “very con­cern­ing,” but it said “the lev­el of in­se­cu­ri­ty in these ar­eas could po­ten­tial­ly be one of the rea­sons.

“This sit­u­a­tion high­lights the need to im­prove women’s in­clu­sion, es­pe­cial­ly in ar­eas where their rep­re­sen­ta­tion is in­suf­fi­cient,” UN Women said.

“These re­sults un­der­score the need to en­cour­age greater par­tic­i­pa­tion of women in the process and to strength­en mea­sures to sup­port women’s in­clu­sion in the elec­toral process, in­clud­ing the man­age­ment of elec­toral vi­o­lence,” it added.

UN Women urged the Pres­i­den­tial Tran­si­tion­al Coun­cil (CPT) and the Hait­ian gov­ern­ment to take fur­ther steps to en­sure com­pli­ance with the min­i­mum 30 per­cent quo­ta for women, at all lev­els of gov­ern­ment, in­clud­ing in the man­age­ment of elec­tions, but al­so in the nom­i­na­tion of can­di­dates. which aligns with Haiti’s na­tion­al and in­ter­na­tion­al com­mit­ments to gen­der equal­i­ty.

“These com­mit­ments must be trans­lat­ed in­to con­crete ac­tions, such as in­sti­tu­tion­al re­forms, in­cen­tives for women’s par­tic­i­pa­tion, and aware­ness cam­paigns to over­come sys­temic, cul­tur­al and po­lit­i­cal ob­sta­cles to women’s in­clu­sion,” UN Women said.

It reaf­firmed its com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing women in the elec­toral process in Haiti and work­ing with na­tion­al in­sti­tu­tions and in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners to strength­en their par­tic­i­pa­tion in po­lit­i­cal and pub­lic life.

“The in­ter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty close­ly fol­lows the progress made in Haiti and con­tin­ues to en­cour­age the coun­try to ful­fill its com­mit­ments to gen­der equal­i­ty,” UN Women said.

“Women’s full par­tic­i­pa­tion in pub­lic af­fairs man­age­ment is a fun­da­men­tal pil­lar for the con­sol­i­da­tion of democ­ra­cy and sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment in Haiti,” it added.

UNIT­ED NA­TIONS, Apr. 24, CMC

CMC/nkk/kb/2025


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