(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington has called on labour ministers and labour organisations to marshal troops in support of our brothers and sisters in Haiti, a country in the throes of restoration, after the January 12 earthquake, which devastated its capital, Port-au-Prince.

An update of the recovery process in Haiti is one of the major items on the agenda of the 19th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) which opened in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday morning under the theme: Coherence for Human and Social Development in the Caribbean Community: The Contribution of Labour Ministries and the Decent Work Agenda. The three-day meeting is being held jointly with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Seventh Meeting of Caribbean Ministers of Labour.

The CARICOM Secretary-General, in addressing the opening ceremony, implored the Meeting to address the matter of Haiti “with all the seriousness it deserves.”

“This Region,” he added “has not experienced, at least in recent times, such massive devastation wreaked by natural disaster on any of our Member States.” Mr Carrington told the Meeting that the financial contributions and technical assistance provided to Haiti were clear signals that the Community was committed to playing a pivotal role in Haiti’s reconstruction.

Since the devastation, the Caribbean Community had responded with post-haste to put effective mechanisms in place to assist with the restoration of that Member State. Among those mechanisms are the appointment of retired Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Hon P.J Patterson, as the CARICOM Advocate for Haiti, and the establishment of a Special Support Unit for Haiti.

Secretary-General Carrington said that this unit was “eager to receive your concrete pledges of support,” and further asked the joint Council to respond to the plea for special skills required in the reconstruction of Haiti.

“Haiti needs all the help we can provide and we cannot afford to be found wanting.”

“It is not enough for us just to be sorry,” the CARICOM Secretary-General concluded.