128-658: Sylvio or Silvio Paul Cator (October 19, 1900 – July 21, 1952) was a Haitian athlete most successful in the long jump . He earned a silver medal in the long jump at the 1928 Summer Olympics . Born in Cavaillon , Haiti , Cator was a footballer who played for the Trivoli Athletic Club and the Racing Club Haïtien . He participated in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris in the high jump, where he finished 15th, and
256-693: A deadly cholera outbreak devastated the country. Haiti is a founding member of the United Nations , Organization of American States (OAS), Association of Caribbean States , and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie . In addition to CARICOM , it is a member of the International Monetary Fund , World Trade Organization , and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States . Historically poor and politically unstable, Haiti has
384-513: A slave revolt . The 19th century saw political instability, international isolation, debt to France , and failed invasions of the Dominican Republic, including a costly war . U.S. forces occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, followed by dictatorial rule of the Duvalier family (1957–1986). After a coup d'état in 2004 , the United Nations intervened . In 2010, a catastrophic earthquake and
512-641: A "systemic failure". In 2010, the organization suffered the worst loss of life in its history, when 101 personnel died in the Haiti earthquake . Acting under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 in 2011, NATO countries intervened in the First Libyan Civil War . The Millennium Summit was held in 2000 to discuss the UN's role in the 21st century. The three-day meeting was
640-601: A UN official, negotiated an armistice to the resulting conflict , with the Security Council deciding that “an armistice shall be established in all sectors of Palestine”. On 7 November 1956, the first UN peacekeeping force was established to end the Suez Crisis ; however, the UN was unable to intervene against the Soviet Union's simultaneous invasion of Hungary , following the country's revolution . On 14 July 1960,
768-590: A clause that allowed, for the first time, foreign ownership of land in Haiti, which was bitterly opposed by the Haitian legislature and citizenry. The occupation improved some of Haiti's infrastructure and centralized power in Port-au-Prince. 1700 km of roads were made usable, 189 bridges were built, many irrigation canals were rehabilitated, hospitals, schools, and public buildings were constructed, and drinking water
896-475: A conference and initialised the drafting of the UN Charter , which was adopted on 25 June 1945. The charter took effect on 24 October 1945, when the UN began operations. The UN's objectives, as outlined by its charter, include maintaining international peace and security, protecting human rights , delivering humanitarian aid , promoting sustainable development , and upholding international law . At its founding,
1024-462: A few years. Many enslaved persons died from diseases such as smallpox and typhoid fever . They had low birth rates , and there is evidence that some women aborted fetuses rather than give birth to children within the bonds of slavery . The colony's environment also suffered, as forests were cleared to make way for plantations and the land was overworked so as to extract maximum profit for French plantation owners. As in its Louisiana colony ,
1152-602: A national martyr. During Senate hearings in 1921, the commandant of the Marine Corps reported that, in the 20 months of active unrest, 2,250 Haitians had been killed. However, in a report to the Secretary of the Navy, he reported the death toll as being 3,250. Haitian historians have claimed the true number was much higher, but this is not supported by most historians outside Haiti. United Nations The United Nations ( UN )
1280-464: A payment of 150 million francs . By an order of 17 April 1826, the King of France renounced his rights of sovereignty and formally recognized the independence of Haiti. The enforced payments to France hampered Haiti's economic growth for years, exacerbated by the fact that many Western states continued to refuse formal diplomatic recognition to Haiti; Britain recognized Haitian independence in 1833, and
1408-539: A permanent member to block adoption of a resolution, though not debate. The ten temporary seats are held for two-year terms, with five members elected each year by the General Assembly on a regional basis . The presidency of the Security Council rotates alphabetically each month. The UN Secretariat carries out the day-to-day duties required to operate and maintain the UN system. It is composed of tens of thousands of international civil servants worldwide and headed by
SECTION 10
#17330929635481536-585: A plane crash . Months later he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . In 1964, Hammarskjöld's successor, U Thant , deployed the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus , which would become one of the UN's longest-running peacekeeping missions. With the spread of decolonization in the 1960s, the UN's membership shot up due to an influx of newly independent nations. In 1960 alone, 17 new states joined
1664-643: A rebellion in the 1750s; however, he was later captured and executed by the French. Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of man , the French settlers and free people of color pressed for greater political freedom and more civil rights . Tensions between these two groups led to conflict, as a militia of free-coloreds was set up in 1790 by Vincent Ogé , resulting in his capture, torture and execution. Sensing an opportunity, in August 1791
1792-506: A revolution began, led by General Fabre Geffrard , Duke of Tabara. In December of that year, Geffrard defeated the Imperial Army and seized control of most of the country. As a result, the Emperor abdicated his throne on 15 January 1859. Faustin was taken into exile and General Geffrard succeeded him as president. The period following Soulouque's overthrow down to the turn of the century was
1920-510: A significant uprising, capitulated to the rebels, effectively ending Haitian rule of eastern Hispaniola. In March Rivière-Hérard attempted to reimpose his authority, but the Dominicans inflicted heavy losses. Rivière-Hérard was removed from office by the mulatto hierarchy and replaced with the aged general Philippe Guerrier , who assumed the presidency on 3 May 1844. Guerrier died in April 1845, and
2048-591: A slave holder and isolationist, kept the United States neutral, although private US citizens at times provided aid to French planters trying to put down the revolt. John Adams , a vocal opponent of slavery, fully supported the slave revolt by providing diplomatic recognition, financial support, munitions and warships (including the USS Constitution ) beginning in 1798. This support ended in 1801 when Jefferson, another slave-holding president, took office and recalled
2176-664: A small community of German settlers wielding disproportionate influence in Haiti's economy. The German influence prompted anxieties in the United States, who had also invested heavily in the country, and whose government defended their right to oppose foreign interference in the Americas under the Monroe Doctrine . In December 1914, the Americans removed $ 500,000 from the Haitian National Bank, but rather than seize it to help pay
2304-513: A turbulent one for Haiti, with repeated bouts of political instability. President Geffrard was overthrown in a coup in 1867, as was his successor, Sylvain Salnave , in 1869. Under the Presidency of Michel Domingue (1874–76) relations with the Dominican Republic were dramatically improved by the signing of a treaty, in which both parties acknowledged the independence of the other. Some modernisation of
2432-445: A two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required. All other questions are decided by a majority vote. Each member has one vote. Apart from the approval of budgetary matters, resolutions are not binding on the members. The Assembly may make recommendations on any matters within the scope of the UN, except matters of peace and security that are under consideration by the Security Council. Draft resolutions can be forwarded to
2560-834: A wide variety of complex tasks. The UN comprises six principal operational organizations: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice , the UN Secretariat , and the Trusteeship Council , although the Trusteeship Council has been suspended since 1994. The UN System includes a multitude of specialized agencies , funds, and programmes, including
2688-991: A wide variety of topics. These include the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues , which advises UN agencies on issues relating to indigenous peoples , the United Nations Forum on Forests , which coordinates and promotes sustainable forest management, the United Nations Statistical Commission , which co-ordinates information-gathering efforts between agencies, and the Commission on Sustainable Development , which co-ordinates efforts between UN agencies and NGOs working towards sustainable development . ECOSOC may also grant consultative status to non-governmental organizations. as of April 2021 almost 5,600 organizations have this status. The UN Charter stipulates that each primary organ of
SECTION 20
#17330929635482816-542: Is a diplomatic and political international organization with the intended purpose of maintaining international peace and security , developing friendly relations among nations, achieving international cooperation, and serving as a center for coordinating the actions of member nations. It is widely recognised as the world's largest international organization. The UN is headquartered in New York City , in international territory with certain privileges extraterritorial to
2944-461: Is defined in the UN Charter as the organization's chief administrative officer. Article 99 of the charter states that the secretary-general can bring to the Security Council's attention "any matter which in their opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security", a phrase that secretaries-general since Trygve Lie have interpreted as giving the position broad scope for action on
3072-455: The Code Noir ("Black Code"), prepared by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and ratified by Louis XIV , which established rules on slave treatment and permissible freedoms. Saint-Domingue has been described as one of the most brutally efficient slave colonies; at the end of the eighteenth century it was supplying two-thirds of Europe's tropical produce while one-third of newly imported Africans died within
3200-577: The American Colonization Society and its efforts in Liberia . Many found the conditions too harsh and returned to the United States. In July 1825, King Charles X of France , during a period of restoration of the French monarchy , sent a fleet to reconquer Haiti. Under pressure, President Boyer agreed to a treaty by which France formally recognized the independence of the state in exchange for
3328-637: The Battle of Mogadishu . The UN mission to Bosnia faced worldwide ridicule for its indecisive and confused mission in the face of ethnic cleansing. In 1994, the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda failed to intervene in the Rwandan genocide amidst indecision in the Security Council. From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, international interventions authorized by the UN took a wider variety of forms. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 authorised
3456-514: The Four Power Declaration on General Security which aimed for the creation "at the earliest possible date of a general international organization". This was the first public announcement that a new international organization was being contemplated to replace the League of Nations. The Tehran Conference followed shortly afterwards at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph Stalin , the leader of
3584-448: The French colonial government allowed some rights to free people of color ( gens de couleur ), the mixed-race descendants of European male colonists and African enslaved females (and later, mixed-race women). Over time, many were released from slavery and they established a separate social class . White French Creole fathers frequently sent their mixed-race sons to France for their education. Some men of color were admitted into
3712-560: The German government supported suppression of the reform movement of Anténor Firmin , and in 1897, the Germans used gunboat diplomacy to intimidate and then humiliate the Haitian government of President Tirésias Simon Sam (1896–1902) during the Lüders Affair . In the first decades of the 20th century, Haiti experienced great political instability and was heavily in debt to France, Germany and
3840-531: The Group of 77 under the leadership of Algeria, which briefly became a dominant power at the UN. On 10 November 1975, a bloc comprising the Soviet Union and Third World nations passed a resolution , over strenuous American and Israeli opposition, declaring Zionism to be a form of racism . The resolution was repealed on 16 December 1991, shortly after the end of the Cold War. With an increasing Third World presence and
3968-466: The ICJ Statute , which forms an integral part of the UN Charter, and non-members may also become parties. The ICJ's rulings are binding upon parties and, along with its advisory opinions, serve as sources of international law . The court is composed of 15 judges appointed to nine-year terms by the General Assembly. Every sitting judge must be from a different nation. The Economic and Social Council (or
Silvio Cator - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-810: The Kingdom of France . In Haitian Creole , it is spelled and pronounced with a y but no H : Ayiti . Another theory on the name Haiti is its origin in African tradition; in Fon language, one of the most spoken by the bossales (Haitians born in Africa), Ayiti-Tomè means: "From nowadays this land is our land." In the Haitian community the country has multiple nicknames: Ayiti-Toma (as its origin in Ayiti Tomè), Ayiti-Cheri (Ayiti my Darling), Tè-Desalin (Dessalines' Land) or Lakay (Home). The island of Hispaniola , of which Haiti occupies
4224-486: The Kingdom of Haiti in the north directed by Henri Christophe, later declaring himself Henri I , and a republic in the south centered on Port-au-Prince, directed by Alexandre Pétion , an homme de couleur . Pétion's republic was less absolutist, and he initiated a series of land reforms which benefited the peasant class. President Pétion also gave military and financial assistance to the revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar , which were critical in enabling him to liberate
4352-514: The NATO -led Kosovo Force beginning in 1999. The UN mission in the Sierra Leone Civil War was supplemented by a British military intervention . The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was overseen by NATO. In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq despite failing to pass a UN Security Council resolution for authorization, prompting a new round of questioning of the UN's effectiveness. Under
4480-786: The Paris Peace Conference . The League of Nations was approved and started operations, but the United States never joined. On 10 January 1920, the League of Nations formally came into being when the Covenant of the League of Nations , ratified by 42 nations in 1919, took effect. The League Council acted as an executive body directing the Assembly's business. It began with four permanent members—the United Kingdom , France , Italy , and Japan . After some limited successes and failures during
4608-467: The Viceroyalty of New Granada . Meanwhile, the French, who had managed to maintain a precarious control of eastern Hispaniola, were defeated by insurgents led by Juan Sánchez Ramírez , with the area returning to Spanish rule in 1809 following the Battle of Palo Hincado . Beginning in 1821, President Jean-Pierre Boyer , also an homme de couleur and successor to Pétion, reunified the island following
4736-723: The White House in December 1941 for the Arcadia Conference . Roosevelt is considered a founder of the UN, and coined the term United Nations to describe the Allied countries . Churchill accepted it, noting its use by Lord Byron . The text of the Declaration by United Nations was drafted on 29 December 1941, by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Harry Hopkins . It incorporated Soviet suggestions but included no role for France. One major change from
4864-684: The World Bank Group , the World Health Organization , the World Food Programme , UNESCO , and UNICEF . Additionally, non-governmental organizations may be granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and other agencies. The UN's chief administrative officer is the secretary-general , currently António Guterres , who is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. He began his first five-year term on 1 January 2017 and
4992-416: The genocide of nearly all the remaining white men, women, children; between January and April 1804, 3,000 to 5,000 whites were killed, including those who had been friendly and sympathetic to the black population. Only three categories of white people were selected out as exceptions and spared: Polish soldiers, the majority of whom had deserted from the French army and fought alongside the Haitian rebels;
5120-406: The secretary-general , who is assisted by the deputy secretary-general . The Secretariat's duties include providing information and facilities needed by UN bodies for their meetings and carrying out tasks as directed by the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, and other UN bodies. The secretary-general acts as the spokesperson and leader of the UN. The position
5248-571: The 1788 Census, Haiti's population consisted of nearly 25,000 Europeans, 22,000 free coloreds and 700,000 Africans in slavery. In contrast, by 1763 the white population of French Canada , a far larger territory, had numbered only 65,000. In the north of the island, those enslaved were able to retain many ties to African cultures, religion and language; these ties were continually being renewed by newly imported Africans. Some West Africans in slavery held on to their traditional Vodou beliefs by secretly syncretizing it with Catholicism. The French enacted
Silvio Cator - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-491: The 18,000-strong Haitian army, with a 5,000-man Dominican counterattack failing to oust them. The way to Santo Domingo was now clear. But the news of discontent existing at Port-au-Prince, which reached Soulouque, arrested his further progress and caused him to return with the army to his capital. Emboldened by the sudden retreat of the Haitian army, the Dominicans counter-attacked. Their flotilla went as far as Dame-Marie on
5504-686: The 1920s, the League proved ineffective in the 1930s, as it failed to act against the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1933. Forty nations voted for Japan to withdraw from Manchuria but Japan voted against it and walked out of the League instead of withdrawing from Manchuria. It also failed to act against the Second Italo-Ethiopian War , after the appeal for international intervention by Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie I at Geneva in 1936 went with no avail, including when calls for economic sanctions against Italy failed. Italy and other nations left
5632-453: The 9th place. As of 2021 , his silver medal is the best result of a Haitian athlete in the Olympics , with only one other medal (bronze) for the Haitian free rifle team in the 1924 Olympics. His world record long jump is still (2021) the Haitian national record. In 1946 Cator was elected Mayor of Port-au-Prince. Stade Sylvio Cator , a multi-use stadium in that city, was named after him and
5760-672: The Atlantic Charter was the addition of a provision for religious freedom , which Stalin approved after Roosevelt insisted. Roosevelt's idea of the " Four Powers ", refers to the four major Allied countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China , emerged in the Declaration by the United Nations. On New Year's Day 1942, Roosevelt, Churchill, the Soviet Union's former Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov , and
5888-400: The Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council : the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union and China — and by a majority of the other 46 nations. The first meetings of the General Assembly , with 51 nations represented, and the Security Council took place in London beginning in January 1946. Debates began at once, covering topical issues such as
6016-428: The Chinese Premier T. V. Soong signed the " Declaration by United Nations ", and the next day the representatives of twenty-two other nations added their signatures. During the war, the United Nations became the official term for the Allies. In order to join, countries had to sign the Declaration and declare war on the Axis powers . The October 1943 Moscow Conference resulted in the Moscow Declarations , including
6144-417: The Dominicans were given a further breathing space in which to consolidate their independence. But, when in 1848 France finally recognized the Dominican Republic as a free and independent state and provisionally signed a treaty of peace, friendship, commerce and navigation, Haiti immediately protested, claiming the treaty was an attack upon their own security. Soulouque decided to invade the new Republic before
6272-428: The ECOSOC) assists the General Assembly in promoting international economic and social co-operation and development. It was established to serve as the UN's primary forum for global issues and is the largest and most complex UN body. The ECOSOC's functions include gathering data, conducting studies and advising and making recommendations to member states. Its work is carried out primarily by subsidiary bodies focused on
6400-403: The French Government could ratify the treaty. On 21 March 1849, Haitian soldiers attacked the Dominican garrison at Las Matas . The demoralized defenders offered almost no resistance before abandoning their weapons. Soulouque pressed on, capturing San Juan . This left only the town of Azua as the remaining Dominican stronghold between the Haitian army and the capital. On 6 April, Azua fell to
6528-485: The French equivalent of Santo Domingo , the Spanish colony on Hispaniola . The French set about creating sugar and coffee plantations, worked by vast numbers of those enslaved imported from Africa , and Saint-Domingue grew to become their richest colonial possession, generating 40% of France’s foreign trade and doubling the wealth generation of all of England’s colonies, combined. The French settlers were outnumbered by enslaved persons by almost 10 to 1. According to
SECTION 50
#17330929635486656-476: The French troops at the Battle of Vertières on 18 November 1803, establishing the first state ever to successfully gain independence through a slave revolt. Under the overall command of Dessalines, the Haitian armies avoided open battle, and instead conducted a successful guerrilla campaign against the Napoleonic forces, working with diseases such as yellow fever to reduce the numbers of French soldiers. Later that year France withdrew its remaining 7,000 troops from
6784-420: The General Assembly by its six main committees: As well as by the following two committees: The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among nations. While other organs of the UN can only make recommendations to member states, the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member states have agreed to carry out, under the terms of Charter Article 25. The decisions of
6912-421: The League. When war broke out in 1939 , the League effectively closed down. The first step towards the establishment of the United Nations was the Inter-Allied Conference in London that led to the Declaration of St James's Palace on 12 June 1941. By August 1941, American President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter ; which defined goals for
7040-408: The Magua in the northeast, the Marien in the northwest, the Jaragua in the southwest, the Maguana in the central regions of Cibao, and the Higüey in the southeast. Taíno cultural artifacts include cave paintings in several locations in the country. These have become national symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions. Modern-day Léogâne , started as a French colonial town in the southwest, is beside
7168-413: The Marines had taken control of the capital city and its banks and customs house. The Marines declared martial law and severely censored the press. Within weeks, a new pro-U.S. Haitian president, Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave , was installed and a new constitution written that was favorable to the interests of the United States. The constitution (written by future US President Franklin D. Roosevelt ) included
7296-427: The Soviet Union, and the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement on 27 July 1953. On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly approved resolution 181 , a proposal to partition Palestine into two state, with Jerusalem placed under a special international regime. The plan failed and a civil war broke out in Palestine, that led to the creation of the state of Israel afterward. Two years later, Ralph Bunche ,
7424-400: The Soviet Union, before all the issues were resolved. By 1 March 1945, 21 additional states had signed the Declaration by the United Nations. After months of planning, the UN Conference on International Organization opened in San Francisco on 25 April 1945. It was attended by 50 nations' governments and a number of non-governmental organizations. The delegations of the Big Four chaired
7552-451: The Soviet Union, met and discussed the idea of a post-war international organization. The new international organisation was formulated and negotiated amongst the delegations from the Allied Big Four at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference from 21 September to 7 October 1944. They agreed on proposals for the aims, structure and functioning of the new organization. It took the conference at Yalta in February 1945, and further negotiations with
7680-404: The Spanish forced natives to work in gold mines and plantations. The Spanish passed the Laws of Burgos (1512–1513), which forbade the maltreatment of natives, endorsed their conversion to Catholicism, and gave legal framework to encomiendas . The natives were brought to these sites to work in specific plantations or industries. As the Spanish re-focused their colonization efforts on
7808-400: The U.S. financial advisor-general receiver handled the budget until 1941. The U.S. Marines were instilled with a special brand of paternalism towards Haitians "expressed in the metaphor of a father's relationship with his children." Armed opposition to the US presence was led by the cacos under the command of Charlemagne Péralte ; his capture and execution in 1919 earned him the status of
SECTION 60
#17330929635487936-499: The UN authorized a US-led coalition that repulsed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait . Brian Urquhart , the under-secretary-general of the UN from 1971 to 1985, later described the hopes raised by these successes as a "false renaissance" for the organization, given the more troubled missions that followed. Beginning in the last decades of the Cold War , critics of the UN condemned the organization for perceived mismanagement and corruption. In 1984, American President Ronald Reagan withdrew
8064-412: The UN established the United Nations Operation in the Congo (or UNOC), the largest military force of its early decades, to bring order to Katanga , restoring it to the control of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 11 May 1964. While travelling to meet rebel leader Moise Tshombe during the conflict, Dag Hammarskjöld , often named as one of the UN's most effective secretaries-general, died in
8192-562: The UN had 51 member states ; as of 2024 , it has 193 sovereign states , nearly all of the world's recognized sovereign states. The UN's mission to preserve world peace was complicated in its initial decades due in part to Cold War tensions that existed between the United States and Soviet Union and their respective allies. Its mission has included the provision of primarily unarmed military observers and lightly armed troops charged with primarily monitoring, reporting and confidence-building roles. UN membership grew significantly following
8320-430: The UN itself and operate with almost complete independence from it". These include specialized agencies, research and training institutions, programmes and funds and other UN entities. All organizations in the UN system obey the Noblemaire principle , which calls for salaries that will attract and retain citizens of countries where compensation is highest, and which ensures equal pay for work of equal value regardless of
8448-446: The UN's focus on promoting development, peacekeeping, human rights and global security. The Sustainable Development Goals (or SDGs) were launched in 2015 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to addressing global challenges, the UN has sought to improve its accountability and democratic legitimacy by engaging more with civil society and fostering a global constituency. In an effort to enhance transparency, in 2016
8576-405: The UN's primary mandate was peacekeeping , the division between the United States and the Soviet Union often paralysed the organization; generally allowing it to intervene only in conflicts distant from the Cold War . Two notable exceptions were a Security Council resolution on 7 July 1950 authorizing a US-led coalition to repel the North Korean invasion of South Korea , passed in the absence of
8704-420: The UN, 16 of them from Africa. On 25 October 1971, with opposition from the United States, but with the support of many Third World nations, the People's Republic of China was given the Chinese seat on the Security Council in place of the Republic of China (also known as Taiwan). The vote was widely seen as a sign of waning American influence in the organization. Third World nations organized themselves into
8832-431: The US Navy. With slavery abolished, Toussaint Louverture pledged allegiance to France, and he fought off the British and Spanish forces who had taken advantage of the situation and invaded Saint-Domingue. The Spanish were later forced to cede their part of the island to France under the terms of the Peace of Basel in 1795, uniting the island under one government. However, an insurgency against French rule broke out in
8960-618: The United States not until 1862. Haiti borrowed heavily from Western banks at extremely high interest rates to repay the debt. Although the amount of the reparations was reduced to 90 million in 1838, by 1900 80% of Haiti's government spending was debt repayment and the country did not finish repaying it until 1947. After losing the support of Haiti's elite, Boyer was ousted in 1843, with Charles Rivière-Hérard replacing him as president. Nationalist Dominican forces in eastern Hispaniola led by Juan Pablo Duarte seized control of Santo Domingo on 27 February 1844. The Haitian forces, unprepared for
9088-421: The United States' funding from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (or UNESCO) over allegations of mismanagement, followed by the United Kingdom and Singapore. Boutros Boutros-Ghali , the secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, initiated a reform of the Secretariat, somewhat reducing the size of the organisation. His successor, Kofi Annan , initiated further management reforms in
9216-641: The United States, and the UN has other offices in Geneva , Nairobi , Vienna , and The Hague , where the International Court of Justice is headquartered at the Peace Palace . The UN was established after World War II with the aim of preventing future world wars , and succeeded the League of Nations , which was characterized as being ineffective. On 25 April 1945, 50 nations assembled in San Francisco , California, for
9344-524: The United States. A series of short lived presidencies came and went: President Pierre Nord Alexis was forced from power in 1908, as was his successor François C. Antoine Simon in 1911; President Cincinnatus Leconte (1911–12) was killed in a (possibly deliberate) explosion at the National Palace; Michel Oreste (1913–14) was ousted in a coup, as was his successor Oreste Zamor in 1914. Germany increased its influence in Haiti in this period, with
9472-686: The assembly gathers at annual sessions at the General Assembly Hall , but emergency sessions can be summoned. The assembly is led by a president , elected by the member states on a rotating regional basis, and 21 vice-presidents. The first session convened on 10 January 1946 in the Methodist Central Hall in London and comprised representatives of 51 nations. When the General Assembly decides on seminal questions such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary matters,
9600-517: The basis of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations , the UN and its agencies are immune from the laws of the countries where they operate, safeguarding the UN's impartiality with regard to host and member countries. Below the six organs are, in the words of the author Linda Fasulo, "an amazing collection of entities and organizations, some of which are actually older than
9728-577: The body's former headquarters in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands , making it the only principal organ not based in New York City. The ICJ's main function is adjudicating disputes among nations. Examples of issues they have heard include war crimes, violations of state sovereignty and ethnic cleansing. The court can also be called upon by other UN organs to provide advisory opinions on matters of international law. All UN member states are parties to
9856-603: The century prior to the UN's creation, several international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross were formed to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife. During World War I , several major leaders, especially U.S. President Woodrow Wilson , advocated for a world body to guarantee peace. The winners of the war, the Allies , met to decide on formal peace terms at
9984-558: The colony. Six months later, the National Convention , led by Maximilien de Robespierre and the Jacobins , endorsed abolition and extended it to all the French colonies. The United States , which was a new republic itself, oscillated between supporting or not supporting Toussaint Louverture and the emerging country of Haiti, depending on who was President of the US. Washington, who was
10112-730: The command of his brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc , to reassert French control. The French achieved some victories, but within a few months most of their army had died from yellow fever . Ultimately more than 50,000 French troops died in an attempt to retake the colony, including 18 generals. The French managed to capture Louverture, transporting him to France for trial. He was imprisoned at Fort de Joux , where he died in 1803 of exposure and possibly tuberculosis . The enslaved persons, along with free gens de couleur and allies, continued their fight for independence, led by generals Jean-Jacques Dessalines , Alexandre Pétion and Henry Christophe . The rebels finally managed to decisively defeat
10240-580: The council are known as United Nations Security Council resolutions . The Security Council is made up of fifteen member states: five permanent members (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) and ten non-permanent members (currently Algeria , Ecuador , Guyana , Japan , Malta , Mozambique , the Republic of Korea , Sierra Leone , Slovenia and Switzerland ). The five permanent members hold veto power over UN resolutions, allowing
10368-455: The debt, it was removed for safe-keeping in New York, thus giving the United States control of the bank and preventing other powers from doing so. This gave a stable financial base on which to build the economy, and to enable the debt to be repaid. In 1915, Haiti's new President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam sought to strengthen his tenuous rule by a mass execution of 167 political prisoners. Outrage at
10496-631: The east, and in the west there was fighting between Louverture's forces and the free people of color led by André Rigaud in the War of the Knives (1799–1800). The United States' support for the blacks in the war contributed to their victory over the mulattoes. More than 25,000 whites and free blacks left the island as refugees. After Louverture created a separatist constitution and proclaimed himself governor-general for life, Napoléon Bonaparte in 1802 sent an expedition of 20,000 soldiers and as many sailors under
10624-456: The economy and infrastructure also occurred in this period, especially under the Presidencies of Lysius Salomon (1879–1888) and Florvil Hyppolite (1889–1896). Haiti's relations with outside powers were often strained. In 1889 the United States attempted to force Haiti to permit the building of a naval base at Môle Saint-Nicolas , which was firmly resisted by President Hyppolite. In 1892
10752-793: The eighth secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon , the UN intervened with peacekeepers in crises such as the War in Darfur in Sudan and the Kivu conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and sent observers and chemical weapons inspectors to the Syrian Civil War . In 2013, an internal review of UN actions in the final battles of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009 concluded that the organization had suffered
10880-485: The employee's nationality. In practice, the International Civil Service Commission , which governs the conditions of UN personnel, takes reference to the highest-paying national civil service. Staff salaries are subject to an internal tax that is administered by the UN organizations. The General Assembly is the primary deliberative assembly of the UN. Composed of all UN member states ,
11008-505: The entire island of Hispaniola . The name was restored by Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines as the official name of independent Saint-Domingue, as a tribute to the Amerindian predecessors. In French, the ï in Ha ï ti has a diacritical mark (used to show that the second vowel is pronounced separately, as in the word na ï ve ), while the H is silent. (In English, this rule for
11136-487: The face of threats from the US to withhold its UN dues. Though the UN Charter had been written primarily to prevent aggression by one nation against another, in the early 1990s the UN faced several simultaneous, serious crises within Somalia, Haiti, Mozambique, and the nations that previously made up Yugoslavia. The UN mission in Somalia was widely viewed as a failure after the United States' withdrawal following casualties in
11264-498: The failure of UN mediation in conflicts in the Middle East , Vietnam , and Kashmir , the UN increasingly shifted its attention to its secondary goals of economic development and cultural exchange. By the 1970s, the UN budget for social and economic development was far greater than its peacekeeping budget. After the Cold War, the UN saw a radical expansion in its peacekeeping duties, taking on more missions in five years than it had in
11392-682: The first slave armies were established in northern Haiti under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture inspired by the Vodou houngan (priest) Boukman, and backed by the Spanish in Santo Domingo – soon a full-blown slave rebellion had broken out across the entire colony. In 1792, the French government sent three commissioners with troops to re-establish control; to build an alliance with the gens de couleur and enslaved persons commissioners Léger-Félicité Sonthonax and Étienne Polverel abolished slavery in
11520-640: The five principal organs are located at the main UN Headquarters in New York City, while the International Court of Justice is seated in The Hague . Most other major agencies are based in the UN offices at Geneva , Vienna , and Nairobi , and additional UN institutions are located throughout the world. The six official languages of the UN, used in intergovernmental meetings and documents, are Arabic , Chinese , English , French , Russian and Spanish . On
11648-540: The former capital of the caciquedom of Xaragua. Navigator Christopher Columbus landed in Haiti on 6 December 1492, in an area that he named Môle-Saint-Nicolas , and claimed the island for the Crown of Castile . Nineteen days later, his ship the Santa María ran aground near the present site of Cap-Haïtien . Columbus left 39 men on the island, who founded the settlement of La Navidad on 25 December 1492. Relations with
11776-417: The greater riches of mainland Central and South America, Hispaniola became reduced largely to a trading and refueling post. As a result piracy became widespread, encouraged by European powers hostile to Spain such as France (based on Île de la Tortue ) and England. The Spanish largely abandoned the western third of the island, focusing their colonization effort on the eastern two-thirds. The western part of
11904-567: The intensive production of pottery and agriculture. The earliest evidence of the ancestors of the Taino people on Hispaniola is the Ostionoid culture, which dates to around 600 AD. In Taíno society the largest unit of political organization was led by a cacique , or chief, as the Europeans understood them. At the time of European contact, the island of Hispaniola was divided among five 'caciquedoms':
12032-748: The island and Napoleon gave up his idea of re-establishing a North American empire, selling Louisiana (New France) to the United States , in the Louisiana Purchase . Throughout the revolution, an estimated 20,000 French troops succumbed to yellow fever, while another 37,000 were killed in action , exceeding the total French soldiers killed in action across various 19th-century colonial campaigns in Algeria, Mexico, Indochina, Tunisia, and West Africa, which resulted in approximately 10,000 French soldiers killed in action combined. The British sustained 45,000 dead. Additionally, 350,000 ex-enslaved Haitians died. In
12160-490: The island was thus gradually settled by French buccaneers ; among them was Bertrand d'Ogeron, who succeeded in growing tobacco and recruited many French colonial families from Martinique and Guadeloupe . In 1697 France and Spain settled their hostilities on the island by way of the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, which divided Hispaniola between them. France received the western third and subsequently named it Saint-Domingue,
12288-670: The island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic . Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean , and with an estimated population of 11.4 million, is the most populous Caribbean country. The capital and largest city is Port-au-Prince . Haiti was originally inhabited by the Taíno people. In 1492, Christopher Columbus established the first European settlement in the Americas , La Navidad , on its northeastern coast. The island
12416-487: The killings led to riots, and Sam was captured and killed by a lynch mob. Fearing possible foreign intervention, or the emergence of a new government led by the anti-American Haitian politician Rosalvo Bobo , President Woodrow Wilson sent U.S. Marines into Haiti in July 1915. The USS Washington , under Rear Admiral Caperton , arrived in Port-au-Prince in an attempt to restore order and protect U.S. interests. Within days,
12544-469: The largest gathering of world leaders in history, and it culminated in the adoption by all member states of the Millennium Development Goals (or MDGs), a commitment to achieve international development in areas such as poverty reduction , gender equality and public health . Progress towards these goals, which were to be met by 2015, was ultimately uneven. The 2005 World Summit reaffirmed
12672-549: The long jump, where he came in 12th. In the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam he won a silver medal in the long jump. His 7.58 m effort was 16 cm short of gold ( Edward Hamm ). A month later, on September 9, 1928, Sylvio Cator broke Edward Hamm's two-month-old world record with a 7.93 m jump at the 1924 Olympic stadium near Paris. He participated one more time in the long jump at the 1932 games in Los Angeles , where he took
12800-400: The lowest Human Development Index in the Americas. By 2024, Haiti has faced severe economic and political crises , gang activity, and the collapse of its government. With no elected officials remaining, Haiti has been described as a failed state . Haiti (also earlier Hayti ) comes from the indigenous Taíno language and means "land of high mountains"; it was the native name for
12928-581: The military. More of the free people of color lived in the south of the island, near Port-au-Prince , and many intermarried within their community. They frequently worked as artisans and tradesmen, and began to own some property, including enslaved persons of their own. The free people of color petitioned the colonial government to expand their rights. The brutality of slave life led many people in bondage to escape to mountainous regions, where they set up their own autonomous communities and became known as maroons . One maroon leader, François Mackandal , led
13056-456: The native peoples, initially good, broke down and the settlers were later killed by the Taíno. The sailors carried endemic Eurasian infectious diseases , causing epidemics that killed a large number of native people. The first recorded smallpox epidemic in the Americas erupted on Hispaniola in 1507. Their numbers were further reduced by the harshness of the encomienda system, in which
13184-702: The new republic. The Southern politicians who were a powerful voting bloc in the American Congress prevented U.S. recognition for decades until they withdrew in 1861 to form the Confederacy . The revolution led to a wave of emigration. In 1809, 9,000 refugees from Saint-Domingue, both white planters and people of color, settled en masse in New Orleans , doubling the city's population, having been expelled from their initial refuge in Cuba by Spanish authorities. In addition,
13312-438: The newly arrived enslaved persons added to the city's African population. The plantation system was re-established in Haiti, albeit for wages; however, many Haitians were marginalized and resented the heavy-handed manner in which this was enforced in the new nation's politics. The rebel movement splintered, and Dessalines was assassinated by rivals on 17 October 1806. After Dessalines' death Haiti became split into two, with
13440-455: The organization are five principal organs established by the UN Charter: the General Assembly , the Security Council , the Economic and Social Council , the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretariat . A sixth principal organ, the Trusteeship Council , suspended its operations on 1 November 1994 upon the independence of Palau ; the last remaining UN trustee territory. Four of
13568-497: The organization held its first public debate between candidates for secretary-general. On 1 January 2017, Portuguese diplomat António Guterres , who had previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees , became the ninth secretary-general. Guterres has highlighted several key goals for his administration, including an emphasis on diplomacy for preventing conflicts, more effective peacekeeping efforts, and streamlining
13696-473: The organization to be more responsive and versatile to international needs. On 13 June 2019, the UN signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with the World Economic Forum in order to "jointly accelerate" the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development . The United Nations is part of the broader UN System, which includes an extensive network of institutions and entities. Central to
13824-466: The plenary meetings. Previously, Churchill had urged Roosevelt to restore France to its status of a major power after the liberation of Paris in August 1944. The drafting of the Charter of the United Nations was completed over the following two months, and it was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, upon ratification of
13952-540: The post, but over the years it has become accepted that the position shall be held for one or two terms of five years. The current secretary-general is António Guterres of Portugal, who replaced Ban Ki-moon in 2017. The International Court of Justice (or ICJ), sometimes known as the World Court, is the primary judicial organ of the UN. It is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice and occupies
14080-577: The post-war world. At the subsequent meeting of the Inter-Allied Council in London on 24 September 1941, the eight governments in exile of countries under Axis occupation , together with the Soviet Union and representatives of the Free French Forces , unanimously adopted adherence to the common principles of policy set forth by Britain and the United States. Roosevelt and Churchill met at
14208-548: The presence of Russian troops in Iranian Azerbaijan and British forces in Greece . British diplomat Gladwyn Jebb served as interim secretary-general. The General Assembly selected New York City as the site for the headquarters of the UN. Construction began on 14 September 1948 and the facility was completed on 9 October 1952. The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Trygve Lie , was the first elected UN secretary-general . Though
14336-518: The previous four decades. Between 1988 and 2000, the number of adopted Security Council resolutions more than doubled, and the peacekeeping budget increased by more than tenfold. The UN negotiated an end to the Salvadoran Civil War , launched a successful peacekeeping mission in Namibia , and oversaw democratic elections in post- apartheid South Africa and post- Khmer Rouge Cambodia. In 1991,
14464-504: The process, Dessalines became arguably the most successful military commander in the struggle against Napoleonic France. The independence of Saint-Domingue was proclaimed under the native name 'Haiti' by Jean-Jacques Dessalines on 1 January 1804 in Gonaïves and he was proclaimed "Emperor for Life" as Emperor Jacques I by his troops. Dessalines at first offered protection to the white planters and others. However, once in power, he ordered
14592-483: The pronunciation is often disregarded, thus the spelling Haiti is used.) There are different anglicizations for its pronunciation such as HIGH-ti , high-EE-ti and haa-EE-ti , which are still in use, but HAY-ti is the most widespread and best-established. In French, Haiti's nickname means the "Pearl of the Antilles" ( La Perle des Antilles ) because of both its natural beauty and the amount of wealth it accumulated for
14720-412: The small group of German colonists invited to the north-west region ; and a group of medical doctors and professionals. Reportedly, people with connections to officers in the Haitian army were also spared, as well as the women who agreed to marry non-white men. Fearful of the potential impact the slave rebellion could have in the slave states , U.S. President Thomas Jefferson refused to recognize
14848-814: The suicide of Henry Christophe. After Santo Domingo declared its independence from Spain on 30 November 1821, Boyer invaded, seeking to unite the entire island by force and ending slavery in Santo Domingo. Struggling to revive the agricultural economy to produce commodity crops , Boyer passed the Code Rural, which denied peasant laborers the right to leave the land, enter the towns, or start farms or shops of their own, causing much resentment as most peasants wished to have their own farms rather than work on plantations. Starting in September 1824, more than 6,000 African Americans migrated to Haiti, with transportation paid by an American philanthropic group similar in function to
14976-506: The war against the Dominicans having become very unpopular in Haiti, it was beyond the power of the new president, General Jean-Baptiste Riché , to stage another invasion. On 27 February 1847, President Riché died after only a year in power and was replaced by an obscure officer, General Faustin Soulouque . During the first two years of Soulouque's administration the conspiracies and opposition he faced in retaining power were so manifold that
15104-462: The west coast of Haiti, which they plundered and set on fire. After another Haitian campaign in 1855, Britain and France intervened and obtained an armistice on behalf of the Dominicans, who declared independence as the Dominican Republic. The sufferings endured by the soldiers during the campaign of 1855, and the losses and sacrifices inflicted on the country without yielding any compensation or any practical results provoked great discontent. In 1858
15232-570: The western three-eighths, has been inhabited since around 6,000 years ago by Native Americans who are thought to have arrived from Central or northern South America. These Archaic Age people are thought to have been largely hunter gatherers. During the 1st millennium BC , the Arawakan-speaking ancestors of the Taino people began to migrate into the Caribbean. Unlike the Archaic peoples, they practiced
15360-416: The widespread decolonization in the 1960s. Since then, 80 former colonies have gained independence, including 11 trust territories that had been monitored by the Trusteeship Council . By the 1970s, the UN's budget for economic and social development programmes vastly exceeded its spending on peacekeeping . After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the UN shifted and expanded its field operations, undertaking
15488-404: The world stage. The office has evolved into a dual role of an administrator of the UN organization and a diplomat and mediator addressing disputes between member states and finding consensus to global issues . The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly, after being recommended by the Security Council, where the permanent members have veto power. There are no specific criteria for
15616-508: Was also introduced to Haiti, and sugarcane and cotton became significant exports, boosting prosperity. Haitian traditionalists, based in rural areas, were highly resistant to U.S.-backed changes, while the urban elites, typically mixed-race, welcomed the growing economy, but wanted more political control. Together they helped secure an end to the occupation in 1934, under the Presidency of Sténio Vincent (1930–1941). The debts were still outstanding, though less due to increased prosperity, and
15744-432: Was brought to the main cities. Agricultural education was organized, with a central school of agriculture and 69 farms in the country. However, many infrastructure projects were built using the corvée system that allowed the government/occupying forces to take people from their homes and farms, at gunpoint if necessary, to build roads, bridges etc. by force, a process that was deeply resented by ordinary Haitians. Sisal
15872-518: Was finished in the year of his death in Port-au-Prince . In 1958, Haiti issued a series of seven stamps commemorating Cator's Olympic medal and world record 30 years before. Haiti Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea , east of Cuba and Jamaica , and south of The Bahamas . It occupies the western three-eighths of
16000-489: Was part of the Spanish Empire until 1697, when the western portion was ceded to France and became Saint-Domingue , dominated by sugarcane plantations worked by enslaved Africans. The 1791-1804 Haitian Revolution made Haiti the first sovereign state in the Caribbean , the second republic in the Americas, the first country in the Americas to officially abolish slavery, and the only country in history established by
16128-447: Was re-elected on 8 June 2021. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. The UN, its officers, and its agencies have won multiple Nobel Peace Prizes , although other evaluations of its effectiveness have been contentious. Some commentators believe the organization to be a leader in peace and human development, while others have criticized it for ineffectiveness, bias, and corruption . In
16256-416: Was stopped on the frontier. On 1 January 1846 Pierrot announced a fresh campaign to reimpose Haitian suzerainty over eastern Hispaniola, but his officers and men greeted this fresh summons with contempt. Thus, a month later – February 1846 – when Pierrot ordered his troops to march against the Dominicans, the Haitian army mutinied, and its soldiers proclaimed his overthrow as president of the republic. With
16384-402: Was succeeded by General Jean-Louis Pierrot . Pierrot's most pressing duty as the new president was to check the incursions of the Dominicans, who were harassing the Haitian troops. Dominican gunboats were also making depredations on Haiti's coasts. President Pierrot decided to open a campaign against the Dominicans, whom he considered merely as insurgents; however, the Haitian offensive of 1845
#547452