Resolution “In which the FIPA Executive Committee
expresses its solidarity with Haiti
in light of the disaster caused by the earthquake”
Document translated from Spanish
FIPA/EC/2010/RES.1 of 30 January 2010
Resolution in which the FIPA Executive Committee
expresses its solidarity with Haiti in light of the disaster caused by the
earthquake
WHEREAS:
On January 12, our sister Republic of Haiti was
severely affected by a devastating earthquake that has caused over one hundred
thousand deaths and affected the lives of another million people;
This powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 on the
Richter scale caused severe damage to the main government buildings, churches,
hospitals, schools and homes, destroying the central part of the capital,
Port-au-Prince, and other cities;
Haitian families are living in a time of tragedy
and misfortune due to the damage caused by the uncontrollable power of this
earthquake, and urgently require international assistance in the form of food,
medicine and water;
The Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary
Forum of the Americas cannot remain indifferent to the tragedy being faced by
our brothers and sisters in Haiti;
With a view to promoting democracy, the
Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA) and the Parliamentary Centre
of Canada offered a training course in April 2009 to female candidates in the
legislative and municipal elections in Haiti,
RESOLVES:
1)To express our firm humanitarian solidarity in
this time of sadness and pain being experienced by the people of Haiti, a time
in which the material damages have been considerable and in which deaths have
exceeded 100,000, one million have been left homeless and severe damage has
been caused to infrastructure.
2)To appeal to the international community to
render assistance in this humanitarian emergency by promoting immigration
regulations for Haitians living abroad, creating educational scholarships for
Haitian citizens and actively participating in rebuilding the country and strengthening
democracy.
3)To reflect on the breadth of the human tragedy
our Haitian brothers and sisters are facing with respect to the risks and the
state of vulnerability to which our planet Earth is exposed, and to conduct
scientific research to assess risks and minimize them as much as possible.
4)To strengthen mechanisms for regional
cooperation and national technical and institutional capacity for the
reduction, prevention, preparedness, response, rehabilitation, resilience, risk
reduction, impact mitigation and assessment of disasters and emergencies such
as pandemics.
5)To optimize systems for monitoring,
surveillance, early warning and communication; encourage information exchange
and research under the framework of the Inter-American Network for Disaster
Mitigation, as appropriate, both in countries that are not in the path of
hurricanes and volcanoes and in high-risk countries; and ensure that early
warning systems are in place, promoting the preparedness programs, training and
funding necessary for this purpose.
6)To encourage the strengthening of measures for
internal planning and zoning and building codes, and to promote education and
training to enhance public awareness of preparedness for natural disasters and
national plans for prevention, mitigation and recovery after a disaster.
7)To offer active support by parliamentarians from
the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas to their Haitian parliamentary
colleagues, while ensuring the inclusion of Haitian women, both
parliamentarians and civil society women’s groups.
8)To send copies of this resolution to the
National Assembly of Haiti as an expression of our sympathy and deepest regret.
FOR COMMUNICATION AND EXECUTION.
Adopted in Panama City on 30 January 2010.
Dep. Luiz Carlos
Hauly, Brazil
President, FIPA
Dep. Victor
Juliao III, Panama
Host of the 21st FIPA Executive Committee Meeting