Michèle Montas Explained

Michèle Montas
Nationality:Haitian
Order:Spokesperson to the Secretary-General of the United Nations
Term Start:January 1, 2007
Term End:January 1, 2010
Predecessor:Stéphane Dujarric de la Rivière
Successor:Martin Nesirky
Birth Date:1946
Birth Place:Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Order2:Head of French UN Radio
Term End2:2006
Order3:Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly
Term Start3:2003
Term End3:2004

Michèle Montas (born 1946) is a journalist from Haiti and the former Spokesperson under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (January 1, 2007 – January 1, 2010).[1] Prior to her appointment, Montas headed the French unit of UN Radio. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Spokesperson for UN General Assembly President Julian Robert Hunte soon after she fled to New York from Haiti.[2]

Montas began her journalism career in Haiti in the early 1970s with her husband, Jean Dominique, also a Haitian journalist. Dominique's station, Radio Haiti-Inter, was attacked several times in the 1980s and 1990s, and the couple was forced to flee the country twice to briefly live in exile. Dominique was assassinated in April 2000 after broadcasting increasingly strident criticisms of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party on his program (Aristide was not in power at the time). Montas took over the radio station, but shut it down in February 2003 and fled to New York after her bodyguard was gunned down in an attack on her home and she received several death threats.[3] Montas returned to Haiti in 2010 in her role with MINUSTAH.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Patrick Worsnip, "Dream job or snake pit? UN appoints new spokesman", Reuters, November 17, 2009
  2. "Pledging 'continuity with change,' Ban Ki-moon names chief of staff, spokesperson." UN News Centre December 31, 2006. https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21136&Cr=ban&Cr1=ki-moon
  3. "Ban's U.N. Spokeswoman Fled Haiti." Washington Post January 3, 2007. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010300785.html
  4. News: Montas . Michéle . How to Escape the Cycle of Mismanaged Aid in Haiti . 21 August 2021 . The New York Times . 21 Aug 2021.