Haiti's foreign minister intensified his government's appeal to the international community Wednesday to help break the grip of armed gangs that are terrorizing the capital and large areas of the island nation.
"Haiti is in danger, and it urgently needs the assistance of the United Nations family to make it through this turbulence," Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus told the 15-nation U.N. Security Council.
There are at least seven major gang coalitions and some 200 affiliated groups in Haiti. The country's police force is undermanned and ill-prepared to take them on. The U.N. says there is a ratio of 1.2 police offers for every 1,000 Haitians.
Since the beginning of the year, gang members have killed at least 22 police officers. There were also more than 800 confirmed homicides, mostly in the capital, between January and the end of March.
Little interest in getting involved
In early October, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed a request from the Haitian government to send an international specialized armed force to assist Haiti's National Police in addressing the spiraling insecurity and a deepening humanitarian crisis. But more than six months on, there has been little interest from the international community in getting involved and the situation has further deteriorated.
"The deployment of an international force remains vital if we are to stem the violence we are seeing, the violations of human rights, and restore the rule of law, creating conducive conditions for the holding of credible elections," Foreign Minister Geneus said. "I would like to issue an urgent appeal for international cooperation to assist us to restore security to the country."
Children fear crossfire
The new U.N. envoy to Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, took up her post last week. She painted a bleak picture of the situation in her first council briefing, reporting that kidnappings and killings are skyrocketing, rooftop snipers are targeting civilians, and many children no longer go to school for fear they may be caught in the crossfire or kidnapped.
Salvador said Haitians in some neighborhoods of the capital with limited or no police presence have begun to take matters into their own hands.
"Only two days ago, in Port-au-Prince, a group of civilians took 13 suspected gang members from police custody, beat them to death and burned their bodies," she said.
People stand near the remains of alleged gang members after they were set on fire by a crowd in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 24, 2023.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the envoy said she is worried about the emergence of these "self-defense" groups.
"That is really dangerous. In the region, in Latin America, we've had experience with self-defense groups in other countries," said Salvador, who is a former foreign minister from Ecuador. "It's something that needs to be stopped before it starts."
She also appealed to the Security Council to authorize deployment of a non-U.N. specialized international force to support the Haitian national police, saying the need to address the deteriorating security situation "cannot be overemphasized."
"Further delay in addressing the unprecedented insecurity in Haiti could also lead to a spill-over of insecurity in the region," she said.
Neighboring Dominican Republic's foreign minister shared that concern and questioned why the Security Council had not yet acted.
"There are examples of other support initiatives for other countries in crisis, where international assistance has not had to complete such a tortuous journey to reach those in need," Minister Roberto Alvarez Gil said. "If we are frank, we are starting to think that as some people say, there is a hierarchy of countries in need which determines the order in which they receive attention."
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Gil compared the situation in Port-au-Prince to an internal armed conflict.
"Today, what we are witnessing is the dissolution of the Haitian state," he said.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says the violence is being fueled by the trafficking of high-caliber guns and ammunition into Haiti. The country is a transshipment hub for Colombian cocaine and Jamaican cannabis destined for the United States and Western Europe.
In a report last month, UNODC said the United States, and in particular the state of Florida, is the principal source of illegal firearms coming into Haiti by land, air and most often, sea. Networks procure the guns in U.S. states with looser gun control laws and fewer purchasing restrictions and smuggle them through Florida into Haiti. They include high-powered rifles such as AK47s, AR15s and Galils.
Last October, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Haiti's gangs, including an arms embargo, asset freeze, and travel ban.
