Haiti’s foreign minister appealed to the international community Thursday to expedite the deployment of a multinational force to help the national police combat brutal gang violence.
“I’ve been coming to the council on a regular basis for almost two years now, painting you a picture that gets sadder and bleaker each time I come, given that the security and humanitarian situation is deteriorating,” Jean Victor Geneus told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council. “The Haitian people can’t take it anymore.”
Geneus said Haiti’s future is at a crossroads, and he hoped it would be the last time he addresses the council before the deployment of the multinational support force it authorized in October.
Kenya has volunteered to lead the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti and has committed about 1,000 police officers. Ambassador Martin Kimani said a pledging conference is being planned to meet gaps in funding, equipment and logistical support for the mission.
“We hope that this initiative will enable deployment without delay,” he said.
The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Antigua and Barbuda have also expressed willingness to contribute personnel to the force. The United States has committed about $200 million in support, including logistics and equipment for the mission, but is not sending any personnel.
The multinational force, which was authorized by the Security Council but is not a U.N. mission, has been slow to deploy. First, it took months for the council to approve it. And now it has been going through the final domestic hurdles in Kenya before they can assume command. Kenya’s high court is expected to rule Friday on a private lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the deployment to Haiti.
In the meantime, the situation in Haiti has worsened.
Violent armed gangs control much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have spread to other parts of the country. They have carried out massacres and kidnappings, human trafficking and sexual violence.
The deteriorating security situation has also created a humanitarian crisis, with almost half the population, around 5 million people, experiencing acute hunger and 200,000 displaced from their homes.
“It beggars belief that in 2023 alone, we’ve seen over 5,000 people murdered — that’s roughly 12 a day,” Geneus said. “That means in 2023, someone was murdered every two hours in Haiti.”
He said more than 1,400 people were injured, nearly 3,000 kidnapped and 37 police assassinated in gang-related violence last year, noting that the real numbers are probably much higher.
Illicit arms from the US
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says in its latest report released Wednesday that guns and ammunition trafficked from the United States are ending up in the hands of the criminals. Shipped primarily from the state of Florida, they are flowing to Haiti by ships and small aircraft.
“UNODC has found that there are 11 recorded informal or clandestine airstrips in Haiti, spread out across the country,” said UNODC Director-General Ghada Waly. “They represent a blind spot that is possibly being used by traffickers and smugglers, bearing in mind that smaller aircraft flying directly between the United States and Haiti are difficult to monitor.”
She said a small number of Haitian gangs, including the 5 Segond and 400 Mawozo groups, have become highly specialized in the procurement, storage and distribution of weapons and ammunition.
“They move firearms from points of entry to their strongholds before distributing or selling them to other armed groups,” Waly told the council.
U.S. envoy Robert Wood told reporters that Washington is concerned about the trafficking of arms into Haiti.
“The situation is dire, and we are taking this very seriously and doing what we can,” he said.
The United Nations has stressed that Haiti needs a combination of a strengthened national police force, the rapid deployment of the multinational force, and credible elections to put Haiti on the path back to security and stability.
