UNITED NATIONS - The head of the United Nations Office in Haiti has warned the United Nations Security Council that the people in Haiti needed help urgently as the country slides deeper into violence.
Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Maria Isabel SalvadorThe Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Maria Isabel Salvador, said that gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The UN said that compared to the first quarter of 2022, criminal incidents, including homicide, rape, kidnappings and lynching, more than doubled in the same period in 2023 to 1,647.
Some residents have begun to take matters in their own hands, as two days ago, a group of civilians seized 13 suspected gang members from police custody, beat them to death and burned their bodies.
The police have since pledged to crack down on unrelenting gang violence and pleaded with Haitians to end a string of grisly vigilante killings.
“If anyone hears anything, please advise the police,” Garry Desrosiers, spokesman for Haiti’s National Police, told a news conference Wednesday, adding “do not take justice into your own hands”.
He said the police are mobilized and that anti-gang operations will continue.
But Isabel Salvador said that the Haitian National Police (HNP) force is severely understaffed and ill-equipped to address the violence and criminality, with deaths, dismissals and resignations cutting it from 14,772 to about 13,200 personnel and requiring urgent international support.
She said despite steps towards the establishment of a Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), a critical milestone for eventual elections, Haitians continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades, with gangs using sexual violence to terrorize populations, and children among the victims of killings, kidnappings and rape.
She further noted that nearly half the population, estimated at 5.2 million people, needs humanitarian assistance, with the internal displacements increasing by 50 per cent in the commune of Port-au-Prince compared to November 2022.
Isabel Salvado called on the Council to work urgently to break the vicious circle of violence.
“The Haitian people cannot wait, we need to act now”, she added.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Waly, noted the flow of illicit firearms and drugs into Haiti are fueling violence, with heavily armed criminal gangs targeting critical infrastructure such as ports, grain storage facilities, police stations, court houses and prisons, and gaining control of major highways to the capital.
Fathi Waly said these challenges make Haiti an attractive hub for drug traffickers, undermining prospects for the political process not to mention the catastrophic implications for acute hunger and access to essential services.
She called on the international community to support large-scale actions to assist law enforcement and border management. She noted that UNODC has successfully carried out assessments of six border points and is cooperating with the Organization of American States (OAS) to strengthen Haiti’s capacity to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption, money-laundering and economic crimes.
“Sustained, comprehensive assistance is needed,” she told the Security Council.
In the ensuing debate, member states concurred that the appalling violence, humanitarian situation and complete instability have reached levels that threaten to turn Haiti into a failed State.
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship of Haiti, Jean Victor Geneus, warned that “Haiti cannot wait any longer” with the security context deteriorating over the past 48 hours, and chilling scenes of violence in the streets of the capital.
He supported the call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for urgent deployment of a specialized international armed force as the systematic use of gang violence with hostage-taking, theft, assassination and rape is the modus operandi of criminal gangs.
Hailing the dedication and courage of the HNP, he said the use of force alone cannot be the definitive solution to the problem.
Geneus, noting the huge gap between the haves and have nots, with the five per cent minority controlling 90 per cent of the country’s wealth, said extreme poverty marginalizes those in poor neighborhoods, who are recruited by armed gangs, including child soldiers.
He estimated that 80 per cent of cities are under the control or influence of armed groups, with half the population living on less than two US dollars a day.
The Haitian foreign minister cited extensive sanctions imposed by Canada, the United States and the Dominican Republic, which have begun to bear fruit , but urgently appealed for international financial support.
In his contribution, Roberto Álvarez, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, said that the tragedy also affects his country and he does not understand the delay in Council action.
“We are starting to think that there is a hierarchy of countries in need,” he said, citing double standards by which some States receive rapid attention.
Álvarez, said his government has imposed entry bans on some Haitian nationals and comparing the situation in Port-au-Prince to an internal armed conflict, he stressed that as the Haitian state collapses, inaction by the United Nations would be an abdication of responsibility.
The representative of Gabon, also speaking on behalf of Ghana and Mozambique, stressed that the human impact of the situation in Haiti is terrifying, economically intolerable and “politically alarming”.
He strongly condemned the ongoing use of rape and other forms of sexual violence — disproportionately affecting women and girls — by armed gangs, with a 63 per cent increase in abductions and a 21 per cent rise in homicides, welcoming all initiatives aiming to support the capacity of the Haitian National Police.
Canada’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Economic and Social Council Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Haiti, stated that against the backdrop of horrendous multidimensional violence, it is critical to restore security to alleviate the suffering.
This calls for strengthening the Haitian National Police and the rule of law and curbing the flow of arms and ammunition. Sanctions are one important tool to help break the power of armed gangs, he said, also noting that the solutions to this crisis must be Haitian-owned.
The representative of China agreed that the Haitian people are in a living nightmare, and curbing the rise of gang violence requires vital efforts to cut off their support and funding.
However, he spotlighted the “deeply worrying trend” of illicit flows of weapons from abroad, noting that if left unchecked, this would exacerbate the current instability.
He said the Council resolutions concerning these must not simply stay words on paper, he said, encouraging the sanctions committee to update the sanctions list.
