UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations’ High Commissioner’s Designated Expert on Human Rights, William O’Neill, Tuesday said he believes solving the security crisis in Haiti is “doable” bit would also require law enforcement agencies being properly supplied and neighboring countries do their part.
United Nations’ High Commissioner’s Designated Expert on Human Rights, William O’Neill, briefing reporters on Haiti at the UN on Tuesday (CMC Photo)“We’re talking about 2,500, maybe 3,000 well-trained and equipped international police. It’s doable,” O’Neill, told a UN press briefing.
Last month, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, addressing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit in Barbados, said he intends presenting to the United Nations Security Council, a new initiative aimed at supporting security and stability in Haiti.
“It is my intention to present to the Security Council a proposal that is very similar to the one that we have presented for Somalia, in which the UN assumes the responsibility of the structural and logistical expenditures that are necessary to put the force in place, and the salaries of the force are paid through the trust fund that already exists.
“And if the Security Council will accept this proposal, we will have the conditions to finally have an effective force to defeat the gangs in Haiti and create the conditions for democracy,” Guterres said.
Haiti is facing a crisis following the assassination in July 2021 of the then president Jovenel Moise. Criminal gangs have are seeking to take complete control of the capital Port au Prince, and have launched several attacks, killing women and children among others.
The UN Security Council in 2023 passed a resolution for a Kenya-based Multinational Security Support Mission, aimed at combating gang violence and restoring stability in the country.
O’Neill told reporters that the fight against the gangs violence has displaced over one million people and “thousands more have been displaced in just the last few weeks.
“They have no where to go,” he said, noting that “the desperate are turning against the more desperate.
He said in the makeshift camps, hunger and sexual violence are widespread and “for many it is a matter of survival.
“Unity and solidarity must guide political action at all levels in the interest of the population. These must be the guiding principles for all Haitian actors in order to ensure security…and the survival of the state.
But he said the fight against impunity and corruption “are major obstacles to dismantling gangs.
“The Haitian state must therefore make the fight against these two scourges and absolute priority. The fight against the gangs must be conducted also in strict compliance with international human rights law, particularly, the right to life,” said O’Neill, a lawyer specialized in humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law.
“No circumstances, however exceptional can justify the violation of human rights. The international community for its part must act without delay to implement the commitments it has already made, particularly with regards to the sanctions regime, to the arms embargo and the substantial reinforcement of the Multinational Security Support Mission system”.
O’Neill said the UN support office could help supply key equipment such as spare parts, helicopters and adequate vehicles for navigating Haiti’s capital and mountainous rural terrain.
He is calling on countries, particularly the United States to do more to prevent the flow of illegal guns to criminal groups, noting that Haiti’s border police are not equipped to prevent their entry.
“There’s not a gun or bullet that’s manufactured in Haiti. If you stop the flow, the gangs will eventually run out of ammunition. That’s a quicker, faster, safer way to dismantle them than having to go in and fight them.”
O’Neill is also urging Washington, the Dominican Republic, The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands to stop deporting migrants back to Haiti.
“You cannot guarantee a dignified safe return, which is required under international law,” he said, noting that the “risk of the capital falling under gang control is palpable.
“There is not a day to lose,” he told reporters.
