The UN backed intervention in Haiti to combat gang violence

The UN-backed intervention in Haiti to combat gang violence, explained – Vox.com

Latest News / By /

The international community will intervene in Haiti again, this time to stabilize the security situation in the capital Port-au-Prince, where gangs have been terrorizing civilians for two years.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Monday authorizing a multinational security mission to combat gang violence, led not by UN peacekeepers but by Kenyan police. After the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, several armed groups, mostly under the banners of the G9 and G-PEP gang associations, effectively took control of the capital – running drug trafficking, extorting and kidnapping ordinary citizens, recruiting children, etc. They raped them and murdered both their enemies and innocent civilians.

A number of stakeholders agree that intervention is crucial to stop the violence, and since the Haitian National Police is outnumbered and underpaid, it must be an external force. But given the sometimes grim history of international security missions in Haiti (including the emergence of one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times), a longer history of imperial and colonial interference, and a lack of investment in Haiti’s government structure and economy, there are also real fears about the long-term Effects of another such intervention.

To make matters worse, Haiti’s political situation makes things even more complicated. After Moïse’s assassination, Ariel Henry – a neurosurgeon awaiting appointment as prime minister – took control of the government. In his capacity as head of state, Henry brought about a defeat of Haiti’s government institutions (such as they were). He also allowed gang violence to increase to the point where Port-au-Prince was effectively cut off from the rest of the country.

“It’s as bad as it’s ever been,” Keith Mines, director of the Latin America program at the US Institute of Peace, told Vox.

Most Haitians outside the elite and political class do not consider Henry to be the legitimate leader, experts said. But the United Nations and the international community, including the United States, recognize Henry, which raises another concern about this intervention: that it will ultimately serve Henry – not the Haitians.

What would this international intervention look like?

The Kenya National Police has taken the lead in the current proposed intervention, pledging to send 1,000 officers to support and train Haiti’s own police force. Several Caribbean countries will also contribute officers or possibly troops, and Brian Nichols, U.S. assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, noted that there are offers of mission support from countries in “Asia, Africa, Latin America, [and] in the Caribbean” in a press conference in September.

“In general, it was a welcome decision,” Ulrika Richardson, who serves as UN deputy special representative of the secretary-general, resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said in an interview with Vox.

“There is a certain sense of relief here, of hope, but of course also a sense of urgency to ensure that this support mission to help Haiti fight the gangs and bring the violence under control is actually optimized.” as much as possible,” she said.

According to the Associated Press, the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) will operate for a year, with a review after nine months. Alfred Mutua, Kenya’s minister for foreign and diaspora affairs, told the BBC he expected the troops to be on the ground early this year. He also expects the mission to train Haitian officers, patrol with them and guard certain locations such as ports, The New York Times reported. However, Mutua’s timing may have been overly optimistic – just days after the UN vote, Kenyan President William Ruto appointed Mutua to head the country’s tourism ministry. Although Ruto did not comment on the move, he was more circumspect than Mutua in discussing timelines and details of the mission.

Experts say the focus must be on working with Haitian police to identify gang structures, funding streams and more to effectively address one of the worst problems of gang violence facing the country.

Gang violence has long been closely linked to Haitian politics, from the Tonton Macoutes under former dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier to Aristides Chimères. But under Henry, the armed groups have exploited a political vacuum and gained brutal power over everyday life in Port-au-Prince.

​In the past, “the gangs had certain ties to political movements, not only because they had agreements for elections and the like, but also because of a shared ideology,” explained Diego da Rin, researcher at the International Crisis Group. They “have gained a great deal of independence over the last three years. And now they are approaching the elite not as a sponsor, but as a partner.” This fact and the impunity with which they operate has given rise to a vigilante movement called Bwa Kale, which means “peeled wood” in Haitian Creole.

Without access to the rule of law, Bwa Kale has committed extrajudicial killings of suspected gang members, Insight Crime reported in May. While this may seem like a logical consequence of Haiti’s extreme violence – and the impunity with which it continues – it sets the stage for larger civil wars, especially given the influx of small arms and ammunition from the United States. “I remember at one meeting a young man said it was easier for him and his family to find a gun than a loaf of bread,” Richardson told Vox.

Kenya seems an unlikely country to lead this intervention. Mutua has described it as part of Nairobi’s “commitment to Pan-Africanism” and the “reclaiming of the Atlantic crossing”. However, it is unlikely that this would have happened without the participation of other countries.

Although the U.S. has supported international intervention since Henry called for it last October — pledging $100 million to the effort at the U.N. General Assembly in September — there is no interest on the U.S. side in undertaking such a mission lead. The U.S. tried to pressure the Canadian military last fall to lead a security operation (Canada would have soldiers who spoke French, one of Haiti’s official languages, and had previously participated in peacekeeping operations there). But Canada has also been hesitant to act on the ground given its commitments in Ukraine and the challenges of its previous role in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (known by its French acronym MINUSTAH) from 2004 to 2017. Other regional leaders, including countries like Brazil, have been reluctant to take the lead in intervention.

Then, in July this year, Kenya announced it would do so.

“Kenya has recognized and increasingly sees value in regional security partnerships and regional security engagements in general,” said Joseph Siegle, research director at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, in an interview with Vox. Kenya has been part of an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia since 2011 to help fight the al-Shabaab insurgent group in the country. However, these efforts have yielded mixed results, and many news reports have indicated that the Kenya National Police’s track record of human rights violations in Kenya is a cause for concern, particularly in a hostile environment such as Haiti.

In recent weeks, Kenya has increased its diplomatic efforts with both the US and Haiti; The East African country signed a defense deal with the United States that will provide resources for Kenya’s fight against al-Shabaab, the AP reported last week. Kenya and Haiti also established diplomatic relations in September.

Will this be different from previous international interventions? That’s a good question.

Since Haiti’s independence, wealthy nations have interfered in the island country to its detriment. But as Jake Johnston, senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told Vox: “It’s not always the same, and the interventions we’re talking about now – it’s not the same as the US occupation at the beginning of the 20th century.” . Century.”, or France sent gunboats from the coast in the early 19th century.”

But the more recent peacekeeping operations also have an eventful past. Although they have succeeded in stabilizing Haiti in the short term, they have failed to bring lasting stability and peace to the country and in some cases have contributed to destabilization.

“Let’s be honest: In the past, there wasn’t enough investment in public institutions [in Haiti]“And we really need to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again,” Richardson said.

In 1994, a U.S.-led U.N. peacekeeping mission deployed to Haiti following the ousting of democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a 1991 coup. Mines, who was involved in this mission, argued that “interventions were often the only thing that repositioned a government in Haiti so that it could function and have people.” [could] eat again.

“It laid the foundation for a very, very, very long process of democratic consolidation,” he added. “It’s a long process, especially for a country like Haiti whose entire civil society has been destroyed.”

But what democratic consolidation succeeded during this mission and the subsequent peacekeeping period until 2000 later failed, in part because of the economic strain of international sanctions and alleged corruption after Aristide’s return to power. He fled an armed uprising in 2004, and UN peacekeepers arrived again to calm the violence that erupted between Aristide’s opponents and his supporters.

Peacekeepers on that mission, which lasted over a decade, were likely responsible for a cholera epidemic that erupted after the devastating earthquake in 2010, killing 10,000 Haitians and sickening hundreds of thousands more. According to a 2016 report by then-Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, this incident “provided highly flammable fuel for those who claim that UN peacekeeping operations trample on the rights of those it seeks to protect, and it undermines both the UN’s overall credibility and theirs.” Integrity.” the Office of the Secretary General,” The New York Times reported.

According to a 2020 report by Human Rights Watch, sexual abuse and exploitation were also an issue during this UN peacekeeping mission, although this is not unique to Haiti. Sri Lanka’s peacekeepers have been accused of heinous sexual abuse in Haiti, including hundreds of allegations of child sexual abuse and exploitation dating back to 2007, the Associated Press reported in 2017.

It is too early to say what oversight of the current security mission will look like. A State Department spokesperson told Vox via email that “we continue to prioritize protecting the human rights and promoting accountability of MSS personnel in discussions with international partners as part of the Multinational Security Assistance Mission.”

But the big question is: will this actually work?

Even if this intervention can somehow curb gang violence and stabilize Port-au-Prince, it will do nothing to address a parallel crisis: the government’s lack of political legitimacy.

Henry took over as acting prime minister and acting president of Haiti on July 20, 2021, 13 days after Moïse’s assassination. At the time of his death, Moïse had chosen Henry as his next prime minister, but Claude Joseph was technically still in office, leading to confusion over who would lead the country. Joseph initially took over the leadership of the government, but soon resigned in favor of Henry. Over the next six months, doubts arose about Henry’s commitment to achieving justice for Moïse’s murder.

In the more than two years of Henry’s leadership, not only has the immediate crisis of gang violence worsened, but he has also enabled the erosion of Haiti’s institutions. The judiciary – although dysfunctional before Henry’s leadership – is largely incapable of prosecuting gang and corruption crimes, and the terms of Haiti’s last remaining senators expired in January, leaving the government without elected officials as Henry died Parliamentary and presidential elections indefinitely postponed elections in 2021.

And at the moment it doesn’t look like anything will change. There is no political agreement for Henry to step down or for the Haitians to set up an appropriate interim government.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t a framework; In fact, there are several frameworks. Two are particularly promising: the Montana Agreement and the December 21 Agreement, two proposals drawn up by sections of Haitian society over the past two years.

The Montana agreement provides a roadmap “to create the conditions for national stability toward a return to constitutional normality and the restoration of democratic order over a two-year period.” It proposes a National Transitional Council, composed of members of civil society organizations and political parties, to select and oversee the transition leadership. Within a month, the leadership would set up an independent body to conduct elections. The framework also addresses issues of constitutional change and justice and accountability towards the perpetrators of the current crisis. It also considers needs such as education, health care and public safety. The Montana group even elected its proposed leadership in 2022, but negotiations between Henry and the group stalled in August 2022.

The Dec. 21 agreement, negotiated after the Montana agreement stalled by a group of political leaders, civil society actors, business leaders and Henry, is also a potential transition framework, Mines said in a March blog post explained. As part of the agreement this year, Henry was supposed to hold elections for a new government in February 2024, but there is no sign he will actually do so.

So far, however, the U.S. and UN have effectively treated Henry as a legitimate Haitian government official, a view not shared by most Haitians, either in the country or in exile. This contributes to the perception among some voters that a security mission will only consolidate Henry’s power.

“Henry has been the sole leader, the executive, for over two years,” da Rin said. “He has ruled without oversight or control from the judiciary or parliament, which completely ceased to exist in January this year, when the mandate of the last elected officials expired. “So it’s really necessary to have a more legitimate government, to have a legitimate interlocutor with the international community and not to make Haitians believe that the … security mission will not only help consolidate his power.”

But the lack of a political solution should not preclude intervention, said Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), the first Haitian American Democrat elected to Congress, in an interview with Vox. “When you see people suffering, living through atrocities and violence like we’ve never seen before in Haiti, asking for help, who are we to say, ‘No, we don’t want to help, we do will not help.’” “Send peacekeepers to fight the gangs,” she said. “The longer we wait, the more lives we risk.”

However, Cherfilus-McCormick insisted that Henry must resign and that the US had a role to play in the process. “The [Biden] The administration needs to go one step further and stop supporting [Henry] and support the interim government. There are members of civil society who have come together and have the support of the private sector who can form this interim government,” she said. “So why don’t we support them?”

A State Department spokesperson told Vox in an email that the security mission “will not support any political leader or political party.” It will be strictly focused on improving security in Haiti and the reputation of the entire Haitian government, private sector and civil society.” The Ministry of Defense will provide “support with logistics, equipment, accommodation, bases, air transport, communications and medical support.”

Details about additional humanitarian assistance – food and fuel for the people of Port-au-Prince, medical care and other essential aspects of everyday life – remain scarce for now, and it will be months before the multinational force has the necessary training, equipment and equipment has. and cohesion in order to be able to begin its specific mission. But while this aspect of stabilizing the country is just getting underway, it is unclear how far into the future various interest groups have considered their decision.

“You can’t send troops out there and fight gangs and think that’s actually going to address the drivers of instability and insecurity,” Johnston said. “So what’s your plan? Will you occupy Haiti with foreign troops forever to prevent any instability? I do not believe that.”

Update, October 5, 1:55 p.m. ET: This story was originally published on October 4 and has been updated to include Mutua’s reassignment and information about the Bwa Kale.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news organizations make money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to accomplish at Vox, there are several reasons why we can’t rely solely on ads and subscriptions to keep us running.

First, advertising spending rises and falls with the economy. We often only know in a few months what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it difficult to plan ahead.

Second, we are not in the subscription business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world – not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe this is an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.

That’s why we’re also turning to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted, high-quality information, would you give Vox a gift today?

Yes, I give $5/month

Yes, I give $5/month

We accept credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. You can also contribute via