Latest news with #Haitian-led
Scoop
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
Security Council Renews UN's Haiti Mission Amid Spiralling Crises
14 July 2025 By adopting resolution 2785, the Council renewed the authorization of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), reaffirming support for a Haitian-led solution to the island nation's overlapping crises. The decision comes as armed gangs maintain their grip on most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, with over 1.3 million people displaced and more than 4,000 killed in the first half of 2025 alone, according to UN figures. Conditions have deteriorated dramatically amid growing food insecurity and the erosion of public institutions. Of particular concern is the safety of women and girls, with a sharp rise in reports of sexual violence since the start of the year – including rape, gang rape, and sexual enslavement. Time is running out The Security Council also 'expressed its intention to consider, without delay' the recommendations by the Secretary-General on possible future roles for the UN in sustaining security and stability in Haiti. In February, António Guterres presented the Council with a range of options. ' Each new wave of criminal attacks against the communities and institutions of Haiti is a distressing sign that time is running out,' the UN chief said in a letter. He urged Member States to support the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, which the Council authorized in October 2023 to assist Haiti's national police in tackling gang violence and restoring order. He also emphasized that international efforts to improve security must be matched by national progress toward resolving the political crisis. Several Council members voiced willingness to engage on the Secretary-General's proposals. The Chinese representative, for instance, said Beijing was open to working with others to chart a constructive way forward. 'With regard to how to improve the situation in Haiti, including how to respond to the Secretary-General's recommendations, we are ready to have candid communication with all parties, explore viable solutions and seek the broadest possible consensus,' said Geng Shuang, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the UN. Mission critical The Council's action was welcomed by Haiti's Ambassador, who underscored the political and security stakes ahead of a critical 2026 transition timeline. ' This extension should help Haitian authorities undertake a real, genuine political dialogue, to strengthen good governance, bolster security and bring about justice and promote human rights,' said Pierre Ericq Pierre, Permanent Representative to the UN. He also expressed his Government's expectation that the UN mission will support implementation of the national roadmap, including constitutional reforms and elections. Emphasizing national ownership, he added: 'BINUH must work as part of a holistic plan to support Haitian authorities in confronting the grave crisis shaking the country to its core.' The United States, which led negotiations on the resolution alongside Panama, stressed the urgency of political progress and called on international partners to increase support. 'Less than one year remains on the Transitional Presidential Council's planned roadmap for the restoration of democratic institutions,' said Ambassador Dorothy Shea, acting representative. ' Supporting the security of elections and the participation of all sectors of society is key to sustainable political progress in Haiti. Without BINUH, realizing the vision of a stronger, more resilient society would be less likely. ' New mission leadership Council members also welcomed Carlos G. Ruiz Massieu, appointed as the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of BINUH, succeeding María Isabel Salvador. Mr. Ruiz Massieu, who currently leads the UN Verification Mission in Colombia, brings decades of diplomatic and political experience, including in peace negotiations and institution-building. The UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) – a special political mission – was established in 2019 to advise and support Haitian authorities on political dialogue, justice, human rights and governance. It succeeded a series of UN peacekeeping and political missions on the island, dating back to 1993, including the large-scale MINUSTAH operation, which wrapped up in 2017 after 13 years.
Miami Herald
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
U.N. extends political mission in Haiti, but it will be for less than a year
The United Nations Security Council on Monday extended the mandate of its political mission in Haiti, agreeing that the office remains critical in supporting progress on the security and political front in the crisis-wracked country. But unlike in the past when the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti has received 12-month extensions, Monday's unanimous decision by council members backed only six-and-a-half months. The resolution extending the mission's new mandate until Jan. 31, 2026, was written by the United States and Panama. The resolution's language reaffirms support for sanctions against those fueling the country's gang crisis, while reaffirming U.N. member nations' commitment to supporting 'Haitian-owned and Haitian-led solution' to dealing with the causes of the crises. Members also expressed their intentions, 'without delay,' to consider recommendations made by Secretary-General António Guterres to help reduce gangs' territorial control. In February, Guterres nixed deploying blue-helmet peacekeepers to Haiti, saying there is no peace to keep, and instead offered to bolster the current Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission with funds from the U.N. peacekeeping budget. Five months after presenting the council with a plan, including establishing a U.N. support office to provide logistical and operational support to the mission and bolstering intelligence capabilities, Guterres has yet to receive guidance from the council, whose members on Monday acknowledged the worsening situation in Haiti. 'The technical extension of this mandate should not make us forget the urgent need for council action to bolster support for security in Haiti,' France's permanent representative, Jérôme Bonnafont, said. The ongoing efforts by the Kenya-led mission, he added, 'must be accompanied by a clear framework' provided by the U.N. 'The U.N. must bring strategic and operational expertise to the fore, as well as crucial logistic support. Almost five months after the Secretary General having issued these recommendations, there is an urgent need to deal with the humanitarian and security situation,' Bonnafont said. The U.N. mission's short mandate reflects several realities facing the global agency and Haiti, where the worsening gang violence is driving hunger and displacements and is also making it increasingly difficult for U.N. staff to operate. Forced to work in a more hostile environment it was first established in 2019, the mission faces limited options for evacuations due to the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights, and mobility, because of gangs' ongoing gang encirclement of Port-au-Prince. The mission, which was headed by María Isabel Salvador before she was replaced this month by Carlos G. Ruiz Massieu of Mexico, is down to a skeleton team of 17 staffers who work from home most days. Ahead of a meeting earlier this month, Guterres informed the security council that the U.N. political mission is undergoing a review with the objective of becoming smaller and more focused. The overhaul comes as the U.N. itself, faces a major financial crisis fueled in large part by U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump. The United States, the largest donor to the U.N., is in arrears on its payments to peacekeeping. Trump, having already gutted some humanitarian assistance, is proposing that Congress rescind billions in additional U.N. funding. The moves, if they go through, are bound to have a detrimental effect on Haiti, where efforts to provide a robust response to the gang violence continue to lack clarity. Panama's permanent representative to the security council, Eloy Alfaro de Alba, said the agency's continued foot dragging on providing solutions was not only 'an exercise of protracted procrastination,' but 'is like the chronicle of a death foretold written by the much hailed Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. 'We should take action now. The Haitian people cannot and should not wait any longer,' he said, warning that waiting until September when the Kenya force's mandate comes up for renewal 'will be too late.' The ill-equipped and under-resourced mission, though authorized by the Security Council, is not a formal U.N. peacekeeping operation and has had to rely on voluntary funds. Most of that money has came from the United States, which under the Biden administration gave more than $629 million. The Trump administration has said it can't continue the same level of financial support. Monday's meeting took place a day before the mandate of the U.N.'s Haiti office is set to expire on Tuesday, and as Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé visited Washington, where he met with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. The State Department said the two men discussed ongoing efforts to restore security and political stability. 'Landau reiterated that Haiti's security crisis poses a threat to our regional and national security,' the statement said. 'Both officials emphasized the importance of restoring constitutional order and reinforcing the capacity of Haiti's democratic institutions. The Deputy expressed the United States' support for the Multinational Security Support mission, but emphasized the need for greater burden-sharing.' In recent months, Fils-Aimé has turned to foreign contractors and explosive drones to help in the fight against criminal gangs, most notably a company connected to Erik Prince, the former head of Blackwater, the private U.S. military contractor. The Trump administration is currently working on a new Haiti policy. However, Dorothy Shea, the U.S.'s acting chargé d'affaires at the U.N., provided no hint as to the direction the administration wants to take. She said the U.S. continues to work closely with those invested in Haiti security and. emphasized the administration's call for other donors to 'step up and contribute' more. 'We remain seized with the security crisis in Haiti, especially the abhorrent gang violence and rampant corruption,' she said.
Express Tribune
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Pakistan demands immediate UN action to Haiti gang crisis
Listen to article Pakistan has called for immediate and united action by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to help restore political stability in Haiti as gang violence escalates in the Caribbean nation. Addressing the Council's first formal meeting under Pakistan's presidency this month, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, said that the time for 'half measures' in Haiti is over. 'The gangs' stranglehold has turned Haiti's streets into battlegrounds,' he said. 'Vigilante killings are on the rise, children are being recruited by armed groups and the breakdown of basic services is forcing hundreds of thousands to live in fear and face acute food shortages.' Read: Pakistan advances peace at UNSC Ambassador Asim, presiding over the 15-member Council in his national capacity, said Haiti's crisis requires both political unity and international resolve, calling for a Haitian-led solution backed by firm global support. He expressed Pakistan's support for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, led by Kenya and other troop-contributing nations, and urged UNSC to ensure the mission is 'robust, well-resourced, and effective'. 'Anything less risks collective failure tomorrow,' Ahmad cautioned. 'The people of Haiti deserve to live in peace and dignity, free from fear and want. Pakistan stands ready to help forge consensus in the Council to deliver hope and security to Haitians.' Miroslav Jenca, UN Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas, told the Council that state authority in Haiti had eroded sharply since January. He said gangs had virtually paralysed Port-au-Prince, cutting it off with the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights. Read more: Pakistan urges UNSC to stop Israeli 'aggression' Gangs now influence every commune in the capital and surrounding areas, he said, warning that 'the total collapse of state presence could become a real scenario'. Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said from Vienna that gang control over trade routes was stifling legal commerce and worsening food insecurity and humanitarian need. 'The state's capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking,' she said. 'This erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects.' Kashmir dispute Earlier, Ambassador Asim had held a news conference at UN headquarters to highlight the long-standing Kashmir dispute. 'It is time that this is addressed,' he said, referring to the conflict between India and Pakistan. 'And I would say this is not only a responsibility of Pakistan, we are here temporarily for two years as a non-permanent member.' He added that UNSC, and particularly its permanent members, must 'take certain steps to actually get their own resolutions implemented'. The comments come just a day after Pakistan formally assumed the UNSC presidency for July, which rotates monthly among member states.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jamaica prime minister endorses expansion of Haiti police as Kenyan-led mission struggles
Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Wednesday that the escalating gang crisis in Haiti has reached a point that demands a rapid increase in the number of cops and equipment for the Haiti National Police to battle gangs that are on the verge of taking over the capital. Ultimately, the Haiti National Police 'has to take on the gangs,' he said. 'The present holding situation that we have is not necessarily moving the situation forward as we would all like.' Holness' comments came amid new protests and growing anxiety in Haiti about a possible takeover of the capital by armed gangs amid conflicts within the country's political transition government and its police hierarchy. He made the comment after a high-level meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Kingston on Wednesday. As part of his first official visit to the English-speaking Caribbean, Rubio is seeking feedback from leaders of the 15-member regional bloc known as CARICOM on the volatile situation in Haiti, which Holness described as a threat to regional security. How much weight Holness and other Caribbean leaders' views on Haiti carry with the Trump administration remains to be seen. But Rubio, recognizing that the current multinational security mission led by Kenya is not large enough to take on heavily armed gangs, is trying to drum up support in the region for funding that would allow the mission to expand. In a separate discussion about Haiti on Wednesday sponsored by the World Bank, former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding said said that Force Commander Godfrey Otunge recently also told him and two other former Caribbean prime ministers that he needs an additional 1,500 officers to be effective against gangs. Golding said he believes that number, which would put the force at 2,500, is still too low. He acknowledged that funding remains a challenge to put in place 'an effective force, an overwhelming force' needed to defeat the gangs and stabilize Haiti so long overdue elections can finally take place. Golding said a former member of the Haiti's ruling nine-member Transitional Presidential Council, which the Caribbean Community had helped create last year, had complained that CARICOM's involvement bordered on interference. Golding's revelations underscore the challenges that an association of Caribbean elder statesmen known as the Eminent Persons Group, formed to help Haiti, has been facing. On Wednesday morning four Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Rubio urging him to prioritize the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti during his visit to the Caribbean, which also includes stops Thursday in Guyana and Suriname. 'With violent gangs causing unimaginable human suffering in Haiti, and spillover impacts for regional stability and on Haitian-American communities, the United States simply cannot afford to pass up the opportunity to advance region-wide support for a Haitian-led solution to the current crisis,' the letter said. It's signed by Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of Missouri and Cory Booker of New Jersey. The four lawmakers specifically mentioned the recent cuts to U.S. funding, including the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. They called the aid cuts 'a gift to the violent gangs who have exploited the country's political instability since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. 'We urge you to use this trip to the Caribbean to outline how the United States, and the State Department you lead, will galvanize the international community to allocate the necessary resources to stop the gangs and their elite enablers, and to help alleviate the human suffering in Haiti,' the lawmakers wrote. 'The United States cannot sit on the sidelines of a crisis of this magnitude in our own region. Failure to act risks furthering the humanitarian crisis to the point where gangs control the entire capital, and the United States, along with its partners in the region, are responding to a mass migration event.' The U.S. has been the main benefactor of the Kenya-led security mission. The Biden administration provided more than $600 million. Though the State Department has provided more than $40 million in waivers amid ongoing U.S. foreign aid freezes, it is unclear whether the Trump administration will continue funding the lion's share when the mission comes up for renewal in October. The Trump administration doesn't have a clear foreign policy on Haiti, even as it ends immigration protections as of April 24 for more than 200,000 Haitians who were paroled into the U.S. under humanitarian benefits during the Biden administration. Last month, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres ruled out transitioning the struggling Kenyan mission into an official U.N. peacekeeping mission and instead called for beefing up the current mission and using some of the U.N.'s budget to support salaries. The U.S. has yet to publicly weigh in on the proposal. In a preview of the visit, Maurcio Claver-Carone, the administration's envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, told journalists on Tuesday that the administration is working on a new security strategy for Haiti but did not go into details. Rubio's trip, he said, was geared partly toward hearing the views 'of our neighbors and our allies in the Caribbean in order to see what they believe is possible and how they can chip in and how they could work with us.' After his meeting with Holness, Rubio also met with prime ministers Stuart Young of Trinidad and Tobago, and Mia Mottley of Barbados. Mottley also represented the 15-member Caribbean Community known as CARICOM. His last meeting was with the head of Haiti's Presidential Council Fritz Alphonse Jean and on Thursday he travels to Guyana and Suriname. Haiti, Rubio, acknowledged, has been 'a multi faceted challenge.' This was underscored Wednesday when armed gangs were shooting near the U.S. embassy and Kenyan officials still had not retrieved the body of their dead officer, a day after armed gangs in the Artibonite region burned three armored vehicles in an ambush. Though Jamaica was among the first countries to volunteer security personnel for the mission in Haiti, it has yet to deploy its officers. Of the 1,000 foreign officers on the ground, only 31 are from the Caribbean region. How best to address Haiti's unraveling crisis remains a central question of the security response. Those opposed to international intervention have long argued that the money is better spent on the Haiti National Police while others point out that while the police needs to be built up, the current crisis demands foreign assistance. Haiti's police are less than 10,000 for a country of 12 million and those involved in actual anti-gang operations are only a handful. At the same time, the force has been under-resourced and outgunned. Last year the academy, which itself has come under gang attack, only graduated 700 new police officers. The structure itself is not only too small to meet the needs, but dozens of police stations have also been destroyed by gangs and vetting individuals has become difficult in an environment where one in 10 Haitians is currently displaced. On Wednesday, Guterres' spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the U.N. in New York that humanitarian aid workers have warned that escalating attacks on populated areas have forced repeated and record-level displacements in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. 'The scale and pace of displacement is rapidly outpacing the capacity of humanitarian actors to respond,' Dujarric said. 'Nearly 23,000 people were displaced in just a week in mid-March, that's what the International Organization for Migration is telling us, with families seeking shelter in already severely overcrowded sites, with minimal essential services such as water, sanitation, healthcare and protection were among those displaced.' The U.N. Dujarric said, assesses the situation on a daily basis and takes decisions every day on how to respond to the crisis with its aid workers. 'It's really a flexible footprint,' he said, 'and people are shifted to the best places where they can deliver aid and deliver aid safely.' He also defended the efforts of the multinational support mission. The force is doing the best possible job they can given, Dujarric said, given 'the deficit in support they are getting from the international community.' 'Whether it's the Kenyans and other nationals who've sent people there, to put their lives at risk,' he added, 'They need more equipment, and Haitian political leaders need to also recommit to a political track.'
Miami Herald
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Jamaica prime minister endorses expansion of Haiti police as Kenyan-led mission struggles
Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Wednesday that the escalating gang crisis in Haiti has reached a point that demands a rapid increase in the number of cops and equipment for the Haiti National Police to battle gangs that are on the verge of taking over the capital. Ultimately, the Haiti National Police 'has to take on the gangs,' he said. 'The present holding situation that we have is not necessarily moving the situation forward as we would all like.' Holness' comments came amid growing anxiety in Haiti about a possible takeover of the capital by armed gangs amid conflicts within the country's political transition government and its police hierarchy. He made the comment after a high-level meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who arrived in Kingston on Wednesday. As part of his first official visit to the English-speaking Caribbean, Rubio is seeking feedback from leaders of the 15-member regional bloc known as CARICOM on the volatile situation in Haiti, which Holness described as a threat to regional security. How much weight Holness and other Caribbean leaders' views on Haiti carry with the Trump administration remains to be seen. But Rubio, recognizing that the current multinational security mission led by Kenya is not large enough to take on heavily armed gangs, is trying to drum up support in the region for funding that would allow the mission to expand. In a separate discussion about Haiti on Wednesday sponsored by the World Bank, former Jamaica Prime Minister Bruce Golding said said the head of the mission recently also told him and two other former Caribbean prime ministers that he needs an additional 1,500 officers to be effective against gangs. Golding said he believes that number, which would put the force at 2,500, is still too low. He acknowledged that funding remains a challenge to put in place 'an effective force, an overwhelming force' needed to defeat the gangs. Golding said a former member of the Haiti's ruling nine-member Transitional Presidential Council, which the Caribbean Community had helped create last year, had complained that CARICOM's involvement bordered on interference. Golding's revelations underscore the challenges that an association of Caribbean elder statesmen known as the Eminent Persons Group, formed to help Haiti, has been facing. On Wednesday morning four Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Rubio urging him to prioritize the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis in Haiti during his visit to the Caribbean, which also includes stops Thursday in Guyana and Suriname. 'With violent gangs causing unimaginable human suffering in Haiti, and spillover impacts for regional stability and on Haitian-American communities, the United States simply cannot afford to pass up the opportunity to advance region-wide support for a Haitian-led solution to the current crisis,' the letter said. It's signed by Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of Missouri and Cory Booker of New Jersey. The four lawmakers specifically mentioned the recent cuts to U.S. funding, including the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. They called the aid cuts 'a gift to the violent gangs who have exploited the country's political instability since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. 'We urge you to use this trip to the Caribbean to outline how the United States, and the State Department you lead, will galvanize the international community to allocate the necessary resources to stop the gangs and their elite enablers, and to help alleviate the human suffering in Haiti,' the lawmakers wrote. 'The United States cannot sit on the sidelines of a crisis of this magnitude in our own region. Failure to act risks furthering the humanitarian crisis to the point where gangs control the entire capital, and the United States, along with its partners in the region, are responding to a mass migration event.' The U.S. has been the main benefactor of the Kenya-led security mission. The Biden administration provided more than $600 million. Though the State Department has provided more than $40 million in waivers amid ongoing U.S. foreign aid freezes, it is unclear whether the Trump administration will continue funding the lion's share when the mission comes up for renewal in October. No Haiti policy The Trump administration doesn't have a clear foreign policy on Haiti, even as it ends immigration protections as of April 24 for more than 200,000 Haitians who were paroled into the U.S. under humanitarian benefits during the Biden administration. Last month, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres ruled out transitioning the struggling Kenyan mission into an official U.N. peacekeeping mission and instead called for beefing up the current mission and using some of the U.N.'s budget to support salaries. The U.S. has yet to publicly weigh in on the proposal. In a preview of the visit, Maurcio Claver-Carone, the administration's envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean, told journalists on Tuesday that the administration is working on a new security strategy for Haiti but did not go into details. Rubio's trip, he said, was geared partly toward hearing the views 'of our neighbors and our allies in the Caribbean in order to see what they believe is possible and how they can chip in and how they could work with us.' Ongoing gang attacks
