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Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The international community and Haiti's time of need
Opinion To characterize the conditions today in Haiti as staggeringly grim would be a gross understatement. Indeed, the situation on the ground in the chronically impoverished country has clearly gotten worse over the last six months. But the world has largely chosen to look away rather than to confront the problem head-on. As a result, gang violence continues to surge and horrendous crimes go unpunished — such as murder, rape and kidnapping — while the drug trade deepens its grip on the country. These criminal gangs control almost 90 per cent of Haiti's capital, a large portion of the northwestern Artibonite area and a handful of municipalities in the Central Plateau region. Add to that the fact that over one million Haitians (half of whom are children) have been internally displaced and hunger is becoming more widespread (with almost six million people having trouble finding food and medicine). Hospitals have also had to close, schools are barely hanging on and there is no such thing in Haiti as a social safety net. Furthermore, there have not been legitimate democratic elections held in Haiti for almost 10 years. And Haiti's current nine-person Transitional Presidential Council has been plagued by internecine politics, corruption and impotence. Equally troubling, the existing Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, led by some 1,000 Kenyan police and security officers, has underperformed. To be fair, they have come under heavy gang attack, recently lost two of their members, and are badly outnumbered and outgunned. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has, moreover, only exacerbated the situation. It has largely ignored the Haitian crisis (shuffling it off to the Organization of American States), raised questions about future funding for the MSS operation and done very little to stop deadly weapons from Florida being smuggled into the country. In addition, Trump has clearly compounded the humanitarian catastrophe by gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and slashing development assistance to Haiti. Trump has also sought to deport distraught Haitians, to turn away asylum-seeking Haitians and has even rolled back Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians living in the U.S. Yes, it's true that the menace in the U.S. White House, the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East have taken up a lot of oxygen in the backrooms of power. But that's a really poor excuse for inaction on Haiti. There are things that can be done to ameliorate the conditions on the ground. Clearly, the violent gang activity needs to be attenuated and gradually neutralized so that the country can be stabilized and free and fair general elections can take place. There also needs to be an acceptable, and manifestly robust, military presence in the country to ensure order and public safety. Perhaps that will require a capable peace enforcement operation with the imprimatur of the United Nations. Most important, Haitians desperately need development assistance of all kinds (financial, medical, social, educational, governance and institutional) to get themselves back on their feet again. But we're talking here about a massive, multifaceted aid program that needs serious financial resources from any and every country that can spare it. Much of this, of course, requires large dollops of cash and political will, which is obviously in short supply these days. But there is nothing that says it has to be that way. Yet political decision-makers, and those with power to do something, have chosen not to act. It seems pretty clear that a desperately poor and mostly black Caribbean country — to say nothing of its former status as a key slave colony — doesn't much register on the international radar screen. It makes you wonder if Haiti was a predominantly white, European country whether the world's response would be so callous and negligent. Conveniently, Western governments and political leaders are quick to dismiss Haiti as fundamentally broken and simply beyond repair. Let's be honest: to them, it's a god-awful quagmire and a political minefield that they just don't want anything to do with. So they justify their inaction and indifference by labelling Haiti a 'failed state' and then blame Haitians themselves for their own misfortune. The sad reality is that governments around the world (and here I include the so-called 'Friends of Haiti' such as Canada, France and Brazil) have come to the stark conclusion that Haiti is not worth the effort to save. Stated differently, they are not going to sacrifice putting their military men and women in harm's way (or to cough up the requisite financial resources) for the sake of Haitian lives or their overall well-being. I have come to believe that this destitute country will have to explode into a continuous morass of violence and death before the world community will even notice. And even then one wonders whether the response to the ongoing crisis in Haiti will be sufficient to make a real difference. Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Miami Herald
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
U.S. lawmakers want mandatory sanctions, reporting on Haiti as gang violence worsens
A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators wants to mandate sanctions against supporters of Haiti's criminal gangs and is pushing the State Department to provide a list of the country's most prominent gangs and their leaders — along with a report on the connections between the gangs and the Caribbean nation's political and economic elites. The Haiti Criminal Collusion Transparency Act of 2025 was filed in the Senate on Thursday amid growing concerns about Haiti's escalating security crisis, which is fueling horrific crimes, including rape, murders and kidnapping. The violence has led to 5.7 million people — more than half the country's population — struggling to find food to eat and more than 1 million people being internally displaced. The bill was introduced in the Senate by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and co-signed by Sens. Rick Scott, R-Florida, Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, John Curtis, R-Utah, and Chris Coons, D-Connecticut. A House version of the bill was introduced and passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month. It was led by ranking Democrat Gregory Meeks of New York. Last week, Shaheen wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling on him to address the humanitarian and democratic governance crises in Haiti. The letter laid out recommendations for U.S.-Haiti policy, including strengthening support for the Multinational Security Support mission, using strategic sanctions against Haitian armed criminal actors and their political and economic enablers, and making efforts to target illicit arms-trafficking networks. While testifying before both Senate and House committees this week, Rubio said an inter-agency review is currently taking place to come up with options for addressing Haiti's crisis. He suggested that the anti-gang effort, currently being led by Kenya after the United Nations-authorized a multinational security, should be replaced by the Organization of American States, or OAS. The proposed legislation reflects the current limitations of U.S. efforts to tackle the gang crisis, supporters say. For instance, while the Biden administration issued several sanctions against former Haitian politicians and former parliamentarians, they were mostly cancellations of visas, which under U.S. law are kept private. Also, the sanctions are not mandatory and members of Congress say they have a blind spot on who major gang leaders are, and their enablers. Under the legislation, the State Department's sanction authorities would now be mandatory rather than discretionary. The bill also requires that the interagency prioritize resources to sanction such individuals. The State Department, in coordination with other federal agencies and the intelligence community, would also be required to provide Congress with an explicit list of all known gang leaders and political and economic elites who have direct and significant ties to gang networks. If the legislation passes, the State Department would also be required to provide an assessment of threats to U.S. national interests and democratic governance in the country. The bill does not include specific funding for implementation, but it's expected that the State would dedicate additional resources. Resources, however, remain a huge challenge. U.S. intelligence capabilities on the ground in Haiti have been significantly reduced, with the State Department issuing several evacuation orders for staff and the Drug Enforcement Administration targeting its office in Port-au-Prince for closure. Organization of American States On Thursday, experts at a discussion on Haiti at the OAS headquarters were told that in addition to gangs' control of up to 90% of the Haitian capital and significant parts of its Artibonite region and some municipalities in the Central Plateau region, the Haitian territory was serving multiple functions in the global drug trade. 'Haiti has increasingly become a preferred transit route for cocaine moving from South America to North America and Europe,' Gaston Schulmeister, director of the Department against Transnational Organized Crime of the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, said. 'But equally concerning is Haiti's immersions as a transit route for precursor chemicals used also for drug production. Haiti has also become both a source and a transit country for human trafficking victims.' The country's security and governance challenges were further laid out by its officials including Haiti Transitional Presidential Counselor member Smith Augustin and the defense and justice ministers who flew to Washington for the discussion, 'Finding Urgent Solutions for the Haiti Crisis.' 'We must be clear, the challenges facing Haiti will not be resolved through symbolic gestures. They demand effective cooperation. They demand new additional financial resources, new additional human resources, new additional material resources,' outgoing OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said. 'They need a strategic investment and a shared vision rooted in democratic values and human rights.' The country needed the help of its partners, Haiti's Justice Minister Patrick Pélissier said. He detailed how gangs had destroyed dozens of police stations and all of the country's jails in the metropolitan Port-au-Prince area, forcing them to house some of the 8,000 inmates in a rehabilitation facility that also included children. 'What is the consequence to the legal branch? Since 2018 we haven't seen any trials for those crimes in the' West region because the court is in the territory occupied by the gangs, he said, later telling the room that its words need to be transformed into actions. The crisis, Defense Minister Jean Michel Moïse said, is not just a Haitian one. 'Haiti's stability threatens the entire region, because arm and drug trafficking know no borders,' he said. 'Like the firearms, the drugs are not originating from Haiti, nor are they consumed by Haitians.' Haiti, he warned, is on the brink of being fully controlled by gangs. 'It is so frustrating that the gangs are so well armed and they have easy access to militarized weapons and ammunition, and the legal entities in Haiti, the army, the police, face challenges in acquiring weapons,' Moïse said. Moïse noted that the country has restrictions such as the U.S.'s Leahy Law, which restricts access to weapons by Haiti's armed forces. 'We would like to see our good friend, the United States, lift this restriction,' he said, noting that the army only has about 1,000 individuals, who are ill-equipped and ill-trained to carry out urban warfare. After a preliminary panel, diplomats from several member and observer countries offered up comments about the deteriorating crisis. None, however, addressed Rubio's suggestion that the crisis should be led by the OAS given its role as a hemispheric body. Instead, there were calls for more support for the mission, with a representative for Kenya appealing for more forces that can fight and forward operating bases in order to expand the mission beyond its current 1,000 personnel. During the conference, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Feinstein addressed recent efforts by the Trump administration to designate Haiti's major gangs as foreign and global terrorists. But she also called for the need for more accountability from Haiti's transitional government, which has been dogged by corruption scandals and faces possibly a third transition with elections increasingly looking out of reach this year. 'We intend to use these new authorities within our country to decisively take action against those that are providing material support and we believe that this is a critical part,' Feinstein said. But that alone will be insufficient, she noted, stressing that the U.S. needs a stronger security response including financial assistance from foreign partners and efforts by Haitian leaders to combat endemic corruption. 'Corruption erodes trust and the effectiveness of any security or governance strategy, including efforts to restore democratic order through through free and fair elections,' she said. 'The United States condemns the actions of those who commit abuses of office, including illicit public enrichment work with terrorist organizations and those who participate in arms and ammunition trafficking. This permissiveness only continues to fuel gang violence and complicates the resolution of this dangerous situation.'
Business Insider
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
With home security under strain, Kenya rallies Brazil's support for Haiti deployment
Kenya's government has requested Brazil's expertise and funding to enhance efforts in restoring peace and rebuilding broken communities in Haiti. Kenya has sought Brazil's expertise and funding for restoring peace and rebuilding communities in Haiti. Kenya leads the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, deploying 800 officers with plans for additional contributions. Despite judicial objections in Kenya, Parliament approved the deployment of police to Haiti, raising domestic and international concerns. Kenya Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, made the request during a recent visit to Brazil, emphasizing the need for international cooperation to address the crisis in Haiti. During his visit, Mudavadi urged the international community, particularly the United Nations and the United States, and other members of the American continent to fulfill and augment their pledged funding for the UN-backed security mission in Haiti. The mission, now in its second year, has received support from the US and the UN, but faced significant funding constraints. Mudavadi held talks with Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Mauro Vieira, on the sidelines of the 5th Kenya-Brazil summit. The two leaders discussed opportunities for enhanced cooperation in areas such as agriculture, trade, and security. Mudavadi also met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reaffirmed the United States' support for Kenya's leadership in the Haiti MSS. ' We reaffirmed our commitment to deepening bilateral ties with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on tourism. Our discussions explored opportunities for enhanced cooperation in agriculture, trade, investment, health, climate resilience, and security, alongside shared priorities on the multilateral stage', Mudavadi said. Funding Challenges and Concerns Kenya is leading the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti, which includes contributions from countries like Jamaica, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Benin, and Chad. Over 800 Kenyan officers have been deployed to restore law and order, combat gang violence, and support the Haitian National Police. In 2023, a Nairobi High Court issued an injunction halting Kenya's planned deployment of police to Haiti, following a petition by opposition leader and constitutional lawyer Ekuru Aukot. He argued the mission lacked legal basis and criticized the move as reckless, given Kenya's own domestic security challenges. Rights groups also warned that Kenyan police, accused of using excessive force at home, could pose a risk in Haiti—where past foreign interventions have led to abuses. Despite the court order, Parliament later approved the deployment, sparking further controversy over the government's defiance of judicial authority. The mission is faced with a significant funding crisis, with only $85 million pledged out of a target $600 million annual budget. Additionally, there are concerns over logistics, personnel shortages, and human rights violations. Kenya is yet to deploy its full contingent of 1,000 police officers. Future of the Mission The United States has proposed replacing the Kenya-led mission with a UN-led peacekeeping operation due to funding concerns. However, some argue that the UN should strengthen the current mission instead of replacing it. Mudavadi's appeal to Brazil for support aims to bolster efforts in restoring peace and rebuilding Haitian communities. Strengthening Bilateral Ties During his visit, Mudavadi and Brazilian officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding on tourism, deepening bilateral ties between the two countries. The talks explored opportunities for enhanced cooperation in various areas, including agriculture, trade, investment, health, and climate resilience. The Kenya-led MSS Mission in Haiti remains a crucial effort to restore stability and security in the country. With international support and cooperation, the mission can continue to make progress in rebuilding Haitian communities and promoting peace.
TimesLIVE
13-05-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Kenya, Dominican Republic call for funds for struggling Haiti security effort
The top diplomats from Kenya and the Dominican Republic met in Santo Domingo on Monday and called on the international community to fulfill and expand its promised funding for the UN-backed security mission in neighbouring Haiti. Dominican foreign minister Roberto Alvarez and his Kenyan counterpart Musalia Mudavadi warned that the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti is struggling to fight the country's worsening gang violence effectively due to a lack of funding and logistical support. Kenya deployed officers to the MSS in June 2024. The mission includes around 1,000 personnel, with approximately 75% from Kenya. In the first three months of 2025 alone, over 1,600 people were killed in Haiti, and more than 1-million displaced, according to UN estimates. Both ministers "acknowledged that the Mission has been unable to be more effective due to the lack of financial and material resources necessary for the full and complete deployment of the troops stationed there", according to an official statement. They urged the international community to "fulfil the contributions offered, and even increase them, so that the mission can fully operate". Heavily armed gangs have expanded their control in Haiti this year as the MSS and local police struggle to contain escalating violence. The mission, led by Kenya and authorized by the UN Security Council in 2023, remains only partially deployed due to unmet funding pledges.
The Star
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Dominican Republic, Kenya call for funds for struggling Haiti security effort
Kenya's Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi and Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez pose for a picture after signing a bilateral agreement in support of Kenyan police officers deployed in the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, May 12, 2025. REUTERS/Erika Santelices The top diplomats from Kenya and the Dominican Republic met in Santo Domingo on Monday and called on the international community to fulfill and expand its promised funding for the UN-backed security mission in neighboring Haiti. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Alvarez and his Kenyan counterpart Musalia Mudavadi warned that the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti is struggling to fight the country's worsening gang violence effectively due to a lack of funding and logistical support. BY THE NUMBERS Kenya deployed officers to the MSS in June 2024. The mission includes around 1,000 personnel, with approximately 75% from Kenya. In the first three months of 2025 alone, over 1,600 people were killed in Haiti, and more than 1 million displaced, according to UN estimates. KEY QUOTES Both ministers "acknowledged that the Mission has been unable to be more effective due to the lack of financial and material resources necessary for the full and complete deployment of the troops stationed there," according to an official statement. They urged the international community to "fulfill the contributions offered, and even increase them, so that the mission can fully operate." CONTEXT Heavily armed gangs have expanded their control in Haiti this year as the MSS and local police struggle to contain escalating violence. The mission, led by Kenya and authorized by the UN Security Council in 2023, remains only partially deployed due to unmet funding pledges. (Reporting by Natalia Siniawski; Additional reporting by Harold Isaac; Editing by Leslie Adler)
