Washington, DC, 20 July 2023 – The Security Council extended the mandate of BINUH, the UN’s Integrated Office in Haiti, under resolution 2692 for one year. It called on Secretary-General António Guterres to present options, within 30 days, for combatting the armed gangs that now encircle not only the capital, but also other areas of the country by blocking roads, controlling access to food and health care, and severely hampering humanitarian assistance.
In October 2022, Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, appealed, in a letter to the Secretary-General for a specialized force. The Secretary-General requested the support of the Security Council to deploy an international force to complement the efforts of the Haitian Police to combat gang violence. To-date, no country has offered to lead such a deployment. Scaling up training and support for the Haitian National Police and providing the country with more assistance in combating illegal arms trafficking, are among some of the options under consideration. The resolution requested that all options be consulted with Haiti, meaning a wide spectrum of actors that include not only the government but also civil society, political actors, the private sector, etc.
Citizens, in the meantime, are “trapped in a living nightmare,” Secretary-General Guterres said following his visit to Port-au-Prince on 1 July. “I have heard appalling accounts of women and girls being gang-raped and of people being burned alive.” Speaking to reporters in the capital he said, “Every day counts. If we do not act now, instability and violence will have a lasting impact on generations of Haitians.”
At a summit of regional leaders, Guterres expressed solidarity with the Haitian people who are “facing a terrible and mutually reinforcing cycle” of crises. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the widespread sexual violence which the armed gangs have used as a weapon to instill fear,” he said, calling on the entire international community to urgently “put the victims and the civilian population at the center of our concerns and priorities.”()
In his latest to the Security Council, the Secretary-General urged further efforts to ensure access to justice, stressing, “time is of the essence to take concrete action to stem the violence and the erosion of State institutions.”
Maria Isabel Salvador, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, was in Washington to meet with US and other officials ahead of the Security Council session. “All the things that happen in Haiti happen in the rest of the continent and in my own country, in Ecuador, with one very important difference,” she noted. “Though the problems are the same, the situation in Haiti is extreme, getting to a non-return point.”
Pramila Patten, the UN’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, also briefed the Security Council on her detailing the situation in Haiti and other nations. “The reality is that until we effectively raise the cost and consequences for committing, commanding or condoning sexual violence, we will never stem the tide of such violations,” she said.
The humanitarian and political crisis in Haiti continues to deteriorate. The announced cuts in food assistance to some 100,000 Haitians at a time when nearly half of the nation’s population, 4.9 million people, are going hungry. Three million children are in desperate need, reported, but only 23 per cent of the humanitarian appeal has been funded. The result is children are “being forced to join armed groups for protection” because “it means food and income for the family.” Speaking to reporters after her visit, Executive Director Catherine Russell, who is also the Un Principal Advocate for Haitidetailed shocking accounts of violence from some of its victims. “The world is failing Haiti. . . . Haitians and our team there tell me it’s never been worse,”.
William O’Neill, the 缅北禁地Independent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in Haiti, also underscored a broad range of concerns, describing the nation as a “country bruised by violence, misery, fear, and suffering.” In a recent , he voiced particular concern about “reports received regarding the trafficking of migrant children and women, including allegations of organ trafficking and human trafficking for sexual purposes.” The situation is becoming more and more severe, he said: “The survival of an entire nation is at stake.
