In a critical bid to restore peace and stability, the United Nations Security Council has given its approval for a significantly expanded international security force to tackle the escalating gang violence in Haiti. This decision, made on Tuesday, aims to confront the relentless wave of killings, kidnappings, and rapes plaguing the nation.
The new initiative, spearheaded by the United States and Panama, proposes sending a formidable “gang-suppression” force of up to 5,500 soldiers and police officers to Haiti. These personnel would be empowered to take robust and independent action against the criminal groups that have long held the country in their grip.
However, a crucial question hangs in the balance: which nations are ready to step up and provide the necessary troops and financial backing for this ambitious undertaking?
This vote comes just days before the existing UN mandate for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti was set to expire. The previous mission, largely composed of fewer than 1,000 Kenyan police officers, was primarily intended to assist Haitian law enforcement. It faced severe limitations in staffing and funding, ultimately proving insufficient in curbing the widespread violence.
(An archival image depicted United Nations peacekeepers from Argentina actively working to clear the streets of armed gang members in Gonaïves, Haiti, during 2004.)
The newly approved deployment signifies a major shift. With a fivefold increase in personnel, this force—which will still include the Kenyan contingent—will now have the authority to conduct its own offensive operations directly against the gangs, according to officials.
Previously, the Kenyan officers were restricted in their ability to initiate or independently carry out operations, explained Bill O’Neill, the UN’s human rights expert for Haiti. “This new force would be able to operate independently on its own initiative,” he stated back in August. “Of course, it would still try to help the police and be there to support, but it wouldn’t be tied to the Haitian National Police and its own operations.”
This approval marks a significant development, arriving eight years after the conclusion of a much larger UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.
From 2004 to 2017, MINUSTAH maintained up to 10,000 military personnel in Haiti. However, that mission faced intense criticism for alleged sexual exploitation, child abuse, and its devastating role in introducing cholera, which led to over 10,000 deaths in the country.
The structure of the new force will be different; while the United Nations will oversee its operations, it will not be in direct command, meaning it won’t be classified as an official UN peacekeeping operation. “The mandate of the new force will be ‘more muscular’,” noted Henry Wooster, the United States’ charge d’affaires in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. He emphasized that this provides “greater freedom of maneuver, freedom of action,” and that the force’s very name “should speak volumes.”
(Another image showed Kenyan police officers on patrol in an armored vehicle in Port-au-Prince last year.)
Experts and officials estimate that thousands of gang members are currently active in Haiti, exacerbating the crisis.
Haitian officials have voiced their support for this crucial intervention. “The approaches that did not bear fruit yesterday will not save Haiti today,” Laurent Saint-Cyr, head of Haiti’s presidential council, declared at the UN General Assembly last week. “It is imperative to listen to the voice of the Haitian people.”
China and Russia expressed reservations but ultimately abstained from vetoing the Security Council’s resolution. China specifically criticized the United States for treating the Council like a “rubber stamp,” highlighting unanswered questions regarding the funding and personnel contributions for the new force.
The reliance on voluntary contributions for the Kenyan-led security mission proved challenging, with only a few countries, primarily the United States, offering personnel or financial aid. This issue remains a concern for the new, larger force.
Haiti has been trapped in a severe humanitarian and security crisis since the assassination of its last elected president, Jovenel Moïse, in 2021. The situation deteriorated further in February 2024, when rival gangs unified to wage war against the government, police, and civilian communities, plunging the nation into deeper chaos. Since January alone, UN reports indicate that at least 4,000 people have been tragically killed due to the ongoing violence.