In the latest international effort to bring peace and stability to Haiti, the United Nations Security Council recently approved a substantially larger international force. This contingent of police officers and soldiers from around the world aims to halt the rampant killings, rapes, and kidnappings perpetrated by criminal gangs plaguing the nation.
The initiative, put forth by the United States and Panama, envisions deploying a specialized gang-suppression force of up to 5,500 personnel. These soldiers and officers will be empowered to engage directly in combat against the organized criminal groups that have terrorized Haiti for years.
Despite the approval, a significant challenge remains: it is currently uncertain which countries are prepared to contribute personnel or financial support to this critical mission.
This decisive vote occurred just two days before the expiration of the UN mandate for Haiti’s existing security deployment, known as the Multinational Security Support mission. This smaller force, primarily composed of around 1,000 Kenyan police officers, has primarily served a support role for the Haitian police.
While the previous mission achieved some successes, such as reclaiming the airport and seaport, it was consistently understaffed and underfunded. Consequently, it struggled to contain the pervasive violence, which continued to spread beyond the capital city.
The newly approved deployment, which will integrate the existing Kenyan contingent, will increase the force’s size fivefold. Crucially, officials state that it will be authorized to undertake independent offensive operations against the gangs. This marks a significant shift from the previous mission, where Kenyan forces were largely restricted to assisting Haitian police and limited in conducting their own operations, as noted by Bill O’Neill, the U.N.’s human rights expert for Haiti.
“This new force would be able to operate independently on its own initiative,” O’Neill commented 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 marks a notable development, coming eight years after the withdrawal of a previous UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.
From 2004 to 2017, the UN maintained up to 10,000 military personnel in Haiti. However, that mission faced severe criticism for issues including peacekeepers fathering children with sexually exploited women, abusing children, and inadvertently introducing cholera into the country, which ultimately led to over 10,000 deaths.
The operational structure of this new force will be different; the United Nations will manage its overall operations, but it will not directly command the troops.
Unlike previous deployments, this force will not be categorized as an official UN peacekeeping operation. Instead, it will be led by a dedicated force commander and overseen by a “standing group of partners” comprised of several nations, including the United States, as per the new proposal.
Henry Wooster, the United States’ chargé d’affaires in Haiti, described the new force’s mandate as “more muscular.” He emphasized that this provides “greater freedom of maneuver, freedom of action.” The very name—the ‘Gang Suppression Force’—“should speak volumes,” he added.
Estimates for the number of gang members active in Haiti widely vary, ranging from 2,000 to a staggering 30,000, according to Mr. Wooster.
Haitian officials have expressed strong support for this international intervention.
“This marks a decisive turning point in my country’s fight against one of the most serious challenges in its already turbulent history,” declared Ericq Pierre, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.N., following the vote.
He elaborated on the dire situation, stating, “Multiple heavily armed gangs have extended their control over large parts of the territory, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince. They terrorize the population, attack public institutions, destroy hospitals and clinics, burn down schools and prisons, control major roads, extort businesses and families.”
While China and Russia voiced objections to the new force, they ultimately abstained rather than exercising their veto power on the Security Council measure.
Russia branded the plan a “dangerous and poorly thought out venture.” China, meanwhile, accused the United States of treating the Council as a “rubber stamp,” citing a failure to provide clear answers on critical issues such as funding for the force, its precise rules of engagement, and the origin of its personnel.
The new force is designed to rely on voluntary contributions, a model that proved problematic for the previous Kenyan-led mission, as few countries beyond the United States were willing to provide either personnel or financial aid. Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., acknowledged that this lack of “burden sharing” meant the international community had previously failed to equip a mission suitable for the task at hand.
“It lacked the scale, scope and resources needed to take the fight to the gangs and restore a baseline of security in Haiti,” Mr. Waltz stated.
Eugene Chen, a senior fellow at U.N. University’s Center for Policy Research, noted that the new force resembles one currently deployed in Somalia, suggesting it might be a mere “rebranding” of the Multinational Security Support mission that Mr. Waltz criticized.
“That arrangement in Somalia has real issues and limitations, including lack of dedicated and predictable funding and reimbursement to the countries that contribute troops,” Mr. Chen explained. “This new force addresses some—but not all—of the operational challenges of the Multinational Security Support mission, but not the strategic ones.”
Haiti has been engulfed in a severe humanitarian and security crisis since the 2021 assassination of its last elected president, Jovenel Moïse. The crisis escalated significantly in February 2024, when rival gangs consolidated their power into a unified front.
Since January, at least 4,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N. David C. Adams contributed reporting.