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UN Security Council unanimously votes to end peacekeeping mission in Haiti

This April 12, 2017 photo shows a view of a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York City. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a resolution to end its peacekeeping mission in Haiti after more than 20 years.

During a vote on Thursday, the UNSC members extended the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in Haiti for a final six months to end it in mid-October.

The resolution said during the six-month period, the 2,370 military personnel would gradually leave the country. After that, a 1,275-strong police force will continue to serve for an initial period of six months to train Haiti’s national police force, the UNSC said.

The new mission would also engage in “human rights monitoring, reporting and analysis,” while it would assist the government in strengthening judicial and legal institutions.

Relative calm and order has been established in Haiti, an impoverished Caribbean nation which has held presidential and legislative elections to return to “constitutional order.”

The UN resolution hailed the elections in Haiti as “the major milestone towards stabilization.”

But it also said the international community was supposed to do more to strengthen, professionalize and reform the police in Haiti.

Sandra Honore, the UN envoy for Haiti, said on Tuesday that the improved political outlook in Haiti, which she said was the result of elections in the country, had opened “a crucial window of opportunity to address the root causes of the political crisis” that had gripped the country for many years. She said it was now possible to address “the many pressing challenges facing the country.”

The UNSC also stressed the need to help promote economic development in Haiti, where the government still faces “significant humanitarian challenges” following Hurricane Matthew, which struck the country last October. 

This photo taken on October 15, 2016 shows Brazilian members of the United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti (MINUSTAH) securing a perimeter before the arrival of former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Les Cayes, Haiti. (Photo by AFP)

The UN mission in Haiti has been gripped by various controversies over the past years, including accusations by locals that it introduced cholera in 2010, which has led to at least 9,500 deaths in the country.

A UN internal report has also suggested that UN troops were involved in sexual abuse cases against the Haitian children between 2004 and 2007.

The UN resolution adopted on Thursday also authorized the use of “all necessary means” for the new mission in Haiti to carry out its mandate and “to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence” in areas where it is deployed. 


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