UN chief urges world to make Haiti ‘top priority’ to fight criminal gangs

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on world leaders to make the Caribbean state of Haiti their “top priority” and help a “rapid action force” to support the island’s failing police in their fight against criminal gangs.

In his first visit to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince as head of the UN on Saturday, Guterres repeated his call on world nations to send a “rapid action force” to support the Caribbean nation’s security services.

“We must put Haiti on the international political map and make the tragedy of the Haitian people the international community’s top priority,” Guterres told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

He said Haitians are “exhausted” having been faced with a “cascade of crises” and “unbearable living conditions for too long.”

Guterres also urged the UN Security Council, which is due to discuss the situation in Haiti later this month, “to authorize the immediate deployment of a robust international security force.”

He voiced concerns that not taking actions allow instability and violence to have a “lasting impact” on generations of Haitians. “Every day counts.”

“I call on those states that have the capacity to provide a robust security force to stop hesitating and be ready to follow a Security Council decision,” Guterres added.

US wants ‘non-UN’ mission for another intervention in Haiti

Ignoring mass protests in Haiti which rejected foreign intervention, Washington says it will propose a “non-UN” mission authorizing to use military force in the Caribbean country.

Over the past months, the UN chief has sounded the alarm about the violent situation amid political instability in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

In October, Guterres had called for the creation of a non-UN force to help support and strengthen the island’s overwhelmed local police force.

Several countries have expressed interest in contributing to the creation of a rapid action force, but none has volunteered so far to lead the operation.

Canada and Brazil, which have indicated their willingness to support the mission, have made no suggestions to lead a deployment of boots on the ground due to the UN armed forces' past involvement in numerous sex and violence scandals in Haiti.

The United States has traditionally held huge sway over Haiti and has a long history of intervention on the Caribbean island.

The US government allegedly had a hand in the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

The assassins who killed Moïse were said to have received American military training.

This time, however, US President Joe Biden has made it clear that Washington will not lead a military force into Haiti and instead wants to focus on strengthening the local police force.

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The UN chief went on to describe a grim picture of violent gangs in the Haitian capital taking control of the resources by enforcing brutal strategies including violence, kidnappings, and rapes.

“Port-au-Prince is surrounded by armed gangs blocking the main roads leading to the northern and southern departments, controlling access to water, food, and health care,” Guterres said, adding that he despised “in the strongest possible terms the widespread sexual violence used by armed gangs as a weapon to instill fear.”

Guterres also said he had “frank exchanges” with prime minister Henry and others about the “need for a political agreement to put an end to the crisis.”

Haitian civil society groups, however, have emphatically rejected any armed foreign forces’ intervention in the country.

They have called on Russia and China, both veto powers, to block any resolution issued by the UN Security Council in regard to the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country.

In the past, UN peacekeepers caused an outbreak of cholera by dumping infected sewage into a river which killed 10,000 Haitians and left nearly 1 million people ill, with sexual assault scandals commonplace.

UN reports estimate that more than half of the 10 million population of Haiti are in need of humanitarian assistance, including almost three million children.

Flooding and earthquakes have worsened the unending problems facing the nation. The UN estimates that 73,500 people fled Haiti heading to the United States last year alone.

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