(New York, December 9, 2024) – The United Nations Security Council should urgently authorize and rapidly deploy a full-fledged United Nations mission to Haiti, Human Rights Watch said today in publishing a briefing paper on the subject. The mission should ensure a human rights-based response to restore security, the rule of law, and democratic governance.
Haiti’s crisis has reached catastrophic levels as a result of criminal groups intensifying their large-scale, coordinated attacks on the population and key infrastructure, overwhelming the Haitian police and the UN-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. The briefing paper outlines the key components and human rights safeguards needed for a successful new UN mission, and to prevent the failures and abuses associated with past international interventions in Haiti.
“Haitians say that the fear of attacks by criminal groups has taken over their daily lives, and millions struggle to find food, water, and health care,” said Ida Sawyer, crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. “A new, full-fledged UN mission that respects rights and builds on the initial UN efforts could provide the Haitian people a genuine opportunity to reconstruct their lives with hope and dignity.”
In a letter dated November 29, the UN Security Council asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present “strategic-level” recommendations for the role the UN could play in helping address the security, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Haiti. Guterres should offer clear and comprehensive recommendations for the swift transformation of the MSS into a mission that advances human rights and accountability to promote security and the rule of law in Haiti, Human Rights Watch said.
The MSS, authorized in October 2023 and initially deployed in June 2024, raised hopes for improved security. Despite its largely United States funding and Kenyan leadership, it remains in pre-deployment status due to funding and personnel shortages. Only US$97.4 million of the $600 million needed for its first year has been allocated, and just 400 of the expected 2,500 officers are deployed. While they have supported Haitian National Police anti-crime operations and developed human rights safeguards, the mission has not obtained enough resources to make it effective or fully operational.
Meanwhile, Haitians are at the mercy of increasingly organized and coordinated criminal groups involved in arms, drug, and human trafficking, which could have significant consequences for peace and security across the entire region. Criminal groups now control around 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and its metropolitan area, and have expanded their control into the Ouest and Artibonite departments. Between January and mid-November, criminal groups killed about 4,544 people, and 4,000 girls and women reported sexual violence, including gang rape, according to the UN. Over 700,000 Haitians – 25 percent of them children – are internally displaced, while half of Haiti’s population struggles to afford food, making it one of world’s most acutely food insecure countries.
Since mid-November, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, or MSF) – a lifeline for survivors of attacks and sexual violence – and other local organizations have had to suspend their activities because of insecurity from criminal groups and threats by government security forces. UN agencies are adjusting their operations to continue their work, while many diplomats and staff from international organizations have been relocated to safe areas or evacuated from the country, disrupting their activities.
The police are under-equipped, under-staffed, and undermined by officers implicated in serious abuses or who have links to criminal groups, while the transitional government has fallen short of restoring the rule of law, rooting out corruption, and planning for credible elections.
The Haitian government in September formally requested the transformation of the MSS into a full-fledged UN mission. The US, Kenya, members of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Group of Seven (G7), other Security Council members, and the UN independent human rights expert on Haiti have supported this request.
The UN Secretary-General should act swiftly to address the request from the Security Council and, based on this, the UN should take prompt and concrete actions in support of Haiti.
In Haiti in July and remotely since then, Human Rights Watch has interviewed scores of Haitian victims of abuses, human rights activists, humanitarian and health workers, government officials and others. They have consistently called for a strong international response to help restore basic security, but stress the need to avoid the failings of past interventions and for it to be part of a comprehensive response that also addresses the root causes of Haiti’s instability.
“Criminal violence is becoming increasingly brutal,” Pierre Espérance, the director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), told Human Rights Watch. “If urgent action is not taken, it will be too late for the millions of Haitians whose lives are at risk. A robust UN mission, including guarantees for human rights and accountability for past interventions, can make the difference and help us address all aspects of the crisis.”
Pastor Jean Enock Joseph, an educator and human rights activist in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince, expressed the need for “a UN mission with a mandate to restore peace” that also has “the capacity to address the structural causes of the crisis, while leaving it to Haitians to democratically choose their leaders.”
Lionel Bourgoin, the government commissioner at the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince, said that “a UN mission could provide increased resources, expertise, and international coordination to strengthen judicial and security institutions, while ensuring a human rights-based approach.” He however underscored that “transparency and consultation with civil society actors, judicial authorities, and affected local populations must be at the heart of the process to ensure its effectiveness and legitimacy.”
A 15-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch in late November that she now lives on the street in Port-au-Prince with her 5 and 7-year-old sisters, after criminal group members shot their parents during an attack on their neighborhood in late October: “I was sleeping when my dad woke me up. There were gunshots everywhere. He told me, ‘We have to flee....’ We left our house, but as we were running, a bullet hit my dad in the head, and another hit my mom in the chest. My mom was bleeding a lot. She told me, ‘Run, run away.’ I had no choice but to leave her there.... I haven’t heard from her since.... I ran away with my little sisters, not knowing what to do. I’m scared, very scared, that something might happen to us, that we might be raped at night.”
Like others whom Human Rights Watch interviewed, she went on to describe the dire need for a meaningful international response: “The police alone can’t do it; we need urgent help. We need someone to come and save us from the bandits, to bring us food, water, medicine, clothing. We can’t take it anymore. Someone has to stop them [the criminal groups]; someone has to tell them they must stop killing us.”
“The Haitian people have endured so much and waited so long for a meaningful international response to the crisis,” Sawyer said. “The UN has the opportunity now to get it right – by authorizing a strong new human rights-compliant UN mission and mobilizing the necessary resources so it can effectively work with the Haitian people to restore security, ensure access to basic necessities, and address the root causes of instability.”
