In an October 2023 resolution, member states of the United Nations Security Council approved a Kenyan-led intervention into Haiti. Backed by 200 million dollars from the United States, Kenya will lead a contingent of police officers into Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince – a city currently controlled by violent gangs. Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Bahamas have also pledged to aid the mission.
On the eve of the fourth international incursion into Haiti, a comprehensive and multifaceted intervention is needed to ensure it guarantees security for Haitians and sets the groundwork for rebuilding credible institutions, empowering civil society, and building a resilient democracy. Haiti needs to be rebuilt.
The security mission is expected to touch down in Haiti “within months”, assured U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. In a statement following the U.N. approval, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Mutua said “This mandate is not only about peace and security but also about the rebuilding of Haiti – its politics, economic development, and social stability”. This statement is in concert with the general view that military intervention alone will not save Haiti and will lead to yet another failure.
Nation-building is expensive and complicated, not least for a country with an adverse history of foreign military intervention like Haiti. Despite this, what Mutua alludes to is indispensable to ensure this fourth military incursion is, at last, final. It is a reassuring fact that Haiti has a thriving, inquisitive, and politically active constituency, hungry to lead and drive sociopolitical change. Finding ways of empowering these suppressed political voices will be as complex as it is necessary. This pan-African-led contingent alone will not solve Haiti’s strives.
Among a myriad of other initiatives, a way of ensuring free and fair elections must be found as soon as feasible. Haiti does not currently have a single elected political representative. This intervention must also avoid prolonging any undue legitimization given to the current unelected president Ariel Henry, who does not count on the general support of the population.
From its beginnings as a slave hub to the ramifications of the ‘treaty of peace and friendship’, to the brutal rule of the Duvalier family, to natural catastrophes, to rampant gang rule – Haiti’s history is riddled with sustained and grueling adversity. This turbulence continues as a staggering 90% of Port-au-Prince is currently under gang control. The severity of this fact, and its impact on the ground, is difficult to overstate.
The crime rate in Haiti has doubled in only a year. In its capital, there are credible reports of gangs using rape as a tool of war, carrying out killings, macabre dismemberment, and mutilations as a means to assert control over territory. According to human rights organizations, gang violence has led to 3,000 deaths, 1,300 kidnappings, and 200,000 people displaced. The U.N. has reported a 45% increase in sexual violence from 2019 to 2021 alone.
The international intervention in Haiti represents a critical step in addressing the urgent security crisis in the country. It is imperative that this mission not only addresses immediate security concerns but also contributes to the long-term stability, institution-building, and democratic development of Haiti. The challenges are formidable, but with a comprehensive and sustained effort, there is hope that Haiti can rebuild and secure a better future for its people.