Two hundred private security contractors have recently been deployed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Led by former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, Vectus Global has partnered with Laurent Saint-Cyr’s transitional Government to reclaim critical Port-au-Prince territory from the grip of violent gangs. Despite recent international efforts, 90% of Port-au-Prince remains under the violent control of gangs, the homicide rate continues to climb, and more than a million people remain internally displaced as a consequence of Haiti’s security woes. 

While a necessary security project, Haiti risks in its implementation the very prospects of an enduring institutional and civil society rebuild. Without parallel institution-building and oversight, security gains may undermine its chances to rebuild much-needed civil society and the long-lasting institutional stability it so desperately needs. 

An Oversight Deficit 

Vectus Global is conducting its operative engagements in a legislative vacuum. This lack of tailored legal oversight is also absent from the Kenyan Peacekeeping deployment and has been an unfortunate feature of historic military interventions in Haiti. 

Within this legislative void, the country’s perilously frail institutions are also hamstrung to enforce any kind of legitimate accountability to the mission–compounding a concerning erosion of the rule of law writ large. The absence of a working parliament, combined with a non-functional legislature and murky contracting practices, will mean any Vectus operatives, or even directors, guilty of wrongdoing are unlikely to face legal repercussions. This alone adds to Haitians’ already heightened risk of physical harm. 

In practice, this could mean that a civilian casualty event (akin to the Nisour Square massacre in Iraq, where Blackwater operatives reportedly killed 17 unarmed civilians), justice for the would-be victims is at best improbable. This blunt reality hinders public trust in law enforcement in the short and long term, and serves to undermine Haiti’s hopes of institutional rebuild. 

Capacity-Building or Building Dependency?

The current deployment also lacks a clear public mandate or incentive for local security capacity-building. The current security outsourcing strategy may therefore erode Haiti’s long-term enforcement ability and hinder its political and institutional stability in turn. This risk is stark, given that the Haitian Police (P.N.H.) is already poorly resourced, with operational constraints, low morale, high attrition, and challenges in equipment upkeep. 

Around 4,000 Police officers have left PNH since 2021, a figure almost certainly linked to shocking levels of extreme gang violence against officers. According to PNH’s own data, only 739 new officers graduated in January 2025, indicating a serious shortfall in its officer replacement capacity. This shortfall highlights a concerning direction of travel for PNH and shows its dire need for development and investment – both lacking in Haiti’s security outsourcing approach. International assistance should prioritise police recruitment, training, equipment upkeep, and officer welfare. Without that, Haiti will keep paying for protection it cannot provide itself.

While there is merit in the short-term security goals, this strategy stands in contrast to vital foreign investment in civil society and local law enforcement capacity-building. This discrepancy should be of concern to an international community that wishes for a safe, independent, and politically-functional Haiti. Tightened international legislative scrutiny around Vectus Global’s functions in Haiti would improve public trust in its security objectives and reduce risks of harm for Haitian civilians. 

Civil Society —Haiti’s Quiet Strength

Beneath the violence lies a network of community organisations working for peace and accountability. U.N.D.P., C.A.R.I.C.O.M., and NGOs fund local projects; groups like Fondation Toya train and empower women in Port-au-Prince, offering leadership opportunities and protection in a country where nearly 5,000 sexual-violence cases were reported in the first half of 2025. These initiatives tackle root causes of insecurity — poverty, marginalisation, weak justice — yet remain underfunded compared with security contracts. The positive long-term impacts of this community work are deprioritised at the cost of Haiti, its institutions, and its citizens.