UN: Over 3K People Killed in Haiti Gang Violence This Year

Improve the News Foundation -

Facts

  • The UN human rights office said on Friday that at least 3,661 people have been killed in Haiti since January as a result of gang violence, a level similar to last year.[1][2]
  • This comes as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) updated its latest report to the Human Rights Council beyond its cut-off date in June, adding 1,009 deaths.[3][4]
  • Haiti has long faced unrest and insecurity as rival armed groups fight for influence and control of territory, but the situation escalated in March following coordinated attacks on government sites and main prisons in Port-au-Prince.[1][5]
  • Since then, internally displaced persons have more than doubled to over 700K in Haiti, and main seaports and international airports spent months closed. Land access to a key port has been closed off for three days after a shooting incident on Thursday.[6][7]
  • Meanwhile, the head of Haiti's transitional presidential council told the UN General Assembly that he supports the US proposal to transform the Multinational Security Support (MSS) into a 'more traditional' UN peacekeeping operation.[8][9]
  • The current mandate of the Kenya-led, UN-backed mission, which has experienced delays in the deployment of personnel and equipment as well as a shortage of funding, is set to expire on Oct. 2.[8][9]

Sources: [1]UN News, [2]Raw Story, [3]OHCHR (a), [4]OHCHR (b), [5]Al Jazeera, [6]Reuters, [7]Miami Herald, [8]Associated Press and [9]The Haitian Times.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Carnegieendowment. Delayed for months due to political turmoil in Haiti, the initial MSS deployment only arrived in the country in June — but has since had intermittent progress despite funding challenges. Turning the mission into a traditional UN peacekeeping operation means that there would be adequate funding to address gang violence in Haiti.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Liberation News. None of the US-sponsored interventions in Haiti have been particularly successful, including the about-to-expire MSS mission. It's inconceivable that in the face of yet another failure, it can be argued that Haiti needs further occupation — and that's exactly what Washington is pushing for. Only Haitians can come up with real solutions for their own plight.

Predictions