Senior Haitian diplomat asks UN Security Council to help deal with gangs | immigration news

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Gang-related violence has displaced more than 19,000 Haitians in recent months, according to the United Nations.

Haiti’s top diplomat has called on the United Nations Security Council to help deal with the escalating violence and crime in the country.

Foreign Minister Claude Joseph told the 15-member body on Monday that the current UN political mission needs to focus on strengthening Haiti’s security and law enforcement institutions, which is also in the midst of a political crisis that deepened after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. in July.

“It is imperative that we take into account the new realities the country is facing and that the mandate be adjusted accordingly,” Joseph said.

The Caribbean nation has suffered since a devastating earthquake in 2010. Shortly after Moyes’ assassination, another earthquake in August killed more than 2,200 people and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes.

This came as Haiti continued to grapple with rising killings, kidnappings and gang-related power wars. The violence has forced about 19,000 Haitians from their homes in recent months, and many are living in makeshift shelters and unsanitary conditions, according to the United Nations.

Meanwhile, the recent mass deportation of Haitian asylum seekers by US authorities from the Texas-Mexico border has shed more light on the dire situation in Haiti.

The Security Council deployed a full peacekeeping mission to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. It was replaced in 2017 by a police mission, which was then replaced by a smaller political mission in 2019.

Speaking on Monday, UN envoy to Haiti Helen Lyme told the council that while Haiti’s national police are working to follow up on recommendations made by UN police experts this summer, the force is “extremely overburdened and under-resourced.”

La Lyme said the Haitian government “must implement a more comprehensive approach to confronting gang violence”.

In turn, Joseph said officials need the UN mission in Haiti to focus on supporting the government’s efforts in “security stability and the protection of civilians.”

The mission’s mandate, due to be renewed this month, includes promoting police professionalism and supporting a national strategy to reduce violence. It also has a number of other goals, such as pushing forward electoral reforms.

Criticism of US deportations

Council members said that Haiti needed continued support to find its way forward, although some also emphasized the country’s role in doing so.

“It is ultimately up to the Haitian people themselves to get the country out of their plight,” said Geng Shuang, China’s deputy ambassador. Compare years of international aid efforts to giving someone a blood or oxygen transfusion that “has been shown to be neither remarkably ineffective nor sustainable.”

He and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Polyansky, also criticized the expulsion of thousands of Haitian asylum seekers along the US border. Thousands more were allowed to enter the United States temporarily to pursue their claims to stay.

Pictures of US Border Patrol agents on horseback trapping and flogging migrants sparked a wave of anger, with the resignation of the US special envoy to Haiti, an investigation, a visit to Haiti, and an apology last week from a senior US official.

“We are appalled by the decision to forcibly return to Haiti those who have combined all their means to leave Haiti in search of a better life for their children,” Polyansky said.

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