Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
The UN office in Haiti estimates that criminal groups in the country killed more than 2,000 people in the first six months of this year, an increase of almost 125 per cent compared with the same period in 2022. The number of prosecutions for those killings, as well as widespread kidnappings and sexual violence? Zero, according to a recent report from Human Rights Watch. The Haitian state is almost non-existent and powerless to stop around 150 criminal gangs that operate in the capital, Port-au-Prince, many linked to the G-Pèp federation or the G9 alliance. On Monday the UN Security Council authorised a Kenya-led security force to go to Haiti and assist the national police. Kenya’s foreign minister told the BBC he expects the force to be on the ground by early next year, in a mission supported by a dozen countries including Jamaica and Barbados, while the US has offered logistical support and $100 million. Haiti doesn’t have happy memories of international intervention – and Kenyan security forces have been accused of human rights abuses at home. But at this point there are no better options.
Photograph André Zumak/Mamirauá Institute