UN demands end to violence in Haiti, sanctions gang leader
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Friday demanding an immediate end to violence and criminal activity in Haiti and imposing sanctions on individuals and groups threatening peace and stability in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation — starting with a powerful gang leader.
The sanctions were the first authorized by the U.N.’s most powerful body since 2017 and the resolution’s approval by all 15 council nations, whose divisions have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, demonstrated a rare sign that council members can work together -- at least on some global crises.
“We are sending a clear message to the bad actors that are holding Haiti hostage,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said after the resolution’s approval. “The international community will not stand idly by while you wreak havoc on the Haitian people.”
Mexico’s U.N. Ambassador Juan Ramon De La Fuente Ramirez praised the council’s unity on a complex issue. “In this crisis, the Security Council has given a clear signal that violence has to stop and it cannot go unpunished.”
The United States and Mexico, which drafted the 10-page resolution, had delayed the vote from Wednesday so they could revise the text to gain more support.
The U.S. ambassador said the resolution was an important first step by the Security Council to help Haitians who want action against criminals, including gangs and their financiers. She said a second resolution, which the U.S. and Mexico are working on, will help restore security and allow the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid by authorizing “a non-U.N. International Security Assistance Mission.”
The form of that help might take has been controversial among some council members and Haitians who are wary of foreign military involvement in the country, especially by the United States.
Friday’s text eliminated an earlier reference to an Oct. 7 appeal by Haiti’s Council of Ministers for the urgent dispatch of an international military force to tackle the country’s violence and alleviate its humanitarian crisis. It also dropped mention of an Oct. 8 letter from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outlining options to help Haiti’s National Police combat high levels of gang violence.
Thomas-Greenfield said Friday the next resolution will be a response to those requests. She didn’t say when it would be circulated or put to a vote though diplomats said it could happen next week.
The sanctions resolution named only a single Haitian — Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, whose gang has blocked a key fuel terminal, aggravating severe shortages. Cherizier, a former police officer who leads an alliance of gangs known as the G9 Family and Allies, will now face a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.
Political instability has simmered in Haiti since last year’s still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who had faced protests calling for his resignation over corruption charges and claims that his five-year term had expired. Moïse dissolved Parliament in January 2020 after legislators failed to hold elections in 2019 amid political gridlock.
Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control last month just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double. Cherizier’s gang blocked the Varreux fuel terminal to demand Henry’s resignation and to protest a spike in petroleum prices.
Haiti already was gripped by price inflation that put food and fuel out of reach for many and by protests have brought society to the breaking point. Violence is raging, making parents afraid to send children to school. Hospitals, banks and grocery stores struggle to stay open. Clean water is scarce and the country faces a cholera outbreak.
“Cherizier and his G9 gang confederation are actively blocking the free movement of fuel from the Varreux fuel terminal — the largest in Haiti,” the resolution said. “His actions have directly contributed to the economic paralysis and humanitarian crisis in Haiti.”
It also said he “has planned, directed, or committed acts that constitute serious human rights abuses.”
While serving in the police, it said, Cherizier planned and participated in a November 2018 attack by an armed gang on the capital’s La Saline neighborhood that killed at least 71 people, destroyed over 400 houses and led to the rapes of at least seven women.
He also led armed groups “in coordinated, brutal attacks in Port-au-Prince neighborhoods throughout 2018 and 2019” and in a five-day attack in multiple neighborhoods in the capital in 2020 in which civilians were killed and houses set on fire, the resolution said.
In a video posted on Facebook last week, Cherizier called on the government to grant him and G9 members amnesty. He said in Creole that Haiti’s economic and social situation was worsening by the day, so “there is no better time than today to dismantle the system.”
He outlined a plan for restoring order in Haiti. It would include creation of a “Council of Sages,” with one representative from each of Haiti’s 10 departments, to govern with an interim president until a presidential election could be held in February 2024. It also calls for restructuring Haiti’s National Police and strengthening the army.
The Security Council resolution establishes a committee that can impose sanctions on other Haitians and groups who threaten peace, security or stability by crimes, violence, arms trafficking, human rights abuses and obstructing aid deliveries.
Haiti’s U.N. Ambassador Antonio Rodrique welcomed the resolution’, saying, “There is no doubt whatsoever that these measures will contribute to bringing an end to the violent and deadly activities of these armed groups marauding in the country and causing numerous victims and mass population displacement.”
But Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, said sanctions won’t solve anything and it makes no sense to impose them on Chérizier because he very likely has his cash in Haiti.
“Sanctions have been imposed before, but they don’t have the real threat of military intervention,” he said. “I don’t think it will have any impact.”
Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said that despite Moscow’s support for the resolution, “We are not convinced that international restrictive measures will be an appropriate response to the whole raft of complex problems in Haiti.”
He called for a long-term solution through “eradicating poverty and inequality to ensure a strengthening of state institutions in the country, without external dictates.”
Some council members were more hopeful.
China’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Geng Shuang, said “Haiti is at the brink of collapse” and Beijing hopes the resolution will send “a clear signal” to criminal gangs “to stop their evildoing and harming of their people” and to political parties to “immediately stop their collusion with criminal actors” and reach consensus on solving the crisis.
The resolution expresses “grave concern about the extremely high levels of gang violence and other criminal activities, including kidnappings, trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants, and homicides, and sexual and gender-based violence including rape and sexual slavery, as well as ongoing impunity for perpetrators, corruption and recruitment of children by gangs and the implications of Haiti’s situation for the region.”
It demands “an immediate cessation of violence, criminal activities, and human rights abuses, which undermine the peace, stability and security of Haiti and the region.” And it urges “all political actors” to reach agreement on allowing legislative and presidential elections to be held “as soon as the local security situation permits.”
AP writer Danica Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
HAITI Exclusive: U.S. will support sending ‘multinational rapid action force’ to Haiti
BY MICHAEL WILNER AND JACQUELINE CHARLES UPDATED OCTOBER 14, 2022
The United States has drafted a United Nations Security Council resolution that will encourage the “immediate deployment of a multinational rapid action force” to Haiti to address the nation’s worst security and health crisis in decades, according to a copy of the resolution obtained by McClatchy and the Miami Herald. The draft resolution, confirmed by multiple U.S. and U.N. officials, comes in response to a call by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres last week for the establishment of a rapid reaction force to assist the Haitian National Police. Over the past four weeks, powerful armed gangs have all but sent the country into anarchy, blockading the country’s largest fuel terminals and cutting off its critical roadways. It is the first public indication so far that the Biden administration is willing to participate in a military force in Haiti — although the resolution does not specify what role various nations would play. A U.S. source familiar with the drafting of the resolution said the multilateral force would not be under the supervision of the U.N. or assembled under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which endorses the use of force for the maintenance of peace. Last week, Guterres proposed that Haiti and other nations or transnational organizations deploy a rapid response-force, to be followed in the medium-term by a U.N.-led force. It remains unclear who would lead the rapid-action force, but the United States, Canada and France — three countries with a long history of involvement in Haiti — have all expressed skepticism in recent days. Get unlimited digital access Subscribe now for just $2 for 2 months. CLAIM OFFER But the violence and lack of governance in Haiti have led to a shortage of potable water and a burgeoning cholera outbreak, alarming the international community and forcing the Biden administration — long reluctant to intervene in Haiti militarily — to acknowledge last week that the status quo has become untenable. If the draft resolution remains unchanged, and the Security Council adopts it, the U.N. would encourage “the immediate deployment of a multinational rapid action force to support the [Haiti National Police] as recommended in the Secretary-General’s letter,” according to the draft. It is still unclear whether China or Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, will support the resolution. China has been critical in recent months of the international community’s approach to Haiti and has called for a stronger arms embargo on the Caribbean nation. The United States is also seeking a U.N. mechanism that will levy international sanctions against Haiti’s gang leaders. This week, the U.S sent an elite disaster assistance response team to Port-au-Prince, deployed a major Coast Guard vessel to patrol the Haitian coast and issued visa restrictions on prominent Haitians involved in the violence. On Saturday, flights from both Canada and the U.S. are expected to land at the Port-au-Prince airport carrying critical security assistance, including armed vehicles ordered by the Haitian police, according to two sources familiar with the matter. This story was originally published October 14, 2022 8:08 PM.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article267336107.html#storylink=cpy
Linda Thomas Greenfield - UN Security Council
That is why the United States and Mexico have worked closely to draft two new resolutions – resolutions we hope this Council will unanimously support.
The first resolution would impose financial sanctions on criminal actors that are inflicting so much suffering on the Haitian people. It is time to hold them accountable for their actions. It would target those responsible for gang violence, for trafficking arms, for attacking UN personnel, for kidnapping innocent citizens, and for human rights abuses and sexual and gender-based violence. And it would go after individuals blocking Haiti’s ports and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Haitian people. The UN sanctions regime aims to stop these criminal actors from having access to reputable financial institutions. And it would work to freeze their assets and prohibit their international travel.
Additionally, its arms embargo provisions would prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of arms to criminal gangs and their leaders, as designated by this Council. The draft resolution specifically lists Jimmy Cherizier – also known as “Barbeque” – as the subject of such sanctions. He is directly responsible for the devastating fuel shortage that is crippling the country. By passing this resolution, we would take concrete actions to hold him – and so many other violent criminals – to account.
The second resolution we’re working on would authorize a non-UN international security assistance mission to help improve the security situation and enable the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid. This reflects one of the options that the Secretary-General recommended the Security Council consider. This is also a direct response to Prime Minister Henry’s and the Haitian Council of Ministers’ request for international assistance to help restore security and alleviate the humanitarian crisis. And we have also consulted broadly with other stakeholders in Haiti, including civil society and the private sector.
This resolution will propose a limited, carefully scoped, non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep, necessary experience required for such an effort to be effective. At the United Nations and across the United States government, we will work with partners and other Council members to set defined and specific parameters for the mission, and the United States will consider the most effective means to directly support, enable, and resource it.
This non-UN international security assistance mission would operate under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. And it would facilitate international support to the Haitian National Police, as well as the Coast Guard. By helping improve the security situation on the ground, the delivery of desperately needed aid could reach those in need and address the ongoing cholera crisis. Ultimately, such a mission will rely on support from UN Member States, and this draft resolution explicitly asks for contributions of personnel, equipment, and other resources.
National Center of Haitian Apostolate |
|
|
REFLECTIONS ON THE READINGS OF THE 30TH SUNDAY OF THE CHURCH YEAR (October 23, 2022)
Sirach 35, 12-14 +16-18; Psalm 34; 2 Timothy 4, 6-8 + 16-18; Luke 18, 9-14
Last Sunday, the Scripture readings stressed the importance of perseverance in prayer. Today the accent is placed on the attitude we must bring to prayer. The short story of the Pharisee and the tax collector who both went "to the temple to pray" brings forth the lesson.
The Pharisee boasts of his great virtues and of his faithfulness to the Law. He also declares himself superior to the poor tax collector. The latter in contrast simply says: "Lord be merciful to me a sinner."
Jesus concluded: "The tax collector went back home justified but not the Pharisee, for whoever exalts himself shall be humbled and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Hence, Jesus teaches us to be humble when we approach him in prayer. The poor tax collector was honest. He admitted his sinfulness. As Ben Sirach says in the first reading: "The prayer of the lowly pierces the sky." On the contrary, the Pharisee displayed an attitude of arrogance, pride, and contempt for his Neighbor.
The genuine Christian acknowledges the radical poverty of every human being and at the same time the surpassing mercy of our God. We are saved by grace not by our deeds. Therefore, we must never forget that everything we have comes from the Father of all mercies. Before Him, all bragging is out of place.
"Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us!" (Ps 95).