MDespite a particularly charged global context, Haiti was at the center of discussions at the United Nations Security Council. On October 2, he voted to send a “ multinational security support mission »and adopted the final report on the sanctions regime applied to those who support violence in the country. A way to demonstrate the UN’s commitment. But this agitation does not hide the limits and contradictions of international diplomacy.
The establishment of a sanctions regime and the Haitian government’s request for the deployment of a specialized armed force date from October 2022. It took almost a year for the United States, at the maneuver, but not wishing to take leadership, found a candidate country to take the lead in this multinational mission: it will be Kenya. And Jamaica, Barbados and Antigua and Barbuda have committed to participating.
As for the sanctions regime, the group of experts has just submitted its final report; a damning report, but which presents both a critical analysis of the situation and an evasion of its scale and its consequences.
Deliberate sabotage
During the first eight months of 2023, this report indicates, 3,334 people were killed and 1,787 others kidnapped by gangs. Around twenty of them, among the largest, are grouped in two coalitions, controlling 80% of the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince. Many of their leaders parade on social networks, by swimming pools or in rap videos, in the heart of the city, flaunting their wealth and their immunity. But, beyond these spectacular figures – the main one of which is the former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue” –, the particular interest of the UN report is to show what is the breeding ground for these armed bands.
In “oligopoly situation”Or “imports represent around 70% of goods sold in the formal economy”, this one being “controlled by a relatively small group of powerful families, who put their competing business interests above all else”gangs, the report emphasizes, are “instrumentalized by the political and economic elite as well as by senior officials”.
The deliberate sabotage of the judicial system and the rule of law guarantees impunity, while the undermining of customs control and the siphoning of public resources demonstrate “endemic corruption” (Haiti is 171e place out of 180 according to the 2022 Corruption Perception Index [de l’ONG Transparency International]).
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