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Haiti: Capital at Risk as Gangs Expand Control, UN Expert Warns | Press Conference | United Nations
Summary
2134seconds video
William O’Neill, the UN expert on human rights in Haiti, addressed a press conference after his recent visit to the country. He reported that the human rights situation in Haiti is deteriorating, with gangs increasingly controlling areas beyond the capital. These gangs perpetuate violence, including killings, rapes, and recruitment of children, and operate with impunity.
O’Neill highlighted the dire humanitarian situation, with over a million internally displaced people and widespread hunger and sexual violence in makeshift camps. He emphasized the urgency for political unity and the fight against impunity and corruption in Haiti. The need to bolster Haitian National Police and the multinational security support mission (MSS) with resources such as mobility equipment, night vision gear, and additional personnel was stressed.
O’Neill also addressed the potential end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in the US, which could lead to the deportation of many Haitians into a dire situation. He urged the international community to delay deportations due to the unsafe conditions in Haiti. The challenges of controlling the flow of weapons into Haiti, notably from the Dominican Republic and through maritime routes, were discussed. O’Neill called for coordinated international efforts to curb this arms flow, as it fuels gang violence.
Emphasizing the importance of strict adherence to human rights law in combating gangs, O’Neill noted the complexities faced by police dealing with young gang members. He addressed questions about training and resources for Haitian police and the MSS, acknowledging their limitations but expressing optimism about the impact of a coordinated strategy.
O’Neill encouraged international and Haitian actors to take swift action to address these challenges, highlighting the potential for decisive improvements with adequate support and strategic planning.
Full Script
Hi colleagues, good afternoon. Thank you to all of you joining us here in the room and online at this press conference by William O’Neill who is the UN expert on human rights in Haiti and who’s here to brief you on his recent visit to Haiti. Bill was designated to his role by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for Cretorica in April 2023 following a request of the Human Rights Council. Bill, over to you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Laura, thank you all for being here. Bonjour, bonsoir tout le monde. Hello everyone. I’m just back from Haiti where I was on a field mission to take stock of the human rights situation. This was my fourth visit since my appointment as Laura just mentioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights just about two years ago. I hate to sound like a broken record but I have to say the situation is more dire each time that I go. This brief stay enabled me to assess the situation, not only how serious it is but also an above all, above all to witness the pain and despair of an entire population. Suffering permeates all social strata, especially the most vulnerable. Despite the efforts of the Haitian National Police and the multinational security support mission, the risk of the capital falling under gang control is palpable. These violent criminal groups continue to extend and consolidate their hold even beyond the capital. They kill, rape, terrorize, set fire to homes, orphanages, schools, hospitals, places of worship, they recruit children, and they infiltrate all spheres of society. All this with the utmost impunity and sometimes as many sources point out with the complicity of powerful actors. The testimonies we received speak for themselves and need no comment. We interviewed P. aged 16. She survived the worst. She told us seven masked gunmen broke into my home in Kenskof, raped and beat me and my stepmother. Then they killed my father in front of me. The pain is excruciating. Sometimes I forget it, then it comes back. At night I scream. In the meantime, she told us she dances and dreams of being a psychologist for young survivors like herself. The young girl has been housed in a refuge for a few weeks. According to civil society, violence exacerbates all needs. There are not enough resources to care of all victims like P. Another person we interviewed, a young boy, told us I just want to get back to the street, 12-year-old L, a child who was forcibly recruited to join a gang. He is currently incarcerated at the Centre d’Education des Mineurs, the youth prison in Port-au-Prince, and accused of being associated with gangs. I don’t want any more bandits in my country. Later, I’ll be a pilot, he told us. The violence has internally displaced over one million people and thousands more have been displaced just in the last few weeks. They have nowhere to go. Students recently throw stones at IDPs, internally displaced persons, who are attempting to occupy their school, the desperate turning against the even more desperate. In the makeshift camps, hunger and sexual violence are widespread. For many, it’s a matter of survival. Unity and solidarity must guide political action at all levels in the interests of the population. These must be the guiding principles for all Haitian actors in order to ensure security, the primacy of justice, and the survival of the state. The fight against impunity and corruption are major obstacles to dismantling gangs. The Haitian state must therefore make the fight against these two scourges an absolute priority. The fight against the gangs must be conducted also in strict compliance with international human rights law, particularly the right to life. No circumstances, however exceptional, can justify the violation of this fundamental right. The international community, for its part, must act without delay to implement the commitments it has already made, particularly with regard to the sanctions regime, to the arms embargo, and the substantial reinforcement of the multinational security support mission, all done in compliance with international human rights law. There is not a day to lose. There is no alternative. Haiti’s survival is at stake. I end my remarks there, and I certainly welcome any questions or observations you might have. Thank you. Thank you, Bill. We’ll begin with questions here in the room. E.D., please. Thank you very much on behalf of the United Nations Correspondence Association for doing this briefing. My name is Edith Letera from the Associated Press. You’ve been in Haiti many times over many years, and you’ve just said that both the state needs to do more, and the international community has to do more, especially in beefing up the multinational support force. How many police, international police do you believe it would take to actually gain control from the gangs? And at the same time, what significant actions does the government need to take to actually try and reduce their growing power? Thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, the two very, very good questions. I believe that the total that was already identified in the Security Council resolution that created the MSS of about 2,500 is pretty close to what’s needed. It could be a little more, but we’re not talking about massive numbers. I think 2,500 of the right type of police with the right type of equipment could have an enormous impact on controlling, dismantling, overpowering the gangs. And by that I mean, what do they really need? They really need more mobility in terms of air to move around by helicopter. They need better vehicles that are more apt to deal with Haitian topography, both the cities, the densely populated cities with narrow streets and very crowded neighborhoods. And also, as the gangs have extended into the areas outside the capital, which are very hilly, some very steep hills, narrow paths that aren’t really conducive to the type of vehicles, to moving the type of vehicles the MSS or the Haitian national police have. They also need more night vision goggles. They need more body armor. They need, yeah, they need more mobility. They need more and more flexibility in their ability to operate. The Haitian national police also are lacking. They’re about, who knows, no one really knows that’s a problem, but maybe they have maybe nine to 10,000 for 11 million people. I mean, if you look next to the Dominican Republic, they have about 50,000 police for the same population. So there’s nowhere near enough Haitian police and they don’t have the right equipment either in terms of being able to move around at night and effectively. So that’s a big challenge right now, but I don’t think it’s insuperable. We’re not talking about thousands and thousands of whatever. We’re just total, yeah, 2,500 international police, get a few more Haitian national police, but also with the right equipment. I think you could have a huge impact on the gangs. Your second question on the government’s actions, I think here the government partly is, they’re totally responsible for the Haitian national police. So for more budget, more support in every way, personnel, equipment for the Haitian national police is vital. I think the government also needs to unify its approach, its strategy. The Haitian national police, the prime minister, the presidential council need to work really closely together to have a strategic plan. It was a good news that there’s a national security council that’s finally been formed at the Haitian level so that they can coordinate and consolidate their strategy. I think there’s a lot more that needs to be done to entice most of the gangs or teenagers. I mean, at least half, again, we don’t really know, but half UNICEF has said half. I think they’re probably pretty close to being accurate on that. It could be a little higher. Our young people, so how do you entice the young people already in a gang to leave? And again, there’s some good news on that front. The Haitian government just announced the formation of a national commission on disarmament and violence reduction, which existed on paper for many years. It finally now has people on it with a mandate, I hope with resources, to deal with both trying to entice young people to leave gangs and also, pretty as important, divert future people from joining gangs, giving youth something else to do, some positive participation in society. But that’s also a big part of this. How do you remove the underlying causes for the violence, which has been massive inequality, poverty, and many, many young people in Haiti in these slum areas having no options in their lives? So they join a gang. It looks promising. They get a gun. They get $10 a week. They get fed a hot meal. That’s much better than anything else on offer. So if you were to address that, and that’s going to take time, but you have to start somewhere, but I think the Haitian government needs to be, the people I met with want to be, they certainly seem to express the will to be able to do much more to address the socioeconomic side of the violence. Go ahead. Let’s go to you and then Pam and then to Evelyn. Thank you. So let’s see. My name is Valia Ousset-Rui. I’m with the CRIALS series of Voice of America. My question to you, you recently was in Haiti. Can you confirm that there is a task force put together by the prime minister, the government itself, to fight against the gang? And recently, are you aware of the attacks that were made, the drones, they call them the drone kamikas that were made in the gang’s turf? Do you have any numbers of casualties? Were there any collateral casualties? What can you tell us? Do you have any numbers of people that were victimized, affected by those attacks? Thank you. Yes, I’m aware. I can’t confirm there is a task force. I only know what I’ve read in the press and various press statements made by government officials and others. So that’s what’s been said, but we haven’t been able to confirm that it does exist, but it seems that there is some entity that’s been active on that regard. With regard to the drone attacks, yes, it’s really hard. It’s hard in Haiti. What I saw, very even worse this time, is the ability to move around and to do investigations and get information. So that’s my preference to everything. It’s very difficult to confirm any numbers. I know there’s a human rights organization in Haiti, the R&D de la Resonationale des Reussiers, which issued a report yesterday that I don’t have the figure in my head, but I think it was 40, 50 people killed or wounded seriously by these drones. Again, I don’t know. They usually do thorough work, but I haven’t seen other numbers. I know the UN Human Rights Service because of the security situation only has part of its staff there. That’s because of UN security rules, and so they are understaffed and much have a much harder time to get that type of information, but it does appear that in their pictures and social media of drones, and so it does seem that there have been several attacks now, four or five over the last 10 days, targeting gang members using these drones with some kind of explosive device. But that’s pretty much all that I know for the moment. Go ahead, Ben. Thank you so much, and thank you to Mr. O’Neill. It’s Pamela Falk from US News and World Report. With so much violence, how worried are you about the end of the temporary protected status in the United States? The estimates are as of the summer when it expires, there could be up to 500,000 Haitians returning to Haiti or deported to Haiti from the United States. What do they face in Haiti if they are returned, and a follow-up to Edy’s question, where can the money come from to supplement what you need? Have you gone to the private sector, Dominican Republic, other countries? What is the UN doing to try to get those funds that are insufficient right now? Thank you. Thank you very much. The TPS situation is very alarming. I’ve worked in Haiti off and on over many, many years. It’s never been worse in terms of the human rights situation, the humanitarian catastrophe. And it’s not just limited to Port-au-Prince. The violence, the overwhelming violence, is Port-au-Prince in the greater capital area, which comprises roughly half the Haitian population at least. It could be as much as 60% of Haitians live in Port-au-Prince in the surrounding area. There’s also another area, the Artibonid Valley, which is also controlled by a very violent gang. It’s Haiti’s bread basket, which contributes to the humanitarian catastrophe because food, there is some food around us, it’s just very expensive. Because to get the food out of this valley, you have to go through a number of gang checkpoints and they charge everything that goes through. There’s a tax, a toll, whatever you want to call it. And so by the time it gets to wherever, whoever selling it has to raise the price to recover all the tolls they’ve had to pay. And that area also is heavily populated and controlled by a gang. But then the consequences on the rest of the country that have less violence are also extreme because Haiti’s so centralized that it has an impact. The capital basically being cut off from the rest of the country by air, land and sea. It means medical equipment, medicines, food, construction material, you name it, is very scarce and very expensive. So even in areas far away from the capital, the people are feeling it very, very deeply, this violence and instability. So that’s what people face. And then the people who are, if they are sent back, if they have family or support networks in the capital, how do they get back? Because you can’t land, the FAA just announced no US airplanes until September using the main international airport of the country. So they landed a K-patient. I was just in K-patient. That’s how I got in and out. I got a fly from Miami to K-patient at a helicopter, the UN helicopter, the only safe way for UN people to get into and out of the capital. So how are they going to get back? And then what do they face in the capital? Violence shortages of everything, a million already displaced. So I have urged publicly the US administration to reconsider the TPS decision. And I’ve also urged any country, not just the United States, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos, Turkey actually, anyone who’s deporting Haitians now, please reconsider this. I just think it’s not a safe or you cannot guarantee a dignified safe return, which is required under international law to forcibly deport people. So that’s my response to the first part of your question. And I guess I answered the second. That’s what they face. Violence shortages of all basic needs and certainly no end in sight. I mean, the scary thing is, and that kind of relates to your third question. I mean, I know my UN colleagues, headquarters and the other branches of the Secretary General’s office beating down the doors or wherever to try to raise the funds for the trust fund for the MSS, for the multinational support staff. The humanitarian Ocha just announced the new humanitarian appeal for Haiti. I think it’s $910 million. The last appeal, if it got 50%, got barely 50%. So the reality we face in the world is that there’s a shortage of everything now and there’s so many other crises and many governments are cutting back on international assistance and support. So it’s a grim moment. But I think the Haiti, when I look at some of the other crises, when I look at Ukraine and Sudan and the Middle East and Myanmar, Congo, I as a human being, I just kind of throw up my hands and say, OK, how do we limit the innocent stying? But in Haiti, it’s much smaller scale. This is doable. That’s what’s also quite frustrating. Haiti is doable. It’s small. It’s an island. It shouldn’t really matter, but it’s 90 minutes from Miami. I mean, it should be able to be fixed in the sense of getting control of the weapons flow, getting controls of the money flows, the drug trafficking that’s helping support the gangs. And not, as I said, to answer Eda’s question, you’re not talking about 10,000, 20,000. You’re talking about 2,500, maybe 3,000 well-trained and equipped international police. It’s doable. Evelyn, go ahead. Thank you very much. Evelyn Leopold, Dachshund, Fund for Journalists, last year when I wrote about Haiti, there were several leaders in office in government who said the only thing to save it was a UN peacekeeping force, which the Secretary General and the Secretary General had sent a letter to the Security Council in response to a request from the Council to have options moving forward. I think it’s public. That letter suggested a model that’s not a peacekeeping operation, but it would be based on a model used in Somalia, where the UN set up a support office that would help, in this case, the MSS in Somalia, it was helping the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The idea would be something similar, not exactly the same, but the idea of that approach so that this support office would come from assessed budget. You wouldn’t have to run around with a cup saying, please give money. The support office would have a budget, and the support office would be able to help the Kenyan-led force to acquire some key logistical and other types of support. The problem has been because it’s not a UN peacekeeping mission, just the procurement. I’ve talked to people, it’s very, very slow and time consuming and bureaucratic and all those things. As I said, you don’t have time for that. There’s just no time for that. I think if this option is accepted by the Council, that’s up to them obviously, and they’ll have further discussions, that could be a big help because I think that’s been a big hurdle in having the MSS become effective. If the support office really does get up and running and can get things like helicopters, like better vehicles, like spare parts, I’m told it’s not surprising. Hades roads, anybody’s been to Haiti, even in Port-au-Prince, it’s like, so the vehicles break down. They need spare parts. Just getting the spare parts has become a major, major challenge. Anything that would smooth that out, speed it up, and get the MSS more of what it needs will be a good thing. My understanding is a full bore peacekeeping operation is not on the table for now, but things do change. What exactly is that option called that you just recommended? I think it’s called a support office. I’m not sure there’s a term for other than that. Let’s go online and I’ll come back to you, Maggie, and we’ll see. We have a question from Jacqueline Charles online. Jackie, can you hear us? Yes. Hi, I hear you. Thank you. Bill, you mentioned this about the weapons flow, and I’m just wondering if you can elaborate a little bit on that. We are seeing that the gangs now have access to military-grade weapons. So despite the fact that we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars into this MSS force, it looks like the border is still on guard and that they’re getting these weapons via the Dominican Republic that we’ve seen with last week. What needs to be done? How do you control this weapons flow? Yeah, that’s a huge question, a huge problem, but a key one, because I think, and I’ve said this before, there’s not a gun or bullet manufactured in Haiti. So if you stop the flow of guns and bullets, the gangs eventually run out of, literally run out of ammunition. And that’s a quicker, faster, safer way to dismantle them than having to go in and fight them. So, yes, I met with the leaders of the Haitian police. They have a Haitian police unit called the police frontaliere, the frontier police. And they, again, lack just about everything. They only, they have 300, I was told by the director, 300 police to patrol the whole border, which I think it’s like 180 kilometers. Most of it mountainous, hilly, difficult to access except for the smugglers, because of course they know exactly where to go. They barely have enough staff to cover the four official border crossings. They have no scanners, and they have one drone that they use up around one amount, I was told. So again, same thing, they need more people, the Haitian border guards police. They need scanners, they’re begging for scanners. They need more drones so they could at least do surveillance, because most of the contraband, and it’s not just weapons, I mean, they’re obviously the most problematic, but the Haitian state is losing billions of dollars in revenue, because there’s a lot of contraband coming into the country that’s never paying any duties or taxes. And because they often use the unofficial crossings, and then sometimes things get even smuggled through the official crossings. And that’s often related to corruption. And again, the government will tell you this, they know they have a big corruption problem. So getting a handle of all of that is going to be necessary, and it’s obviously a big task, and you can’t do everything at once, but I think certainly prioritizing you’re securing the border, which again, how can you have a safe country if you’re not sure of what’s coming in or out? Same thing by sea, a lot of little boats are coming in and out of Haiti, and also little airplanes that land, and that’s been, for years, Haiti, the drug traffickers from Columbia use airstrips in isolated parts of the country. So that’s a major priority, should be also for the internationals. I was told at some point the Haitian government was talking to some private companies that do training and have sophisticated equipment to patrol and monitor what comes across borders. But yes, and I guess there were, and I actually applaud the Dominican government recently just did two pretty big sting operations that found, you know, drug, sorry, guns going into Haiti. Some of them involving official Dominican government and police involved in this trafficking with the gangs. So clearly, everybody, Haitians obviously need to do more on their side, the Dominicans need to do more on their side, and we in the United States need to do much more, because a lot of the guns that are coming via or through the Dominican Republic originate in Florida or elsewhere in the United States in Port Everglades, Miami, or wherever. And so increasing the screening we do, making people file manifests and putting people in prison. And yes, there was good, I was glad to see recently a drug, a gun trafficker in Florida just got a pretty heavy sentence in the federal court. And so you don’t have to catch every single one, but if they see, okay, I could risk 20 years in a federal penitentiary, is my profit margin on this shipment to Haiti really worth it? If I get caught 20 years in the federal pen, maybe not. So the deterrence of some prosecutions and arrests have a huge impact, I would hope, on this network. And I think so it’s multi, again, multifaceted, multi-national approach needs to be taken, because I think that’s really one of the keys. If the gangs run out of bullets, it’s finished. They’re over. Thanks. We’re coming back to the room of the Ducey and then Maggie, and then we’ll have to wrap it up. Thanks. Okay, thanks very much. You mentioned, or someone asked about the sharpshooters. There’s something, a report that former U.S. military sharpshooters are on contract with the U.S. State Department working in Haiti. Do you know about this? I don’t know about that. No, I’m sorry. I don’t know about that. Okay. And you had conversations with the U.S. government, the State Department recently, after or before your visit. Is the level of interest pretty low now for dealing with Haiti? Are they going to release that $13 million for the MSF? Yes. Also, I’m afraid I don’t have an answer to that question either, Ducey. I can say, I’ve talked to and met with the U.S. government officials in Haiti and in Washington. They are very, very concerned and they’re still very much on it. You’ll see the administration in Washington and they obviously have other priorities too. But I think the thing I can say, I was reading, was they’re waiting for direction on policy, but that they are very much engaged and sending back, as always, information, reports, et cetera, to the policy makers in the administration. And Haiti is extremely volatile, as I saw, and I think that’s one of the challenges, is staying on top of the information and then making your policy based on a quickly changing environment. Maggie, thanks. Thank you, Mr. O’Neill. It’s Margaret Beshear with VOA. Could you just talk a bit about the human rights challenges for the Haitian National Police and the MSS because they’re dealing with criminals who are minors. So what are the specific challenges? I mean, they can’t just go out and shoot randomly because of the fact that they are teenagers and these gangs and you said it’s up to half the membership. So could you just address the specific human rights challenges under international law? Yeah. No, that’s a very good question. It’s especially raised by the use of these drones. So it’s a big, big challenge for the reasons of many of them. I’ve already stated that you have many, many young people in gangs. You have them often, I’m told, by people who’ve operated or watched them under the influence of drugs sometimes, and that’s not unique. And you look at child soldiers and other conflicts, it’s very common. And some of them have a grant quite hardened. They have committed or witnessed severe, severe acts of violence. Yet, again, they’re children. So that’s why I think it’s important this new commission set up by the government realizes that the answer is not to kill them if you can avoid it, not even arrest them if you can avoid it. They need rehabilitation, reeducation, and all these things. They need special counseling, all kinds of issues that are there. But so the challenges are, though, when you are a police officer and your job is to save lives and protect innocent lives, and sometimes you’re faced with a situation of how much force do I use, there’s strict guidelines on international human rights law that apply. And some of the most important ones are you only use deadly force as an absolute last resort, either in self-defense or defense of a third party, or if you’re trying to arrest somebody who’s very, very dangerous and is resisting arrest or is trying to flee. So there are some certain situations where you can use lethal force, but that’s only after everything else you’ve tried doesn’t work. And then, again, you have to be very, very careful if you are using deadly force that you’re targeting as precisely as possible so there aren’t people injured who are not supposed to be injured. They’re not the ones threatening you. And that’s so that discrimination, in the sense that the word it’s used in this context, which means discriminating very, very carefully as much as humanly possible between someone who is really threatening you and you need to do something, either to protect you or others and someone who isn’t, but they’re nearby. And so that’s why the methods are very important. Training is very important for the police. In fact, I do some training for the New York Police Department, and we talk about these same issues in the context of their work. It’s very challenging, police officers will tell you, but they have rules. That’s what makes them different from a gang. They actually follow, they should follow rules. And the rules are very clear. The facts can be tricky and hard to read, and that’s where it takes training and experience. But I think that’s some of the biggest challenges for the Haitian National Police is, you know, they haven’t had a lot of training. This is really kind of a new challenge for them to face such well-armed people, including teenagers, and they have very limited, very limited resources. And so the problem, if it’s true, and we need to verify again, use of these drones with these explosives is they don’t discriminate by definition. They just explode. So anybody around that area could be wounded or killed. And that’s a problem when it comes to human rights law, I have to tell you. We’re looking into it. The human rights lawyers in Geneva, it’s not unique to Haiti. This is a phenomenon now in the Americas and other countries, but it does pose some significant challenges. How do you make this balance of, yeah, you want to have an effective police. They’re there to save lives, protect their own lives, but they also have to make sure they don’t do more harm than good when they’re in this work. You said the HNP hasn’t had a lot of training on this. In your conversations with the leadership of the multinational force, do you feel that they are better trained on this? I should, let me rephrase it a bit. I know the Haitian police have had training on this in the past. I can’t speak for the recent past. So how much, because you need continual training. You need, it’s not just at the academy. You need training once you’re out there operating. And I think one challenge for the Haitian national police has been because they are so few in number in the last two or three years and the threat has increased so dramatically. I’m just not so much, so sure how much time they have. They’re on operations almost constantly. The MSS has gotten a lot of training on this. And I know I have colleagues at Human Rights Office in Geneva and people, colleagues here in New York have met with the leaders of the MSS. They have a due diligence human rights policy. They also have a complaint mechanism, which is actually working quite well. Fortunately, there have not been very many complaints, but the civil society in Haiti, human rights groups, have had meetings jointly with the MSS and they have been informed how someone can file a complaint if they believe the MSS has behaved badly, illegally used force, sexual abuse, whatever it is. There is a process for them to make that known and there will be investigations and consequences if it’s found to be true. There’s something similar in the Haitian national police also, but they are, as I said, they are overwhelmed and there’s an inspector general that’s also supposed to receive complaints about police misconduct and abuse. There are complaints, there are cases, the UN rights office actually has brought the UN in Haiti to the inspector general’s office of possible alleged extradition executions by the Haitian national police and that’s being looked into by the inspector general’s office and we are in touch with them. I met with the minister of justice on my last full day in Haiti and I raised these cases with him and he’s aware of it and he’s committed to investigating them further. So we are really aware of this issue and I know there’s a lot of concern and I know there’s commitment and I hope there are no issues like this, but if there are, they’re followed up and dealt with properly. Thank you Bill, we’ll have to wrap it up. Bill, thank you so much for coming. Thank you all for joining. I think Bill’s statement must be on your inboxes by now. If not, I’ll check it and resend. I was told to let you know that there will be a briefing by the EU foreign policy representative at the security council takeout at 1245 and Stefan will be here to brief you afterwards. Thank you.
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