After murder of violent gang members in Haiti, U.N. can’t ignore people’s fear and frustration | Opinion
For Haiti watchers and many in South Florida, Monday’s act of vigilante justice was shocking even for that troubled country —and it’s an eye-opening sign that something must be done to help the volatile Caribbean nation dangerously dangling over an abyss.
The United Nations Security Council will meet on Wednesday, and what happened when Haitian national police stopped a busload of suspected gang members on a Port-au-Prince street should be viewed as an alarm of Haitian desperation.
Before police could arrest the young men, a fed-up mob dragged them away, savagely beat them and stoned some with boulders before throwing gasoline-doused tires on top of them and lighting a match. The bodies burned in the street, some while still alive. How horrific.
In Port-au-Prince, the quickly forming mob residents had suddenly taken the law into their own hands to mete out street justice.
The videos are difficult to watch. The anger among this particular group of Haitians, who had obviously had enough of violent gangs who intimidate with kidnappings, violence and rape, could be seen as heroic and long overdue. After all, who can truly blame fed-up Haitians sick of the turmoil smothering their lives?
But such vigilantism also is further proof of the lawlessness in Haiti, even from the perceived good guys.
In one video, one can hear the woman saying: “Where is the police?” Good question.
Overrun by gangs
Since the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, Haitian gangs have overtaken even more of the country; they now control over more than 60% of the capital and have branched out to other regions, specifically the rural Artibonite Valley, according to the United Nations.
As we have written many times, it appears Haiti is on the brink of disaster. - again.
Life in Haiti, never easy for the poor, is becoming increasingly difficult for the more affluent, who are easy targets of kidnappings for ransom and are being chased out of their homes in the hillside communities where gangs have also begun to rule.
There is no elected government or elections in sight, and a recently launched humanitarian parole program by the Biden administration is draining doctors, police and other professionals from the island to the United States.
What will the international community, including the U. S., do to stop this latest slide into lawlessness?
The Biden administration has made it clear that a U.S.-led intervention, boots on the ground, is not on the table. Biden, while in March visiting Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who seemingly has also declined to lead a multinational force into Haiti, said it’s maybe time for the United Nations to consider a peacekeeping mission. The United States had hoped to avoid this. Haiti’s has had eight such missions in the past 30 years.
Obviously, it is difficult to see a way out of this latest Haitian crisis.
Will U.N. step up?
There should be solutions offered up on Wednesday beyond the usual platitudes about how bad things are in Haiti and calls for a Haitian-led solution. It is time for real action from the international community.
The Security Council has a chilling U.N. report issued two weeks ago as a warning. The Haiti: Humanitarian Response Plan 2023 says that violence and abuse have reached unprecedented levels; freedom of movement and access to essential services have been restricted. Almost half of the population is going hungry.
“Without urgent support, those affected will experience major life-threatening consequences,” the report says.
The U.N. and the international community need to come up with real solutions for Haiti. Time is of the essence because lives are at stake, and not just those of suspected gang members.
This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 1:49 PM.