UNITED NATIONS, CMC – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the adoption of a resolution by the Security Council authorizing a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti.
The resolution, adopted under the UN Charter’s Chapter VII on Monday, which sets out the Security Council’s responsibilities to maintain international peace and security, was penned by the United States and Ecuador.
The UN chief’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told journalists that Guterres applauded this development.
Dujarric said UN engagement with Haiti will continue ahead of the deployment of the international support mission backing beleaguered police fighting rampant gang violence.
He said armed groups had taken control of large areas of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and terrorized civilians for more than a year.
“Violence by armed groups is just one element of the multifaced crisis in Haiti, which remains gripped by political, humanitarian, and socioeconomic challenges,” Dujarric said.
The UN said the international mission has been approved for a year, with a review after nine months. Kenya will lead it, and several of Haiti’s Caribbean neighbors, including Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Belize, have also pledged their support.
Dujarric said the resolution was about something other than approving a UN mission. Still, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) will fully support the Multinational Security Support mission within the limits of its mandate, the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy, and in full respect of the decisions taken by the Haitian state.
“While awaiting the deployment of this mission, the UN will continue to engage closely with Haitian authorities – particularly in support of the police, the corrections and justice system, and the electoral process,” he added.
Maria Isabel Salvador, the head of BINUH, the UN’s political mission in Haiti, called the Council decision “a positive and decisive step to bring peace and stability to the country.
“This decision follows a long plea by the Haitian government, relayed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, based on the observation that the country will not emerge from the current security situation without strong international support for the Haitian National Police,” she said in a statement issued after the vote.
With Haiti confronting many crises, she urged political leaders to “rise to the occasion to address the challenges facing the country and its population.”
On Tuesday, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, who is also the chairman of the 15-member regional integration movement, CARICOM, said Prime Minister Skerrit said. At the same time, the United Nations Security Council passed the resolution “Haiti needs more than that.
“Haiti is going to need a comprehensive set of measures to help it stabilize the situation, bring law and order back into Haiti, but also going forward an economic plan that is well financed by the international community,” Skerrit said, adding that “Haiti is going to need a complete overhaul and a Marshall plan to help it get out of the situation once and for all.”
Following the adoption of the resolution, the United States reiterated its pledge to provide multi-million-dollar aid to the French-speaking Caribbean country.
“As previously stated, we intend to work with Congress to provide US$100 million in foreign assistance, and the Department of Defense is prepared to provide up to US$100 million in enabling support,” said US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken.
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