UN Security Council’s renewed sanctions aim to starve gangs of bullets in Haiti

With Haiti living through what is regarded as one of the world’s more acute security crises, the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, Oct. 14, renewed sanctions aimed at starving gangs of bullets in the French-speaking Caribbean country. The UN said armed gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are “pushing into rural areas, terrorizing communities, killing people, committing rape and other sexual assaults, kidnapping for ransom and extorting individuals and businesses.”  The UN said about 1.5 million people, roughly 12% of the population, have been forced from their homes. It said, while Haiti makes no guns or ammunition of its own, “the gangs never seem to run out.”  The UN said Wednesday’s Security Council renewed sanctions are meant to change that by “targeting people considered responsible for or involved in activities threatening Haiti’s peace, security and stability.”  The council extended the work of its sanctions committee by 13 months. Created in 2022 by the Security Council, the UN said Haiti sanctions committee has three main enforcement tools at its disposal: an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze.  The UN said the embargo targets weapons and ammunition reaching armed groups, and that the travel ban and freeze apply to named people and entities who contribute to the impoverished country’s insecurity and gang violence. Nine individuals and two groups are currently sanctioned by the council, the UN said.  It said the human cost of gang violence in Haiti is “stark,” stating that more than 3,000 people were killed and over 1,500 injured between October last year and April this year. The UN said a partner reported treating over 2,400 survivors of sexual violence in Port-au-Prince between January and May, mostly women and girls, with 16% being minors.  “Cases involving children as young as eight were also reported,” the UN said. “Children are also being recruited by gangs.” The UN said Haitian authorities have recently intercepted several illicit shipments at ports, and that United States authorities have also intercepted firearms and ammunition destined for Haiti, and pursued trafficking investigations. The UN pointed to figures released by its human rights office last year that state that an estimated 270,000 to 500,000 illegal weapons are in circulation in Haiti. According to the panel of experts on Haiti, an independent fact-finding body established by the Security Council, which gathers evidence and analyses information related to sanctions violations, the arms embargo on Haiti is violated “on a regular basis”  The UN said these independent experts have travelled to Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien in Haiti, Santo Domingo in the neighboring Dominican Republic and Miami in the US to meet government officials, police, financial institutions, civil society representatives and people affected by gang violence. The UN said some of the gang’s bullets in Haiti come from national stockpiles, and that Haitian police “do not centrally track what they seize. “So, some weapons are unaccounted for or diverted by corrupt officers,” the UN said.  The panel said the asset freeze has fared worse, according to the UN.  It said only two sanctioned individuals’ accounts were reported frozen, with meager sums, “because banks acted slowly and the targets moved money or hid it under third parties’ names.”  The UN said the panel found no attempts to break the travel ban, but warned that “fraudulent passports could help sanctioned people travel under false names.”  The UN said the independent panel’s message is that “targeting gang leaders without addressing the networks that sustain them will inevitably fall short.” It points to political, economic and security figures who back gangs and says many gang leaders beyond those on the sanctions list meet the criteria, the UN said.  “Gangs have continued their deadly expansion despite the sanctions already in place, a clear indication that enforcement matters,” the UN said.  At Wednesday’s meeting, the UN said speakers from some of the Security Council’s 15 member-states re-emphasized the need to disrupt gang financing, close loopholes and hold the networks supporting armed groups accountable. The UN said Haiti welcomed the renewal while warning that sanctions alone cannot restore security. “For Haitians living with gang violence, what matters is whether work of the sanctions committee and the efforts made by the Haitian Government and countries in the region translate into safer neighborhoods, fewer weapons in criminal hands and greater freedom to travel, work and reach essential services,” the UN said.