Caribbean & Central America - May 2017 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Haiti’s new foreign minister, Antonio Rodrigue, recently sought to provide reassurances that the country was “in a position to guarantee security”. His remarks followed a vote which took place last month by the United Nations (UN) Security Council (UNSC) to extend the UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) for a final six-month period. The mission, which has been in Haiti since 2004 following the rebellion which ejected former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991; 1994-1996; 2001-2004), will be replaced by a smaller successor peacekeeping mission to be known as the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (Minujusth).

In line with recommendations made by UN Secretary General António Guterres [RC-17-03], the vote, which took place on 13 April, to draw down Minustah’s military component during the next six months, with its final withdrawal set for 15 October, was not a surprise [RC-17-03]. In a report published on 16 March, Guterres had hailed the “major milestone” Haiti has achieved “toward stabilisation following recent elections with the inauguration of Jovenel Moïse as president on 7 February, marking the restoration of constitutional order”. As of January this year, Minustah is comprised of some 2,343 military troops and some 2,434 police personnel in total.

New mission

According to a UNSC press release dated 13 April, the new mission, Minujusth would be mandated to assist the Haitian government to “strengthen rule of law institutions; further support and develop the National Police; and engage in human rights monitoring, reporting, and analysis”. Minujusth would comprise up to seven formed police units (FPUs), or 980 FPU personnel, and 295 individual police officers, for an initial six months, from 16 October 2017 until 15 April 2018. The new mission would also be authorised to “protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence, within its capabilities and areas of deployment, as needed”. Minustah’s current military component would withdraw fully by 15 October.

As regards the current progress of efforts to strengthen the national police, Guterres’ March 2017 report notes that “the goal of training at least 1,000 new police officers annually was achieved, and following the graduation of the twenty-eighth promotion at the end of 2017, the national police will reach the minimum target of 15,000 officers, with 9% women.” The report also notes that with “the 2016/2017 budget of the national police amounting to US$132.5m the Government now spends 7.2% of its budget on the police. This represents a significant increase compared with the 4.77% figure in 2012-2013”.

Human rights concerns

The UNSC’s vote nonetheless comes amid continued concerns about the state of human rights in Haiti. According to Guterres’ report: “Limited progress was made in the field of justice and human rights sector reforms. Of the 12 seats on the Supreme Court, 6 remained vacant and the status of the sitting head of the judicial branch of power remained unresolved, given that his term as President of the Supreme Court and, by extension, President of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, expired in December 2015”.

Also stoking human rights-related concerns has been President Moïse’s decision announced in March to discontinue the mandate of the Independent UN Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, Gustavo Gallón. The post was created following a resolution adopted in 1995 by the UN Commission on Human Rights, and is tasked with providing assistance to the Haitian government in this area, to examine the development of human rights in Haiti, and to monitor Haiti’s fulfilment of its obligations in this field.

• Crime

According to the 16 March report by UN Secretary General António Guterres, crime statistics collected by the national police and Minustah for the period 1 September 2016 to 28 February 2017 indicated 546 reported homicides in the country, compared with 510 between 1 March and 31 August 2016. The same report notes that nearly 75% of homicides (407), often resulting from gang violence, remained concentrated in the metropolitan area of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince. In 2016, 32 killings of police officers were registered, the highest number recorded since 2006. A total of 20 kidnappings and 220 cases of rape were reported, compared with 29 and 265, respectively, between 1 March and 31 August 2016.