UN Security Council renews Haiti sanctions in bid to cut off gangs' ammunition
The council extended its sanctions committee for 13 months, as a UN expert panel warned that the arms embargo is violated "on a regular basis".
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti. The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, October 14, renewed sanctions aimed at starving Haiti's armed gangs of ammunition, as the country endures what is regarded as one of the world's most acute security crises.
The UN said gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are pushing into rural areas, killing, kidnapping for ransom and extorting individuals and businesses. About 1.5 million people, roughly 12 per cent of the population, have been forced from their homes.
Haiti makes no guns or ammunition of its own, the UN said, yet "the gangs never seem to run out".
The council extended the work of its sanctions committee by 13 months. Created in 2022, the committee has three main tools: an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze. Nine individuals and two groups are currently sanctioned.
Human cost
According to the UN, more than 3,000 people were killed and over 1,500 injured between October last year and April this year. A partner organisation reported treating more than 2,400 survivors of sexual violence in Port-au-Prince between January and May, mostly women and girls. The UN said children are also being recruited by gangs.
Gaps in enforcement
The UN cited figures from its human rights office estimating that 270,000 to 500,000 illegal weapons are circulating in Haiti. Its independent panel of experts said the arms embargo is violated "on a regular basis".
The panel found that some of the gangs' bullets come from national stockpiles, and that Haitian police "do not centrally track what they seize", leaving some weapons unaccounted for or diverted by corrupt officers.
The asset freeze has fared worse. Only two sanctioned individuals' accounts were reported frozen, with small sums, "because banks acted slowly and the targets moved money or hid it under third parties' names". The panel found no attempts to break the travel ban, but warned that fraudulent passports could let sanctioned people travel under false names.
The experts said that "targeting gang leaders without addressing the networks that sustain them will inevitably fall short", pointing to political, economic and security figures who back gangs.
Haitian authorities have recently intercepted several illicit shipments at ports, and US authorities have also seized firearms and ammunition bound for Haiti.
Haiti welcomed the renewal but warned that sanctions alone cannot restore security.
