Haiti’s Delegate Urges Strengthened Arms Embargos as Security Council Receives Briefing by Sanctions Regime

Haiti's Delegate Urges Strengthened Arms Embargos as Security Council Receives Briefing by Sanctions Regime

The Security Council today received a briefing on its sanctions regime for Haiti and heard a call for stronger measures from the country's representative, who reported a surge in homicides and a tripling of kidnappings this year amid arms embargo violations. Briefing the Council, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett (Guyana), Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 2653 (2022) concerning Haiti, reported that the Committee has met on three occasions in informal consultations and has held two briefings to Member States. She said that the Panel of Experts assisting the sanctions regime submitted to the Council interim and final reports on 29 March and 30 September respectively, also noting the submission of two confidential periodic updates to the Committee during its mandate.

"These reports provided extremely useful insights on the situation in Haiti," she observed, adding that they also supplied information on several individuals who could be responsible or complicit in, or had engaged - directly or indirectly - in actions that threaten peace, security and stability of that country. On 27 September, the Committee added two individuals to its sanctions list, bringing the total number of those individuals to seven. "I believe that the 2653 sanctions regime, together with other necessary measures, can contribute to improving the security situation in the country and creating a conducive environment for the ongoing political transition and the long-term political process," she stressed.

However, "our country has seen an umpteenth act of collective violence from armed gangs," said Haiti's representative, reporting that, last week, 180 people were massacred by a gang. Observing that the crisis has taken on catastrophic proportions, he said that 5,000 people have been killed since January. More so, a few days ago, members of the criminal gang, led by Monel "Mikano" Felix, killed 200 people in Cite Solei. "Haiti has been invaded by weapons of war," he stressed, noting that they are coming from outside the country since Haiti does not manufacture any arms.

In 2024, homicides went up by 30 per cent and the number of kidnappings has tripled, he said, adding that gangs with "sophisticated weapons" have overpowered the national police. "How can one justify these illegal flows of weapons when an embargo is in place?" he asked, stressing that targeted sanctions should be beefed up to include all those involved in the criminal chain. "We are counting on the Committee to uphold the decisions taken in resolution 2653 (2022)," he concluded.

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