However urgent, tragic, and compelling, the deepening crisis in Haiti is unlikely to occupy considerable topline space at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which opened yesterday.
In fact, the agenda is so tightly packed
that by the time the General Debate is over, global news agendas would have
flooded us with innumerable, legitimate priorities covering unprecedented, vast
terrain.
These include the Gaza genocide (however
framed by discussants), related recognition of Palestinian statehood, wars
involving Ukraine and Sudan, US actions regarding Venezuela, and general
concern for the future of the UN itself after 80 years.
There is also the climate crisis, and our
global engagement in shaping a collective Caribbean development greater than
the sum of individual growth paths.
These prevailing and emergent issues all
have direct relevance to our tiny Caribbean states. But there are others we
dare not leave unattended - the question of Haiti included.
It is hoped, for instance, that UNGA
contributions by Caricom Member States, in particular, will inform UN Security
Council (UNSC) deliberations to follow, during which a future approach to the
Haitian crisis will hopefully find consensus.
On Sunday, the UN Secretary General António
Guterres, met with President of the Caricom-conceived Transitional Presidential
Council (TPC) of Haiti, Anthony Franck Laurent Saint-Cyr.
They concluded that “urgent international
action is needed to help restore security, including efforts to address gang
violence, create conditions for the holding of credible, inclusive and
participatory elections and mobilise greater humanitarian assistance.”
On Monday, Caricom led an international
roundtable discussion on the margins of the UNGA on “Making the Case for Haiti.”
Both the US and Panama have meanwhile developed
a UNSC resolution proposing the convening of a “Gang Suppression Force”
comprising up to 5,500 personnel. It also calls for a UN support office
providing logistical and operational assistance.
The backdrop to this is the October 2
expiration of the mandate of a Multinational Security Mission (MSS) established
in 2023 and employs Kenyan troops. This occurred with 1,000 of a promised 2,500
troops – reduced because of funding deficits. Essential tools, such as
helicopters, for instance, have also been absent.
In fact, the success of much of what is
being proposed via the UNSC and proposed actions identified by the Organisation
of American States (OAS) is highly contingent on financial investments to
assure at least the basic needs of Haitian renewal.
The consequences of ongoing failure have
been grave. Violent gangs have become more, rather than less, entrenched in key
areas including the capital, Port-au-Prince. It has also not helped that the
TPC has been a highly challenging mechanism.
Remarkably, there remains a view by some
Haitian politicians that elections, if conducted in phases in some areas, can happen
prior to the TPC’s agreed February 7, 2026, dissolution. The initial projection
was for November elections. We shall see.
Caricom’s Eminent Persons Group (EPG) comprising
former prime ministers Dr Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia, Bruce Golding of
Jamaica, and Perry Christie of The Bahamas, have not been sufficiently credited
with engaging this intractable challenge.
The problem is that the two principal areas
of immediate concern - violence and politics – persist alongside growing
humanitarian crises. There is hunger, displacement, and a general sense of
hopelessness in numerous quarters.
Around 90% of Port-au-Prince is currently
under gang control; more than 5,600 people have been killed and there are over
1.3 million displaced person, 25% of whom are children.
Additionally. Close to five million
Haitians face “acute food insecurity,” 60% lack clean water, and fewer than 25%
of health facilities in critical areas function.
So, even if the violence subsides and there
are elections - limited or not – there will remain issues of systemic
deprivation with which the country would need to contend.
The OAS Roadmap offers a coherent,
comprehensive prescription – albeit one contingent on heavy financial support. There
are countries whose representatives will, even if fleetingly, raise the issue
of Haiti over the coming days at the UNGA. They will have to put their money
where their mouths have ventured.
As for us in T&T and the rest of the
Caribbean, we need to more urgently consider the Haitian crisis to be a part of
our own reality. In T&T we ignored the shenanigans of our troublesome
neighbour to our west until its problems became ours. Our recent diplomatic
missteps are clearly reflective of a misinformed, underdeveloped understanding
of the issues and our place in all of this.
In fraternal states such as The Bahamas and
Jamaica, there will be a fear that complacency on the part of the rest of us on
the question of Haiti, can and will be at our collective peril.
Our performance at the UNGA ought to signal
such a reality.
