By Deandre Williamson
United Nations RAF Fellow
New York, N.Y. – Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell, CARICOM heads of government
and other world leaders pleaded with the United Nations Security Council for a resolution on a
multinational force for Haiti.
In the midst of the growing chaos in the CARICOM member state, the leaders agreed that the
world owes Haiti a resolution as they made their pleas last week during the 78 th United Nations
General Assembly in New York.
In his address to the U.N., Mitchell explained that The Bahamas will not “accept the gospel
according to ‘no’ when it comes to Haiti” and called on the U.N. to approve, with haste, a
Security Council backed resolution on a multinational force for Haiti.
“As the first Black Republic and the first independent Caribbean state, Haiti has paid dearly for
daring to declare and assert their independence from colonial rule. First, they were forced to pay
some $20 billion, in today’s money, to be left alone by their former colonial masters. Then they
were, in the 20th century, ruled by an invading military for two decades that took all the wealth
from their treasury and forced the payment of sums back to Washington D.C. And today, we
wonder why the situation is as it is,” he said.
“The western world owes Haiti and the Haitian people and we must fight to help them resolve
their issues. The security situation in Haiti is untenable and I thank all the governments across in
both the developed world, the United States and Canada, and in CARICOM for their work in
trying to resolve the political and security crisis there. I urge the people of Haiti, especially the
leaders, to do all that they can to continue to work toward a Haitian led political settlement.”
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley also made her plea, noting that a resolution for Haiti is not
a matter of options.
“The world owes Haiti a resolution. A year ago we knew that the gas riots have led to serious
instability and 12 months later, we cannot get out of this building and into the support that the
people of Haiti need. There is no doubt a need for legitimacy with respect to the government of
Haiti and therefore, a national unity government but may well be the only bridge that can carry
us to safety,” Mottley said.
“I say simply to those who act in the name of the people of Haiti, there must be compromise in
constituting that government of national unity if we are to provide the bridge to provide the
security to stop women from being raped, stop people from being killed, stop people from being
affected by cholera and other public health diseases.”
Recently, CARICOM appointed three former prime ministers as an Eminent Persons Group to
address the crisis in Haiti.
During the U.N. General Assembly, the Government of Kenya pledged to lead a multinational
force to improve the security issues in Haiti. However, Kenya and other countries that pledged
support, require a Security Council resolution in order to take action.
“I want to thank the governments of Kenya and Rwanda, who, from as far back as 12 months
ago, committed to being able to provide the kind of institutional support and leadership that the
Haitian police need. But as they did that commitment, what they have not necessarily accounted
for is the continued reduction in the numbers of the police largely because of persons fleeing to
lands of greater opportunity and being facilitated in so doing,” Mottley said.
“This cannot wait much longer and I hope that those who constitute the members of the Security
Council will recognize that they cannot use Haiti as a pawn because they have suffered for too
long and by the hands of too many.”
Prime Minister of Grenada Dickon Mitchell also raised his concern about the escalating violence
in Haiti and made his plea for a resolution.
“The urgent support of the international community needs to be ramped up, in particular, in the
humanitarian and security areas where the needs are greatest. The need for robust security
assistance to counter the rampaging armed gangs is clear, yet the decision to enable this is
meandering slowly through the Security Council,” Prime Minister Mitchell expressed.
He added, “The Caribbean Community hopes that the establishment of the multinational force
will receive full endorsement by the United Nations Security Council as a demonstration of the
commitment of the international community to support restoration of law and order and improve
the humanitarian conditions of the people of Haiti.”
The Bahamas and Jamaica pledged to send troops to assist Haiti and other Caribbean countries
offered humanitarian support.
United States President Joe Biden also called on the United Nations Security Council to quickly
pass the resolution that will allow a multinational force to be deployed to Haiti to control the
armed gang violence that’s upsetting the country.