In the latest international effort to bring peace to Haiti, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved a larger gang-fighting force of police officers and soldiers from around the world to try to stop the killings, rapes and kidnappings committed by criminal groups.
The plan, proposed by the United States and Panama, would deploy to Haiti what officials described as a gang-suppression force of up to 5,500 soldiers and officers with the power to take more aggressive action against the gangs that have terrorized the country for years.
But it was unclear what countries were prepared to contribute personnel to the force or help pay for it.
The vote came two days before the expiration of the U.N. mandate for the current security deployment in Haiti, called the Multinational Security Support mission. It is largely composed of Kenyan police officers and is meant to provide a support role for the Haitian police. That mission, which consisted of fewer than 1,000 officers, was never fully staffed or funded, and has failed to quell the violence.
The new deployment, which will include the Kenyans, would increase in size fivefold and be allowed to undertake independent offensive operations against the gangs, officials said.
The Kenyans who have been assisting the Haitian police have been limited in terms of taking the initiative or conducting their own operation’s, said Bill O’Neill, the U.N.’s expert on human rights for Haiti.
“This new force would be able to operate independently on its own initiative,” he said in August. “Of course, it would still try to help the police and be there to support, but it wouldn’t be tied to the Haitian National Police and its own operations.”
The approval of the new force comes eight years after the departure of a far larger U.N. peacekeeping operation in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.
From 2004 to 2017, the U.N. had up to 10,000 military personnel in Haiti. The soldiers came under scrutiny for sexually exploiting women, abusing children and spreading cholera in the country. The disease killed more than 10,000 people.
The mechanics of the new force would differ because the United Nations would manage its operations but would not command it. The force would not be considered an official U.N. peacekeeping operation.
The mandate of the new force will be “more muscular,” said Henry Wooster, the United States’ charge d affaires in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
“That allows greater freedom of maneuver, freedom of action,” he told reporters, adding that the name of the force “should speak volumes to you.”
Experts and officials say the number of gang members operating in Haiti is at least in the thousands.
Haitian officials said they supported the move.
“The approaches that did not bear fruit yesterday will not save Haiti today,” Laurent Saint-Cyr, the head of Haiti’s presidential council, told the U.N. General Assembly last week. “It is imperative to listen to the voice of the Haitian people.”
China and Russia objected to the new force, but abstained rather than veto the Security Council measure. China argued that the United States had treated the Council as a “rubber stamp” by failing to answer key questions, including about paying for the new force and where the personnel would come from.
The force would depend on voluntary contributions, which was problematic for the Kenyan-led security mission since few countries other than the United States were willing to help with either personnel or money.
Haiti has been in the throes of a humanitarian and security crisis since the 2021 assassination of its last elected president, Jovenel Moïse. The crisis deepened in February 2024, when warring gangs joined forces in a united front against the government, the police and entire neighborhoods.
Since January, at least 4,000 people have been killed by violence, the U.N. said.
David C. Adams contributed reporting.