UN's Haiti rights expert says fixing Haiti crisis is 'doable'

By Sarah Morland

The United Nations' Haiti rights expert on Tuesday said he believed solving a spiraling insecurity crisis in the Caribbean nation was "doable," if law enforcement are properly supplied and neighboring countries do their part.

"We're talking about 2,500, maybe 3,000 well-trained and equipped international police. It's doable," William O'Neill, the U.N. High Commissioner's Designated Expert on Human Rights in Haiti, told a press briefing.

The U.N. Security Council is set to debate a hybrid security support model that would establish a budgeted office to help supply an existing, voluntary mission after lack of contributions has left it woefully under-manned and under-equipped.

Haiti's government, which has called for urgent international security support since 2022, more recently requested a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission to boost under-staffed police, but this met opposition from Russia and China.

But O'Neill said the support office could help supply key equipment such as spare parts, helicopters and adequate vehicles for navigating Haiti's capital and mountainous rural terrain.

He also called for neighboring countries, particularly the U.S. - the source of most of Haiti's illegal arms - to do more to prevent the flow of illegal guns to criminal groups, noting that Haiti's border police are not equipped to prevent their entry.

"There's not a gun or bullet that's manufactured in Haiti," he said. "If you stop the flow, the gangs will eventually run out of ammunition. That's a quicker, faster, safer way to dismantle them than having to go in and fight them."

He also urged the United States, Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Turks and Caicos to stop deporting migrants back to Haiti.

"You cannot guarantee a dignified safe return, which is required under international law," he said.

Over 1 million people are internally displaced, food prices are soaring and Haiti's Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported that the wealthy suburb of Petion-Ville, which hosts diplomats via helicopter pads, was one of the capital's last free communes.

"The risk of the capital falling under gang control is palpable," O'Neill said. "There is not a day to lose."