Criminal gangs have displaced thousands of Haitians, wreaking havoc in the Caribbean country and prompting President Ariel Henry to call for urgent aid.

This Monday, the security Council approved a resolution on a new non-UN multinational mission under the provisions of Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter which allows the use of force to restore peace

“This is not a typical or old peacekeeping mission,” the Canadian ambassador, chair of the Special Advisory Group of the Economic and Social Council on Haiti, told UN News (ECOSOC), Robert Rae.

“It is illusory to think that the UN will provide solutions; the solutions will come from the Haitians,” adds retired Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, of Brazil, in another interview with us.

Dos Santos Cruz was Commander of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) from 2007 to 2009. He is the author of Improving the safety of UN peacekeepers: we need to change our waysand led the fact-finding mission of General secretary of the UN in Ukraine.

We asked them what a non-UN security operation would look like on the ground, what it would take to launch it and how the UN would be involved in the new mission.

For Ambassador Bob Rae, it is very important to emphasize that this is not a typical or old peacekeeping mission.

“The situation we face is very different. This is not an armed struggle between two groups. This is not an ethnically, regionally or geographically defined group. It’s about gangs. It’s a war between gangs. It’s about their tactics, their robberies, their murders, their rapes and their gang management, which requires a very different type of approach.”

The solutions will come from Haitians

The relationship will be very close with the Mission [política especial] of the United Nations in Haiti, also known as BINUH, that their contribution will be essential to our understanding of what needs to be done.

“BINUH has a long-standing relationship with the Haitian National Police. I think a lot of the current discussion revolves around how [nueva] The mission really aims to strengthen security issues and strengthen relations with the existing security forces in the country,” the ambassador added.

For his part, General Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz, a new mission in Haiti will first have to understand the context.

“It is a very complex context, and it is very important to know all the variables of the country. Next, you need to understand the position of local partners and local government. The solution depends on Haitians, the government and citizens working in Haiti. It is illusory to think that the UN will come on site to provide solutions. The solutions will come from the Haitians,” explains this veteran who knows the situation in the country.

Canadian Ambassador Robert Rae speaks during the general debate of the 78th session of the General Assembly.

Kenya took a step forward by agreeing to lead the multinational force, or

observes Rae, who assures that “they won’t be alone.”

“All of us, who have contributed to improving the Haitian National Police, will support it. This will be a multinational effort. A number of countries have already publicly expressed their support and what they want to do. I’m sure this will increase in the coming days. I think that once the Security Council adopts the resolution, everyone will be able to act quickly. What we really want is an engagement process that doesn’t take too long. “We have to act quickly enough to respond,” he explains.

Joint operations with local police

General Dos Santos emphasizes that when we arrive in a country, we normally have four or five months to organize the mission, for all the contingents to arrive on the ground and organize the police units and the work.

“The first step is knowing how to operate with the Haitian police. It is essential to carry out joint operations. It is very important to set up a joint operation and establish a very professional relationship with the Haitian police,” he said.

In this sense, Rae warns that “this mission will not be a walk in the park”.

This is a very difficult undertaking, in which the entire UN has come together with one voice to say: “unless we have a coherent approach to security, we will not be able to address the other question.

Furthermore, the question of security becomes crucial: “It is not possible for us to undertake this type of mission without in-depth learning based on the experiences of others,” asserts the Canadian ambassador.

And he adds: “I think the requirement is perfectly understood that any force in any other country must be respectful of the law and human rights. I know that this will be an integral part of the discussions in the Security Council. “We must show that we understand that we are dealing with some of the most violent and brutal killers working in Haiti today. »

Displaced men, women and children took refuge in a boxing stadium in central Port-au-Prince after fleeing their homes during gang attacks in August 2023.

The risk of confusing criminals with the population

Dos Santos expands on this point by emphasizing that it is essential to have personal experience with intelligence.

“The effectiveness of your work depends on access to good information. In this type of work, the problem of street gangs is very delicate. They are in the middle of the population. They don’t have uniforms. You don’t know who is who. You are a stranger there and you have to be very careful not to confuse the criminals with the population, because they are among the population. To make a difference, you need to have very competent and experienced people to organize the intelligence. This is why it is important to have contact with the Haitian authorities and police.

Right now, we have much better information than at the beginning of the year, Rae said.

“This is why Canada has invested so much in obtaining information and data and in better understand gang structure and who exactly is involved and where some of their funding sources come from. We know enough about what we saw to know that they are acting with great brutality,” he comments.

Santos Cruz commanded UN peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dos Santos says the new commander and the new professionals coming in are capable of doing the job and are prepared. But they must understand that the problem is not one of public safety.

“They are going to work on a political problem. The issue is much more political than public safety. It is much more a question of public administration, government action and a problem of coordination. We have thousands of international organizations there and, in general, coordination is very poor. “We need to understand that the problem has much more to do with accountability than just a matter of public safety. »

According to Rae, a very strong consensus emerged from the recent high-level meeting. [sobre Haití] chaired by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who focused on the issue of international development and the need to have an approach to this intervention that is not simply a military intervention.

“This is a police intervention intended to support Haitian efforts already underway, and it must be accompanied by stronger action in the humanitarian and development fields. Today, a very deep crisis is sweeping through the country and any intervention must address all elements of the crisis and cannot focus on just one,” he explained.

And he insisted that the UN Political Mission in Haiti will have a very critical role: “There will be other critical roles, but obviously this will be one of them. Part of what they’re trying to figure out is the wording of the resolution. [del Consejo de Seguridad] this will really meet the larger objective of the mission. Beyond that, I can’t say much because the resolution has not yet been adopted. So we are all aware of it and evaluate it accordingly.