A recent report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has highlighted the severity of the situation in Haiti, where gang violence has led to the deaths of at least 3,661 people in the first half of this year. The report also noted the increasing use of sexual violence by gangs to spread fear and control populations.
The violence in Haiti is largely fueled by arms trafficking, with weapons primarily coming from the United States, as well as the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. The poorly monitored airspaces, coastlines, and porous borders in the country are allowing gangs to easily obtain high-calibre weapons and other military equipment.
In response to the crisis, the UN rights chief Volker Turk has called for a crackdown on arms trafficking and the implementation of a global arms embargo, travel ban, and asset freeze program imposed by the UN Security Council. Additionally, a UN-backed multinational force, the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), has been deployed to Haiti to address the escalating violence.
As the one-year mandate of the MSS is set to expire soon, Haiti has requested the UN to consider turning it into a formal peacekeeping mission to ensure stable funding and capacity. The interim prime minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, has urged for international support to address the crisis, which has led to over 700,000 people being internally displaced and 1.6 million facing emergency food insecurity.
The international community has been called upon to address the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and put an end to the senseless violence that continues to plague the country.
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