Above Photo: Haitians protest in 2010. Mark Snyder.
The Ineffective and Unpopular UN Mission to Haiti Must End.
On Friday, July 15, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted the resolution to extend the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) for one year (until July 15, 2023). The vote took place two days after it was postponed by the People’s Republic of China, which wanted additional consultation and significant adjustments to the resolution co-penned by Mexico and the United States.
The Black Alliance for Peace welcomed this delay, as well as several of the objections to BINUH’s renewal raised by China and supported by the Russian Federation. In reviewing the terms of BINUH’s renewal, we continue to condemn the UN Mission to Haiti as a foreign occupation and as a violation of the sovereignty of the Haitian people, as we outlined last week in our press release and open letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and in our communications to government representatives of China and Russia.
Nonetheless, we recognize the adjustments made to the resolution—spearheaded by China and supported by Russia—represent a step forward against the often rubber-stamping of U.S.-led Western hegemony in Haitis. These adjustments included prioritizing the authority of regional institutions (like CARICOM) partnered with Haitian authorities over UN police advisers, as well as calling on states to stop the trafficking of weapons and ammunition to non-state combatants in Haiti. Yet, China’s suggested adjustments fall short because the focus is solely on the current upswing in paramilitary violence, not on the UN occupation itself.
We ask again: What has the UN mission done in its 18-year militarized presence in Haiti except foment pain and violence on the Haitian people? Why does BINUH—and UN Special Representative in Haiti Helen La Lime—have such an outsized role in Haitian politics? When will the United States, Canada and France take responsibility for their promotion of the 2004 coup d’etat against Haiti’s democratically elected president? Why do the UN Mission and Western rulers of Haiti continue to support the unelected de facto Prime Minister, Dr. Ariel Henry, and his unpopular Pati Ayisyen Tèt Kale (PHTK)—the violent right-wing government installed by the West and the direct cause of the current crisis? Why not listen to the Haitian people who call for an end to foreign meddling and occupation?
We also note, with disappointment, the way the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has repeatedly fallen in line with the imperialist wishes of the United States and has supported the full renewal of the UN Mission. In their upcoming “delegation” to Haiti, we encourage CARICOM to reconsider this position and instead support Black sovereignty, by working to facilitate an end to the UN Mission to Haiti. There cannot be justice and self-determination in Haiti without an end to the UN Mission and re-establishing Haitian control of Haiti’s affairs.
The Black Alliance for Peace calls on civil society organizations and the regional nation-states of the Americas to monitor the situation, oppose continued foreign occupation, and support sovereignty in Haiti. We want to remind CARICOM and the leaders of the Americas*: The Americas cannot be free and sovereign unless all countries are free and sovereign.* We say No to Occupation, Yes to Self-Determination.