UN rights expert urges urgent action as Haiti crisis worsens

21/9/2024 7:23

        The United Nations' expert on human rights in Haiti said on Friday that the situation in the conflict-hit Caribbean nation had worsened and efforts to rebuild security must be amplified as a security mission deadline fast approaches.
        
        "The solutions are there, and they already exist. But efforts must be redoubled immediately," U.N. expert William O'Neill said as he concluded a visit to Haiti. "This enduring agony must stop. It is a race against time."
        
        Powerful gangs armed largely with weapons trafficked from the United States have taken over most of the capital and expanded to nearby areas, driving mass displacement, food and medical shortages, record hunger and widespread sexual violence.
        
        Its former government requested an international security mission to help police in 2022, and with less than two weeks left on the mission's initial one-year mandate, less than a quarter of promised troops have deployed and results remain scarce.
        
        "The equipment it has received is inadequate, and its resources are insufficient," O'Neill said, adding that firearms and ammunition continue to be smuggled in, allowing gangs to carry out large-scale attacks and expand their territories.