OTTAWA –
Although citizen and business groups in Haiti are divided on the idea of military intervention amid humanitarian and political crises, experts warned members of the Canadian parliament Friday that the country is in dire need.
As a high-level Canadian envoy is deployed to Haiti to discuss possible solutions, human rights researcher Gedeon Jean painted a bleak picture for lawmakers, saying in French: “Haiti is on the brink of the precipice.”
Jean was among witnesses who told the House of Commons subcommittee on international human rights that there must be a widely accepted plan for a transitional government in Haiti amid a debate over foreign aid.
Haiti has not held elections since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped in as president after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021.
Instability in the country has allowed violent gangs to seize control of critical infrastructure, leading to power and water cuts, massacres and a cholera outbreak.
In response, Ottawa has sanctioned a dozen high-ranking Haitian politicians and business leaders, accusing them of financing the gangs. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, to the country to seek a path to consensus.
“When we put this pressure on the political and economic elite, we can eventually allow for a political dialogue, and that’s why Bob Rae, right now as we speak, is in Haiti,” Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told the audience. journalists in French on Thursday. .
“Our goal is to find solutions by and for Haitians.”
The unpopular Henry government has called for foreign military intervention to create a humanitarian corridor, a move backed by the United Nations Secretary General. US officials mentioned Canada as a possible lead for such a mission earlier this year.
But some Haitians have rejected the idea, arguing that it would only lead to more chaos.
Monique Clesca, an activist with an opposition group that wants to form a two-year caretaker government, argued that the president’s request for foreign intervention should not be taken seriously.
“It is a crime of high treason, and this request demonstrates the failure of Henri’s government and of the international diplomacy that installed him and continues to support him, despite his illegitimacy and disastrous government,” he said in French.
He argued that there is a gradual building of consensus among politicians, religious groups and civil society for a security solution carried out by the Haitian National Police. But the country also needs humanitarian aid and solutions to discourage young people from joining gangs.
“The issue goes beyond establishing a semblance of security, and it’s not a cleanup that will solve gang problems or humanitarian needs,” Clesca said.
Other witnesses told MPs that gangs recruit orphaned children, prompting Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld to ask whether a military intervention could bring “Canadian soldiers face-to-face with armed gangs, potentially in a gun battle with what who are essentially child soldiers.”
However, the International Crisis Group says its conflict prevention experts believe that a military intervention is the only way to establish humanitarian corridors to fight cholera and stop sexual violence.
Next would be a transitional government to restore essential services and hold fair elections, perhaps with an outside country as mediator if the Haitians request it.
“The situation there is increasingly dramatic and inaction may not necessarily be the best course of action,” said the group’s regional director, Renata Segura.
“It’s crucial that the Haitians come together in a kind of national dialogue to determine if they wanted these troops to arrive and, if so, what exactly their mandate would be.”
Segura said that locals are afraid to express their support for an intervention, as they don’t want it to be confused with supporting the current government.
Jean, director of the Center d’analyse et de recherche en droits de l’homme, argued that the international community should intervene under the United Nations’ doctrine of “responsibility to protect.”
He argued that his country is moving closer to a “proto-state” similar to the takeover of parts of Syria and Iraq by the so-called Islamic State group. He said in French that Haiti’s justice system has collapsed and one of its main prisons “resembles Nazi concentration camps and those of other similar regimes.”
Another International Crisis Group representative, Diego Da Rin, said a series of clashes in Port-au-Prince over the past year has seen rival gangs filming the sexual assaults of women in newly won territory in an effort to assert control. and stoke fears
A national director of Partners In Health Canada, a charity that operates hospitals and clinics in Haiti, told the committee that Canada can help in the short term, regardless of whether a military intervention takes place.
“Canada can help right now,” said Mark Brender.
Haiti needs fuel and storage capacity, he said, and Canada could build warehouses for essential and medical supplies outside areas cut off by gang wars.
In the medium term, he said Canada could also invest in solar panels so Haiti is not brought to its knees by blockades around its main fuel terminal. They have left hospitals running on generators. Staff from the group’s hospitals have walked six hours through the mountains to the Dominican Republic to get fuel, she said.
This week, some of Haiti’s largest business groups signed an open letter pledging to root out corruption and help rebuild the country, if political actors assume the mantle of “patriotic realism” and allow foreign aid.
The French-language letter calls on political leaders to “sign a political agreement establishing a national unity government that strives to include as many stakeholders as possible, with a clear roadmap leading to fair elections, transparent and fair within a reasonable time”. .”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on December 9, 2022.