A Critical Moment: Haiti's Gang Crisis and International Responses
Summary — This report analyzes Haiti's deteriorating security situation driven by increasingly powerful criminal gangs and examines international responses including UN sanctions and the planned multinational security support mission.
Key Findings
- Criminal gangs have evolved from unstructured actors to violent entrepreneurs capable of territorial governance and criminal control.
- Over 4,789 people were murdered in 2023 with a homicide rate of 40.9 per 100,000, more than double the 2022 rate.
- Gangs now control critical infrastructure including commercial ports, oil terminals, and major population centers.
- The UN Security Council authorized a non-UN multinational security support mission representing a conceptual shift in addressing organized crime.
- Current armed groups are more militarily powerful, networked and resilient than during previous interventions like MINUSTAH.
Full Description
The report documents the alarming deterioration of security in Haiti throughout 2023 and early 2024, with criminal gangs becoming the primary drivers of violence and instability. These gangs have evolved from unstructured actors dependent on patronage to violent entrepreneurs capable of territorial governance, controlling critical infrastructure and imposing their rule over large areas of Port-au-Prince and rural regions. The transformation has been fueled by unprecedented access to firearms and the Haitian state's inability to halt their expansion and professionalization. In response to this crisis, the UN Security Council authorized a non-UN multinational security support mission in October 2023, led by Kenya, alongside implementing sanctions regimes targeting gang leaders, businessmen, and politicians. The report emphasizes that this represents a significant conceptual shift for the UN, focusing on profit-oriented criminal entities as primary conflict actors. The current situation presents an extremely difficult test, as Haitian armed groups are now more militarily powerful, networked, and resilient than during previous interventions like MINUSTAH.