Gang Suppression Force strategy and metrics for measuring the success of the mission (S/2026/554)

Issued as S/2026/554 on 6 July 2026, this is the letter of 2 July 2026 from Secretary-General António Guterres to the President of the Security Council transmitting the letter of 29 June 2026 from Special Representative Jack Christofides, with the strategy and metrics report enclosed. It is the document resolution 2793 (2025) requested when it authorised the Force.

Three strategic objectives are drawn from paragraph 1 of resolution 2793: gang control over territory is removed; critical infrastructure is secure, measured on operations conducted independently or jointly with the Haitian National Police and the Haitian Armed Forces; and Haitian authorities have the ability to contain gang violence, which covers improving the capabilities of Haitian security and defence forces and the space the Force's operations create for the Government, the UN system and partners to pursue medium- and long-term stabilization.

The measurement design matters as much as the objectives. The baseline is the situation in the mission area as at 31 May 2026, chosen as the zero point because operations began on 1 June 2026, and the next comprehensive report will present the situation as at 31 August 2027, with interim updates through the Special Representative's briefings. The Force's indicators are deliberately narrower than the Haiti benchmark framework presented by the Secretary-General in S/2026/31: the Force measures where its own operations have taken place, while the country framework also covers national operations without Force participation and other government-led programmes. Objective 1 is measured territorially, with a map of gang-controlled territory as at 31 May 2026, supplemented by counts of weapons and ammunition confiscated or surrendered and gang members arrested, with the document itself noting the high replacement ratio that limits what those counts prove. Objective 2 is described as strategically decisive because control of critical infrastructure shapes perceptions of state legitimacy. Objective 3 rests on joint planning and joint conduct of operations, learning by doing, complementing bilateral training programmes.

The end state is defined for 30 September 2028: gangs' ability to threaten the Haitian State degraded, and minimum security conditions established, meaning organized armed groups without freedom of movement and with very limited or no territorial control, degraded gang information operations, secure key infrastructure and supply routes, and civilian access to essential services and humanitarian aid without persistent threat of violence. The report states explicitly that this end state is not the complete stabilization of Haiti.