Monday, April 1, 2024 - The United Nations has changed the terms of engagement with President Willia Ruto as it moved to make it hard for him to deploy 1,000 police officers to Haiti.
In a statement, the UN announced
that Haiti will require up to 5,000 police officers to effectively combat and
dismantle the deadly gangs operating within the country.
UN rights expert William O’Neill
stated that the mission would necessitate between 4,000 and 5,000 police
officers in response to the escalating conflict in the Caribbean nation.
O’Neill noted that the current
situation is at its worst and that it will require five times more officers than
the initial number of 1000 officers to help the Haitian National Police
regain control of security and curb human rights abuses.
The UN human rights expert announced
while presenting a report that called for immediate and bold action to tackle
the cataclysmic situation in the country.
He further stated that impunity
and poor governance, along with escalating gang violence, have severely
undermined the rule of law, bringing institutions in Haiti dangerously close to
collapse.
O'Neill's report, detailing the
situation in Haiti over the past five months, ending in February, revealed that
gangs continue to recruit and exploit boys and girls.
The report also exposed the grim
reality of many children losing their lives, with some being killed for
attempting to escape.
In July of last year, the United
Nations announced that it required only 1000 police officers to address the
situation in the Caribbean nation, with Kenyan police being preferred for the
mission.
The report by the UN human
rights expert comes a month after Kenya signed a deal with
Haiti allowing the deployment of its police officers to Port-au-Prince.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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