Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the international community to address escalating violence and human rights abuses in Haiti, noting that conditions have been steadily deteriorating one year after the deployment of the first personnel under the UN-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.

In light of the inability of the Haitian National Police (HNP) to control the large scale of human rights violations being perpetrated across the country due to logistical challenges and the military’s limited size and capacity, the UN authorized the deployment of the MSS mission, but persistent security gaps have continued to hamper international efforts to restore the rule of law in the country dominated by gang violence. Spearheaded by Kenya, the MSS mission is not a UN operation and receives its funding from a trust fund established to channel voluntary contributions to its cause, with Canada, France and the United States donating a combined 18 million dollars.

MSS’s failure to contain Haiti’s escalating violence stems from critical shortfalls in personnel, funding, and equipment, severely limiting its operational capacity to address the country’s dire security crisis, which has claimed 2,680 lives and injured 957 others. The latest report from UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the worsening situation in Haiti highlights an alarmingly sharp increase in violations against children, rising from 383 cases in 2023 to 2,269 in 2024. The increase in gang-related attacks on places such as Port-au-Prince, the municipalities of Mirebalais and Saut-d’Eau, along with Petite Rivière, which used to be a haven for internally displaced Haitians, signals a troubling expansion of violence that only exacerbates the humanitarian crisis across the country.

Clashes with self-defense brigades, which often operate with police officers, coupled with the increasingly brazen tactics of gangs, have resulted in the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reporting that 1,287,593 Haitians have been forcibly displaced. The initial stages of the unveiling of the MSS mission plan gained traction from multiple countries, with eight of them notifying the UN secretary-general of their intent to help ease the situation in Haiti. However, only Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica and the Bahamas have deployed forces— totaling to a meager 991 troops, well below the expected 2,500. 

In addition to the mission hanging on by a thread due to logistical and funding issues, the volatile political landscape in the United States also has a direct effect on the MSS’s ability to provide aid as the US had stated during a UNSC meeting that it would withdraw its support for the mission, a debilitating decision that could fully paralyze the MSS as one of its largest donors. During the Biden administration, the US had pledged at least 380 million dollars would be channeled to support Haiti, but this ambition seems to have slipped through the cracks after President Donald Trump paused foreign assistance efforts.

Despite a history marked by colonialism and slavery, there is hope that the international community will finally commit to supporting Haiti’s future peace and stability.