• The UN Security Council voted unanimously to expand the arms embargo in Haiti to all types of weapons and ammunition, expressing grave concern at the extremely high levels of gang violence and criminal activities in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

• The island nation is mired in a complex humanitarian crisis, driven primarily by rampant violence by armed criminal gangs, against a backdrop of severe disasters and economic crisis.

• Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes, including around 350,000 children. There are also deeply worrying reports of sexual violence, kidnapping and executions.

• The arms embargo previously applied to small arms, light weapons, and ammunition. The resolution expands it to include arms and related materiel of all types.

• The 15-member Council determined that the situation in Haiti continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region.

• The resolution authorises the 193 UN member nations to take appropriate steps to prevent the illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related materiel in Haiti. 

• UN experts have said increasingly sophisticated weapons that end up in the hands of gang members and criminals are being trafficked from the US.

Haiti’s humanitarian situation is worsening

• Haiti is wracked by violence that has escalated to unprecedented levels. 

• Haiti remains the poorest country in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region and among the poorest countries in the world.

• Over 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

• Mass displacement has led to widespread insecurity in the nation, with almost half of Haiti’s 11.9 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

• The power of gangs in Haiti has grown since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Mose, and they are now estimated to control up to 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

• The gang violence has spread from the capital to isolated rural areas. The pervasive assaults include sexual violence, kidnapping, looting, roadblocks to intimidate and rob civilians and forced recruitment by armed gangs.

• Sexual violence and abuse against women and girls is on the rise, and tens of thousands of children are unable to attend school due to insecurity.

• Haiti’s military is small and only modestly equipped. The Haitian National Police (HNP) is unable to fully contain the outbreak of violence and needs international support so that Haitians can return to a situation where they can go about their daily lives without the fear of being murdered, displaced, kidnapped, or raped.

• Assistance from the international community is needed to support the HNP in its efforts to stabilise the situation. 

• In 2023, the UN Security Council in 2023 authorised the deployment of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti to help its national police quell surging gang violence. The MSS mission was further re-authorised last month for a further one year.

• Led by Kenya, as of September, it has about 410 police officers on the ground and is expected to grow to around 2,500. 

• The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.

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