Last week, the government of El Salvador sent 2,000 troops to Haiti following the disappearance of four Salvadoran military technicians during an ambush by armed gangs. The mission and scope of engagement of the Salvadoran troops is unclear. The Salvadoran technicians remain missing and are likely to have been killed.
Quixote Center and our partners remain horrified by the escalating violence in Haiti. Last week’s brutal killing of Bonaparte Fevrier and Richard Alexandre, Haitian humanitarian aid workers with the Norwegian Refugee Council, is heartbreaking. Their deaths are a devastating reminder of the civilian toll from the ongoing armed-gang crisis in Haiti. We send our condolences to their families, colleagues and communities.
Last month in Gros Morne, a community Quixote Center has worked in for decades, armed gangs shot and killed at least 11 people and burned down homes and businesses in retaliation for a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) crackdown in the area, devastating communities and displacing more than 8,000 people. While the violence was unfolding, many community members fled their homes and took refuge in Lachandle parish, Quixote Center’s partner in the area.
We are deeply concerned about the consequences to civilians as military operations escalate. People in Haiti are enduring inconceivable amounts of violence, displacement, kidnapping, sexual abuse, and the destruction of their communities at the hands of armed gangs, and are often in the crossfire of ongoing battles with the other armed groups currently active in the country, including Vectus Global, an Erik Prinze-led organization brought in by the Haitian government to battle gangs, and the Gang Suppression Force, a UN-sponsored effort to regain control of the country’s infrastructure. Coordination, scope of mission, and accountability between these two groups, along with the Haitian National Police and Army, is already murky. The Salvadoran troops add another armed actor to the mix.
Haiti’s gangs are heavily armed with weapons and ammunition illegally trafficked from the United States and elsewhere, sometimes in collusion with the Haitian National Police. Bringing thousands of additional armed actors into an already hostile and volatile situation, without clear oversight or a clear scope of mission, raises serious human rights concerns. The protection of civilians must be a priority.
Quixote Center condemns all violence against civilians and humanitarian workers. We do not believe that adding more armed actors to Haiti will reduce violence. We call on those bearing arms, including security forces, to respect human rights, protect civilians, and ensure that humanitarian aid workers can reach those in need.
The US government has the power to stop the conditions that make this violence possible.
Why is our government allowing it to continue?
Stop the flow of weapons and ammunition, stop the violence.
Want to get involved? We have an easy way to contact your representatives with prepared emails and phone scripts. Just enter your address and click to send. You can also edit the texts or write your own.
Ask them to:
Extend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
Co-Sponsor the Stop Arming Cartels Act
Add comment