Haiti sanctions renewed: Starving the gangs of bullets
The UN Security Council has renewed sanctions on Haiti to combat the escalating security crisis caused by armed gangs. These measures include an arms embargo, travel bans, and asset freezes aimed at curbing the flow of weapons and punishing those fueling the violence.
Why it matters
The ongoing gang violence has displaced over 1.5 million people and created a severe humanitarian crisis, making international intervention critical for regional stability.
Haiti is living through one of the world’s most acute security crises.
Armed gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are pushing into rural areas, terrorising communities, killing people, committing rape and other sexual assaults, kidnapping for ransom and extorting individuals and businesses.
About 1.5 million people, roughly 12 per cent of the population, have been forced from their homes.
Haiti makes no guns or ammunition of its own, yet the gangs never seem to run out.
On Wednesday, the UN Security Council renewed sanctions meant to change that by targeting people considered responsible for or involved in activities threatening Haiti’s peace, security and stability.
Created in 2022 by the Security Council, the Haiti sanctions committee has three main enforcement tools at its disposal: an arms embargo, a travel ban and an asset freeze.
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