Sanctions Regime and Multinational Mission Are Key to Regaining Stability in Haiti, Says Special Representative
As the UN marks 75 years of its special political missions, Politically Speaking has been talking with the Secretary-General’s Representatives and Envoys about their work. In this interview, Special Representative María Isabel Salvador talks about the situation in Haiti.
Haiti has faced a political impasse since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and is currently grappling with brutal violence at the hands of armed gangs. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 3,960 people have been killed, 1,432 injured and 2,951 kidnapped in gang-related violence this year alone.
Politically Speaking sat down with María Isabel Salvador, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) to speak about her work during her first few months in office. The Special Representative spoke about Haitians she had met who had told her directly about the hardships they had experienced.
She also discussed the sanctions regime, which was approved by a Security Council resolution in 2022 and renewed on 19 October this year, noting that it was a key step in ensuring that bad actors are held to account.
She went on to underscore the importance of the multinational support mission, which was approved by a Security Council resolution on 2 October, 2023. Salvador said that the mission, alongside the Haitian National Police, would work to improve the dire security situation, with the aim of getting the violence-ravaged nation to a point where it could hold general elections.
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