Haiti is faced with a multifaceted crisis including rising gang violence, political instability, the displacement of over 700,000 people as well as widespread hunger.
A police vehicle passes by the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
Equally important is ensuring that Haitians lead this process. I speak as someone who is not Haitian but as the UN in Haiti and recognising Haiti’s historic role as a founding UN Member State. So, our engagement is guided by deep respect for Haitian leadership and the vision of its people.
UN News: Talking about the future, the first thing that comes to mind is youth.
And youth in Haiti is at the centre of discussions around development and security. What step do you see as critical in the next year to empowering them and preventing their recruitment into armed gangs?
Opportunities. They need to have alternatives. We have, and need to continue to work on what these alternatives are. We want young people and children to be able to transition into being members of the community.
Some young people are coerced into joining gangs and there is an explanation for this.
If you can’t leave the capital because finding a job somewhere else means that you risk your life on gang-controlled roads and there is no job opportunity where you live, your parents may have been killed, and education is not an option, what do we expect them to do?
Many children from the age of eight are currently recruited by gangs to run errands, to be their informers.
Unfortunately, arms trafficking continues to happen despite the sanctions regime. We need to have a process in place and a much better response rate from neighbouring actors.
This is not impossible, there are human resources out there and a lot of creativity and desire to create something better for the country than in the past.