Overview
- U.N. human rights investigators confirmed four cases of sexual exploitation and abuse by members of the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in Haiti and sent the findings to mission leaders for action.
- The U.N. human rights office said the force is not a formal U.N. mission, so any investigation, discipline, or prosecution must come from the force and the countries that supplied personnel.
- Public responses were sparse, with a mission spokesperson declining to comment and Haiti’s prime minister’s office saying it was not able to comment.
- The force is led by a Kenyan contingent within roughly 1,000 personnel, with smaller units from Jamaica, Belize, the Bahamas, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and an advance team from Chad has arrived ahead of a planned larger deployment.
- The revelations recall the MINUSTAH period in Haiti from 2004 to 2017, when many sexual abuse claims surfaced and only a few accused peacekeepers were prosecuted by their home countries.