OP ED #2

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University of California, Santa Barbara *

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Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

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Can we help Haiti? Over the last couple months, violence and natural disaster has devastated the country of Haiti, plunging the country into havoc. The country is experiencing extreme anarchic conflict from a lack of strong government and gang-related uprisings. Gangs are currently in control of 80% of Port au Prince and the city has a history of crime with rape, robbery and general petty crimes are running rampant. Haiti is desperate for international intervention however historically, international intervention has been met with controversy and underwhelming results. Consequently, this has led international leaders to question whether the country would benefit from support. In 2010, the government of Haiti was provided with humanitarian aid as well as cash assistance to support the rebuild following a highly destructive 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has called for international support however support has been limited to Kenya who are considering sending a fact-finding police squad to assess the situation and provide feedback for the UN Security Council. Prime Minister Henry is seen as an incompetent leader and the UN should not be giving them any assistance. Since 2010, the international community gave $13 billion to the country to assist in their rebuilding efforts. However, Haiti showed that they are a failed state, riddled with corruption with institutions disappearing and elected officials allowing the situation to worsen, focusing only on the short term relief. Prime Minister Henry has shown optimistic signs that corruption and the misleading of the international community is in the past. However, the gangs and crime levels are peaking showing that any aid is likely to corrupt the country further and that this fight must be won internally. Foreign aid only works with strong states and any further support from states or IGOs such as the UN must be well thought out and dispersed accurately to ensure the country does not become dependent. On the other hand, support from the UN between 2005 and 2017 saw the disease of cholera disperse, killing over 10,000 people as well as troops being accused of sexual assault. This checkered history remains in the heads of international leaders who understand the stresses they are facing but are hesitant to involve themselves in such corruption and controversy.

A remaining hope is a multinational force led by a country with help and leadership from the United Nations to provide on-the-ground support for Haiti’s National Police and government services to reclaim order and peace in the country. However, IGOs have been found to be limited by their legitimacy, being a challenge to countries sovereignty as they challenge them to help intervene in international affairs. P. Diehl, J. Reifshcneider and P. Hensel, scholars of political science, take the position that overall The United Nations has proved ineffective when involving themselves in peacekeeping operations and rather long-term strategy is necessary to bring states back to order. They found that “recurring conflict is no less likely following UN action than without it; indeed disputes appear to be slightly more common in the ten years following UN action, although the results are not statistically significant”. This, in turn, shows that UN operations are generally focused on short-term repairs, rather than actually promoting conflict resolution. Such conflict resolution involves repeated positive engagement and education, of which the UN has not involved themselves due to the cost and the belief that it would be ineffective. Thus, if a multinational force is constructed to intervene in Haiti, it should be constructed to enact long-term structural change. This change must promote positive engagement both locally and internationally as well as introducing widespread educational reforms that inspire long term and lasting peace. These outcomes must be at the forefront of any strategic operation. Not only would this have lasting benefits for Haiti, it would re-establish the importance of IGOs such as the United Nations being a leader in public relations and important institutions in conflict resolution. I believe that while Haiti has a poor history in corruption and is crime ridden, there remains a place for widespread international support through IGOs such as the UN. Enacting critical reform that re-establishes Haiti’s governing ability and in turn promotes a lasting peace will give them the greatest opportunity to rebound from years of conflict and rejoin the world as a respected member of the global economy. Diehl, Paul F., et al. “United Nations Intervention and Recurring Conflict.” International Organization , vol. 50, no. 4, 1996, pp. 683–700. JSTOR , http://www.jstor.org/stable/2704242. Accessed 3 Aug. 2023.

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