Kenya's High Court has ruled against the government's plan to send hundreds of police officers to Haiti to lead a UN-backed multinational mission to combat escalating gang violence in the Caribbean country. .
Judge Enoch Chacha Mwita, who handed down the decision, said: “Any decision by a state agency or state official to send police officers to Haiti violates the Constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid. There is,” he said.
The United Nations Security Council gave the go-ahead to the Kenyan-led mission in early October, but it has faced criticism at home and a legal challenge brought by the opposition Third Way Alliance in the Nairobi High Court last year. facing a legal challenge.
Constitutional experts and opposition politicians criticized the way the government secured international approval for the mission before gaining parliamentary support.
The court's ruling that the deployment was “unlawful” did not resolve the main issues raised in the case, and lawyers said it was blindsided by both sides. The judge found that parliamentary approval was required only for military forces, not for police deployment, and that police could be sent overseas.
However, the authorities said that sending staff would require a reciprocal agreement with the host government, but the petitioners argued that no such agreement was currently in place, with no objections from the government. he claimed.
The ruling leaves the multinational mission in limbo and is a setback for the Kenyan government, which had hoped to send police to the scene this month and has said it will appeal.
On Thursday, Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean-Victor Geneus told the UN Security Council that the violence in Haiti is as brutal as a war zone and called for an accelerated deployment.
Haiti's slide into chaos was sparked by the assassination of the country's president, Jovenel Moise, by Colombian mercenaries in July 2021, but gang violence and lawlessness in the Caribbean nation have continued to rise in the last year with new, more desperate attacks. Reached heights.
The United Nations Special Representative for Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that the number of people targeted by gang violence jumped by 122% in 2023, raising the alarm of the urgent need for foreign intervention. emphasized the need.At least 4,789 people was killed 2,490 people were kidnapped and many had to sell their homes to pay ransom to their captors.
Rampant violence and gross human rights abuses now extend far beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince, into the countryside, where increasing numbers of children are being recruited by gangs and women are being exposed to sexual violence. .
“It is difficult to overstate the seriousness of the situation in Haiti, where multiple long-term crises are reaching a tipping point,” Salvador said at a rally in New York. New gangs continue to emerge across Haiti and a growing violent vigilante movement also worries monitors, she added.
It is estimated that at least 350 people were killed by Bwa Kale. These are civilians who picked up rifles and took matters into their own hands because the police couldn't protect them.
Haiti's security forces are increasingly outnumbered by armed robber gangs that control much of Port-au-Prince. The National Police has lost about 3,300 officers over the past three years and is the force's main union. said on monday.
Nearly nine out of 10 of these officers were fired for abandoning their jobs, said Lionel Lazar, general coordinator of the Sinapoha union. Unions say underpaid and poorly trained police officers flee before being killed by higher paid and better armed gang members.
Diego da Rin, a Haiti expert at Crisis Group, said the dwindling number of police officers made it even more important for foreign forces to be tactically astute and large. “If gangs see international missions as weak and poorly trained, they may want to organize a united front to fight them,” Da Lin said.
Salvador warned that this mission will only be successful if Haitians themselves participate in the country's reconstruction process. “Long-term stability can only be achieved through an inclusive, state-led political process,” she said.
Given the checkered record of foreign intervention in Haiti, this includes: Sexual abuse by peacekeepers and the introduction of cholera into the country – several speakers told the United Nations that special care must be taken to avoid repeating history.
The deployment to Kenya has faced backlash since it was proposed last year. Human rights organizations expressed concern about the Kenyan police's poor human rights record, and observers questioned the police's adequacy and preparedness to deal with security threats such as gun violence from sophisticated criminal organizations.
Kenya's interest in leading the mission remains unclear. Observers speculate that this is part of the current administration's attempt to establish the East African nation's international profile, while also acting on behalf of its Western ally the United States. Some people see it. Kenya also stands to gain some financial benefits from the mission, with the US pledging $100m (£79m) for intelligence, logistics and medical support.
