Haiti: Vote on BINUH Mandate Renewal*
Tomorrow morning (12 July), the Security Council is expected to vote on a draft resolution renewing the mandate of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) for another year, until 15 July 2025. Ecuador and the US, the co-penholders on Haiti, authored the text.
Background
Haiti continues to face a multidimensional security, humanitarian, and human rights crisis largely caused by extreme gang violence, which has surged since late February when an alliance of the main gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince, conducted a series of coordinated attacks that targeted state institutions and critical infrastructure. Gang leaders said that their goal was to instigate a “civil war” to force the resignation of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had travelled to Kenya to sign a bilateral agreement facilitating the deployment of a multinational security support (MSS) mission. The Council authorised the mission under Kenya’s leadership through resolution 2699 of 2 October 2023 to help Haiti combat gang activity and restore security.
In response to the surge in violence, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) brokered a political agreement among Haitian stakeholders that resulted in Henry’s resignation and the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) tasked with organising elections and restoring democratic governance. The TPC, which was formally established by a 12 April government decree and sworn in two weeks later, comprises seven voting members representing political parties and the private sector, as well as two non-voting observers drawn from civil society and the religious community. It is expected to focus on security, constitutional reform, and elections as its main priorities during a 22-month transitional period leading to the swearing-in of a new president in February 2026. (For more information on political developments, see the Haiti brief in our July 2024 Monthly Forecast.)
On 25 June, the MSS mission’s first contingent of 200 police officers from Kenya arrived in Haiti. The mission is expected to comprise a total of up to 2,500 officers, deployed in several phases. The first batch of deployed officers has reportedly begun conducting joint patrols with the Haitian National Police (HNP), although details about the mission’s concept of operations and rules of engagement have not been made public due to operational security concerns.
Draft Resolution in Blue
Ecuador and the US circulated the first draft of the resolution to Council members on 21 June and convened an initial reading of the text on 24 June, followed by a first round of formal negotiations on 26 June. The co-penholders then circulated a revised draft on 28 June and convened another round of negotiations on 2 July. On the following day (3 July), the co-penholders circulated a second revised draft and placed it under silence procedure until 5 July. Silence was subsequently broken by China and Russia. On Monday (8 July), the co-penholders circulated a third revised draft, placing it under silence procedure until Tuesday (9 July). China subsequently broke silence again. Yesterday (10 July), Ecuador and the US placed a fourth revised draft directly in blue without an additional silence procedure.
The draft resolution in blue welcomes the establishment of the TPC and reiterates the need for all Haitian stakeholders, with BINUH’s support, to continue to advance a Haitian-led, Haitian-owned political process towards the holding of free and fair legislative and presidential elections. In this regard, the draft text requests Haitian stakeholders to “urgently” establish a Provisional Electoral Council and to reach an agreement on a “sustainable, time-bound and commonly accepted” roadmap for elections. It also requests the government of Haiti to provide an update to the Council on that roadmap within 90 days. The draft resolution in blue further calls on BINUH to develop a strategy for how it will support Haiti’s political transition and requests the mission to update the Council on this strategy and its implementation in its quarterly reports.
The draft text in blue maintains BINUH’s personnel ceiling of 70 police and corrections advisors to provide strategic and advisory support to the HNP. It also encourages BINUH to continue to implement a range of other tasks already in its mandate, including technical and advisory support to Haitian judicial and police authorities in such areas as anti-gang tactics, investigative capacity, human rights compliance, community engagement and violence reduction, border management, and the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration of gang members. Additionally, the draft resolution takes note of the deployment of the first contingent of the MSS mission.
Council members are generally supportive of BINUH, and it seems that the negotiations on the draft mandate renewal resolution were relatively smooth. Certain issues still required discussion, however. One concerned the scope of the mission’s mandate. While Council members apparently agreed not to expand the mandate beyond BINUH’s current tasks and capacities, it seems that China and Russia sought language more explicitly emphasising this point, which the co-penholders included in the draft in the blue, specifying that the mission should implement the abovementioned mandated tasks “within its existing resources and capacity”. China apparently also proposed a new operative paragraph expressing concern about BINUH’s vacancy rate, which has been caused in part by the UN’s liquidity crisis, and stressing the importance of establishing necessary conditions for the mission to reach its full strength. However, some Council members were reluctant to include the first half of this paragraph, arguing that issues pertaining to the UN’s financial situation were under the purview of the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, and the co-penholders therefore deleted this section of the paragraph from the draft in blue.
Another issue related to coordination between BINUH and the MSS mission. It seems that the co-penholders’ initial draft called on BINUH to establish a coordination mechanism with the MSS mission to optimise international support for the HNP, but China and Russia apparently opposed this provision and sought to limit references to the MSS in the text, arguing that BINUH’s mandate should not pre-empt separate Council discussions on the renewal of the MSS’ authorisation, which expires on 2 October. In an apparent compromise, the draft resolution in blue emphasises the need for coordination between BINUH (as the “primary focal point” for UN agencies in Haiti), the MSS, and other stakeholders but does not call for the establishment of a designated mechanism to this end.
The draft text also contains new language on certain thematic issues. It includes a preambular paragraph proposed by Switzerland and supported by several other members that strongly condemns violations and abuses against children in Haiti and urges all actors to immediately end such violations and abuses, as well as an operative paragraph proposed by Malta requesting the Secretary-General to continue to monitor and report on this issue. In addition, the draft resolution in blue contains new language, also proposed by Switzerland and supported by several other members, expressing concern that gang violence might hinder disaster risk reduction, preparedness, and resilience-building measures aimed at addressing the adverse effects of climate change and encouraging relevant stakeholders to address such measures in their efforts to promote Haiti’s long-term stability and sustainable development. The draft resolution in blue also includes a new operative paragraph calling on BINUH to support Haitian authorities in developing a strategic communications plan to counter misinformation and disinformation about the political transition, proposed by the Council’s “A3 plus one” grouping (which comprises Algeria, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Guyana), as well as new language suggested by the “A3 plus one” and China emphasising BINUH’s role in raising awareness about the arms embargo imposed on Haiti, which was most recently renewed by resolution 2700 of 19 October 2023.
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Post-script:
On 12 July, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2743, renewing the mandate of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) for another year, until 15 July 2025.
In its explanation of vote, the US welcomed the unanimous adoption, which it described as a “strong signal” that the Council is united in its support for Haiti. However, noting the importance of the Council’s 2653 sanctions regime on Haiti as a tool for promoting accountability for individuals complicit in threatening the country’s peace and stability, the US representative expressed disappointment about the “unexplained hold” placed on the proposal to list Youri Latortue, a former Haitian Senate president under US sanctions for alleged corruption and financial links to gangs. In its explanation of vote, Russia—which has previously opposed the designation of political figures under the 2653 regime—said in relation to sanctions that it hoped that “the interests of individual members of the Council will not be placed higher than the task of supporting an inclusive political dialogue” in Haiti.
