A top United Nations human rights expert on Haiti believes the country’s spiraling security crisis can be brought under control—if law enforcement is properly equipped and neighboring nations step up to curb the flow of illegal arms.
“We’re talking about 2,500, maybe 3,000 well-trained and equipped international police. It’s doable,” said William O’Neill, the U.N. High Commissioner’s Designated Expert on Human Rights in Haiti, during a press briefing on Tuesday.
The U.N. Security Council is set to debate a new hybrid security model aimed at addressing Haiti’s crisis. The proposed budgeted support office would help supply an existing voluntary mission, which has been severely under-resourced due to a lack of international contributions.
Haiti’s government has pleaded for international security assistance since 2022, and more recently, requested a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission. However, this proposal faced opposition from Russia and China.
O’Neill said the support office could still play a critical role by providing helicopters, spare parts, and specialized vehicles to help police navigate Port-au-Prince and Haiti’s rugged terrain.
A major factor fueling Haiti’s crisis is the unchecked flow of illegal firearms from abroad, particularly from the United States. O’Neill stressed that Haiti does not produce any weapons and called on countries to strengthen border controls to cut off the gangs’ access to guns and ammunition.
“If you stop the flow, the gangs will eventually run out of ammunition. That’s a quicker, faster, safer way to dismantle them than having to go in and fight them,” he explained.
Deportations worsening humanitarian crisis in Haiti
O’Neill also urged the U.S., Dominican Republic, Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos to halt deportations of Haitian migrants, arguing that safe and dignified returns cannot be guaranteed under current conditions.
The Directorate General of Migration in the Dominican Republic reported that more than a quarter of a million Haitians were deported or repatriated in 2024.
Over 1 million people have been internally displaced, food prices are soaring, and previously secure areas—such as Petion-Ville, a wealthy Port-au-Prince suburb home to diplomats—are now under threat.
“The risk of the capital falling under gang control is palpable,” O’Neill warned. “There is not a day to lose.”
