UN expands Haiti arms embargo to all types of weapons

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to expand its arms embargo in Haiti because of grave concerns over extremely high levels of gang violence.

The embargo will extend to all types of arms and ammunition in the Caribbean country, which faces multiple challenges.

The resolution authorises the 193 UN member nations to take “appropriate steps to prevent the illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related materiel in Haiti”.

The resolution also extends a travel ban and asset freeze on gang members and criminals on its blacklist.

Haiti has faced years of instability, but the situation has worsened since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. It created a power vacuum which increased the influence of armed gangs. It is estimated they now control up to 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

US “straw men” source of weapons

Robert Muggah, the author of a UN report on Haiti’s guns and drugs trafficking and founder of the Brazil-based think tank, the Igarape Institute, spoke to Al Jazeera’s Jillian Kestler-D’Amours earlier this year.

He estimated the biggest source of illegal firearms and ammunition is the United States

“Just over 50 percent of these were handguns and roughly 37 percent consisted of rifles,” he told Al Jazeera.

Often Haiti-bound weapons from the US are purchased by “straw men” – people who buy from licensed dealers but conceal they are for someone else.

The UN resolution adopted on Friday also encouraged the Haitian government to tighten up its borders to stop illicit trafficking.

The Security Council also voted in early October to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force trying to help the Haitian National Police combat the gangs.