Holy See supports Haiti's push for UN peacekeeping

By Phoebe Martel 

Since 2018, the Haitian people have suffered sociopolitical collapse and an accelerating humanitarian crisis, with 700,000 displaced across the island nation.

On November 13, the Organization of American States (OAS) passed a resolution to bolster the Haitian democratic transition council’s request for a United Nations peacekeeping mission.

OAS, headquartered in Washington D.C., is a multinational federation of 35 states in the Americas. The organization aims to promote democratic freedoms and perform electoral oversight duties in the Western Hemisphere.

In a speech supporting the resolution, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to OAS, Msgr Juan Antonio Cruz Serrano, called on the international community to demonstrate a “broader commitment” to peace-building efforts in Haiti.

“The Holy See reiterates, once again, its closeness to the Haitian people,° Msgr Serrano said.

Haiti’s current crisis originates in the island nation’s structural poverty, coupled with widespread corruption and crackdowns on protesters that culminated in President Jovenel Moise’s 2021 assassination.

A series of unstable transitional governments created a power vacuum in the capital, Port-au-Prince, now the center of an ongoing, increasingly deadly gang war. The gang violence has claimed many civilians’ lives, with at least 115 residents of a small Haitian town slaughtered in early October.

OAS’s resolution and Haiti’s push for an official UN peacekeeping operation follows the deployment of a Kenya-led security mission inhibited by poor funding and underequipment. A UN deployment could utilize more systematic processes and international funds to halt gang violence.

Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken about the fraught situation in Haiti, urging the world stage to “never forget our Haitian brothers and sisters.” Catholic organizations, including Caritas Internationalis, and Haitian dioceses continue to work towards humanitarian relief on the island, providing shelter, food and clean water to its citizens fleeing violence.