WEB DESK: Voicing deep concern over the escalating gang violence in Haiti, Pakistan has called on the UN Security Council to act “decisively, collectively, and now” to restore the Caribbean country’s political stability.
“The time for half-measures is over,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member Council, as he urged support for the Haitian state to reclaim its authority from gangs’ strangleholds.
Speaking during a briefing on strife-torn Haiti, he said, “The gangs’ stranglehold has turned Haiti’s streets into battlegrounds; vigilante killings are on the rise, children are being recruited by armed groups, and the economic collapse and breakdown of basic services subjecting hundreds of thousands of Haitians to live in fear and face acute food shortages.”
Wednesday’s formal Council meeting was the first under Pakistan’s presidency for the month of July.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar, who presided over the Security Council meeting, spoke in his national capacity .
Pakistan, he said, remains deeply concerned by Haiti’s rapid slide into chaos — marked by rampant gang violence, unchecked vigilantism, and a worsening humanitarian situation.
“Haiti’s stability also requires political unity and responsible leadership, that promotes national consensus and charts a common path to recovery within the imperative of a Haitian-led and-owned process.” the Pakistani envoy said.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar expressed support for the commitment of Kenya and the other troop-contributing countries to the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and called on the Security Council to ensure that the mission is robust, well-resourced, and effective — while also helping build Haiti’s police, justice, and governance capacity for the long term.
“Anything less risks collective failure tomorrow,” he added.
“The people of Haiti deserve to live in peace and dignity, free from fear and want,” the Pakistani envoy said, stressing that collective, courageous, and timely action is needed now.
“Pakistan stands ready to play its part in forging consensus within the Council … to help deliver security and hope to the people of Haiti.”
At the outset, Miroslav Jenca, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, noted a “sharp erosion of State authority and the rule of law” since his visit in January, with “brutal gang violence” affecting every aspect of public and private life.
The capital, Port-au-Prince, was paralyzed by gangs and isolated by ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into Toussaint-Louverture airport, he said. Since then, gangs have only strengthened their foothold, which now affects all communes of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and beyond.
He called on the international community to act decisively and urgently or the “total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario”.
Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), echoed that warning.
“As gang control expands, the state’s capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking, with social, economic and security implications,” she told the Council, briefing remotely from Vienna.
“This erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects,” Ms.Waly said, with legal commerce becoming paralyzed as gangs control major trade routes, such conditions worsening “already dire levels of food insecurity and humanitarian need.”
