UN extends arms embargo in Haiti to all types of weapons

The UN Security Council is trying to crack down on rising levels of gang violence in Haiti by extending the arms embargo.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously to extend its arms embargo on Haiti due to serious concerns about extremely high levels of gang violence.

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

The resolution authorizes the 193 UN member countries to take “appropriate measures to prevent the illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related materials in Haiti.”

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

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

It means that illicit weapons flow unchecked into the country. The resulting increase in rapes, murders and kidnappings has led to a rise in civilian vigilante groups.

US “straw men” are a source of weapons

Robert Muggah, author of a UN report on arms and drug trafficking in Haiti 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 that the largest source of illegal firearms and ammunition is the United States.

“A little over 50 percent of them were pistols and about 37 percent consisted of rifles,” he told Al Jazeera.

Guns from the United States destined for Haiti are often purchased by “straw men”: people who buy them from authorized dealers but hide that they are for someone else.

The U.N. resolution adopted Friday also encouraged the Haitian government to reinforce its borders to stop illicit trafficking.

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