UNITED NATIONS/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The United States and Panama will propose a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council that aims to establish a force to suppress powerful armed gangs in Haiti, acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea said on Thursday.
The Security Council authorized an initial force in October 2023 and it partially deployed in June last year, but the largely Kenyan force has struggled with lack of resources and manpower, and made little headway in helping national police hold off territorial gains made by gangs.
Shea said the draft resolution proposed establishing a “gang suppression force” and creating a U.N. Support Office to provide logistical ground support to the force in Haiti and to “properly and sustainably resource this effort.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had suggested the establishment of such an office earlier this year. The number of Haitians internally displaced by the conflict, meanwhile, has swelled to around 1.3 million.
Guterres on Thursday called for stronger material support including more vigorous enforcement of an arms embargo. The U.N. estimated most guns held by the armed groups are trafficked from Florida.
It was not immediately clear how the proposed resolution would align with the existing U.N.-backed force in Haiti, which counts under 1,000 troops according to recent estimates – less than half the level it had hoped to mobilize.
The United Nations children’s agency chief told the council there had been a 700% increase in gangs’ recruitment and use of children in the first three months of 2025, compared with the same period of last year.
“We estimate that children currently account for a staggering 50% of the members of the armed groups active today,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said.
“Children are being forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations. Others are being used as couriers, lookouts, porters to carry weapons, or are exploited for domestic labor.”
As people continue to be displaced by the conflict and food insecurity spirals, Haiti’s government has looked for support from Erik Prince’s private security firm Vectus, which began operating in Haiti in March and has deployed mainly drones.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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