More troops not the answer to rise in violence in Haiti
Source: ActionAid - USA
Alexandre Pollak
Website: http://www.actionaid.org
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
With the UN security council set to vote tomorrow on the mandate of its stabilisation mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the international NGO, ActionAid, cautions that tactic shifts by MINUSTAH and the Haitian government towards direct confrontation with armed gangs will only temporarily reduce insecurity - especially while dubious ties with gang leaders and supporters remain.
"We welcome the recent announcement of UN Secretary General Representative Mr. Edmond Mulet confirming that the Security Council is looking at ways to inject new dynamism into the judicial reform program," said Raphael Yves Pierre, the Country Director of ActionAid in Haiti. "However the current approach to disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme -DDR- cannot continue."
Last Friday, more than 700 United Nations troops entered an area of the Cité Soleil quarter of the capital Port-au-Prince, where one of the most notorious gang leaders and his "army" are said to have their base. The troops were only only able to locate one weapon.
"It is imperative that both the sources and storage of illegal weapons be targeted," said Mr. Yves Pierre. "The current DDR program remains too ambiguous and it is not transparent enough, either through lack of capacity or political will or a combination of both.
"What is needed is a bold democratic national strategy to reform the police and judicial system involving a broad spectrum of Haitian society."
"The lives of ordinary people in Haiti will only see real and lasting improvements if international donors and the Haitian government coordinate their efforts to genuinely implement the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme," added Adriano Campolina, ActionAid Director for the Americas.
"The international community has to genuinely start engaging with local people and investing in development if it is to bring about long term stability and tackle the deteriorating situation."
ENDS
Contact: Alexandre Polack, ActionAid Americas Office, Rio de Janeiro,
Tel: +55 21 91 90 85 59 alexandre.polack@actionaid.org
or
Sandy Krawitz, ActionAid USA
Tel: +1 202-492-7207
sandy.krawitz@actionaid.org
Note to editors:
ActionAid is an international NGO which has worked in Haiti since 1996. Globally, ActionAid works with 14 million poor and excluded people in 47 countries in Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe to support them in securing their rights and eradicating poverty.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
