Canada To Deploy Navy Vessels And 12M In Aid To Haiti As Violence Worsens

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Canada will send navy ships to Haiti to gather intelligence as part of efforts to combat gang violence in the Caribbean country, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.

During an annual meeting of Caribbean leaders in the Bahamas, Trudeau said that the rise in murders, rapes, and kidnappings in Haiti has been a major topic. He said that gangs became more dangerous after President Jovenel Mossé was killed in July 2021.

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was also present at the meeting, has called for a full-fledged international military intervention to end the chaos. His country requested assistance from the United Nations Security Council in October and has suggested that the United States and Canada lead a force. There has been no such intervention, and neither country has offered to lead.

Canada’s decision to send ships announced at a meeting of the 15-member Caricom trade bloc’s leaders comes just days after one of its surveillance planes returned from a similar mission to collect intelligence for Haitian police.

“Right now, Haiti faces unrelenting gang violence, political turmoil, and corruption,” Trudeau said. “Now is the time to band together and confront the gravity of the situation.”

Canada Wants To Work With Other Countries To Aid Haiti

Trudeau stated that Canada and Haiti’s neighbors must work together to find long-term solutions to restore order and security, allow vital aid to flow, and create the conditions for free and fair elections.

The Canadian Prime Minister also announced that his government would provide an additional $12.3 million in humanitarian aid and $10 million to the International Organization for Migration to protect Haitian women and children along the country’s border with the Dominican Republic. In the last year, the neighboring country has deported tens of thousands of Haitian migrants and people of Haitian ancestry.

“The human toll in Haiti weighs heavily on me,” Trudeau said.

Earlier on Thursday, Trudeau met behind closed doors with Henry, who told reporters that despite the worsening insecurity, he urgently wants Haiti to hold elections.

Murders In Haiti Have Increased

The United Nations says that the number of reported murders in Haiti went up by 35% to 2,183 last year, while the number of reported kidnappings went up by more than 100% to 1,359.

According to a report released last month by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, “gang-related violence reached levels not seen in decades,” and warring gangs have displaced tens of thousands of people.

Canada, the United States, and other countries have already provided military equipment, other resources, and training to Haiti’s National Police, which has only 9,700 active-duty officers in a country of over 11 million people. Gangs are estimated to control 60% of Port-au-Prince.

Trudeau also pledged $1.8 million to combat illegal drug trafficking and strengthen Caribbean border and maritime security.

Furthermore, Trudeau stated that his government would set aside $44.8 million to assist the Caribbean in combating climate change.

The Caricom meeting, which has attracted other officials such as Brian Nichols, the United States assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, began on Wednesday and is set to end on Friday.

SOURCE – (AP)