Trapped Between Many Worlds: A Post-colonial Perspective on the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)

Abstract

From a post-colonial perspective, this article argues that the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haiti (MINUSTAH) helps in our understanding of how the conventional peace operation model is, at the field-level, constantly challenged and renegotiated. Formally conceived as a francophone mission operating in a francophone country, MINUSTAH's deployment and interactions on the ground proved to be complex. Composed of a majority of Latin American troops, MINUSTAH has been exposed to symbolic and material pressures that range from the UN ‘liberal peace model’, French colonial heritage and previous US interference, to post-colonial worldviews and local demands. Benefitting from the combination of an academic approach and a practitioner's perspective this article demonstrates that although MINUSTAH was framed inside a specific UN mission pattern, grounded in a supposedly dominant francophone culture and located on the ‘outskirts’ of the United States, it has been subjected to a plurality of other pressures – such as demands from leading contributing countries – and opened to multiple re-articulations of its original mandate. This article politicizes the multiple encounters between a pre-defined peace operation model and everyday field realities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The article is the result of a joint effort by three authors with different theoretical and practical backgrounds. Thus, as well as the (post-colonial) argument proposed in this analysis, the article emerged from multiple negotiations, of both academic positions and worldviews. The views expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect any institutional position.

Notes

UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (henceforth DPKO), ‘MINUSTAH Evaluation Report’, UN internal document (hard copy without serial number), 10 Mar. 2005.

For a post-colonial perspective on peace operations see, Bruno Charbonneau, ‘The Colonial Legacy of Peace(building): France, Europe, Africa’, Paper at the ISA's 50th Annual Convention Exploring the Past, Anticipating the Future, New York, Feb. 2009 (at: www.allacademic.com/meta/p311200_index.html); Phillip Darby, ‘Rolling Back the Frontiers of Empire: Practising the Postcolonial’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.16, No.5, 2009, pp.699–716; Kristoffer Lidén, ‘Peace, Self-Governance and International Engagement: A Postcolonial Ethic of Liberal Peacebuilding’, Paper at ISA's 50th Annual Convention (see n.2 above) (at: www.allacademic.com/meta/p312060_index.html).

Jacques Derrida calls ‘logocentrism’ the modern predisposition for the production of binary oppositions – e.g., colonizer/colonized or civilized/barbarian. Such dichotomies are frequently followed by moral judgments of good and bad. By the logocentric procedure, one of the two categories is privileged over the other, connoting a presence or a purity, which the other lacks. Although these oppositions are taken as truth, Derrida says that they are in no way natural or self-evident but, instead, hierarchical constructions. Jacques Derrida, A Escritura e a Diferença [Writing and Difference], São Paulo: Editora Perspectiva, 1967; Richard Devetak, ‘Postmodernism’, in Scott Burchill, Richard Devetak, Andrew Linklater, Matthew Paterson, Christian Reus-Smit and Jacqui True (eds), Theories of International Relations, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995, p.187.

‘Post-colonial’/‘post-colonialism’ are used here to express three (not necessarily divergent) possibilities. First, it may refer to a perspective on global history, with five hundred years of tradition, related to the history of colonialism, conquest and control (see Sankaran Krishna, Globalization & Postcolonialism. Hegemony and Resistance in the Twenty-first Century, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). In this case, the prefix ‘post’ does not mean something that came after ‘colonialism’, but a contestation to colonial domination and to the legacies of colonialism (see Ania Loomba, Colonialism/ Postcolonialism, London: Routledge, 2005). Second, ‘post-colonialism’ may refer to a theoretical perspective, dating back to the late 1970s, perceptible in a set of authors and writings. Finally, ‘post-colonial’ nations may refer to the African, Asian and Latin American countries grouped into what was once known as the ‘third world’ (see Krishna (see n.4 above)).

Gerard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the UN, Speech in the UN Security Council on Institution-building, 21 Jan. 2011 (at: www.franceonu.org/spip.php?article5353), emphasis added.

According to the ‘Quebec City Declaration’ (17–19 Oct. 2008), ‘peace, democracy and human rights’ are considered fundamental values promoted by La Francophonie. See the official website (at: www.francophonie.org/Organigramme-de-la-Francophonie.html). According to Deniau (apud Milhaud) the notion of Francophonie encompasses four dimensions: (a) institutional; (b) linguistic; (c) geographical; and (d) ‘mystical’. Francophonie may refer, therefore, to: an organization; a community that promotes the French language and French values; a space of French speaking countries and related to a specific sense of belonging. Deniau apud Olivier Milhaud, Post-Francophonie?, EspacesTemps.net, 7 Aug. 2006 (at: http://espacestemps.net/document2077.html).

Oliver Richmond, ‘The Globalization of Responses to Conflict and the Peacebuilding Consensus’, Cooperation and Conflict: Journal of Nordic International Studies Association, Vol.39, No.2, 2004, pp.129–50.

Ibid.

Roland Paris, ‘Echoes of the “Mission Civilisatrice”: Peacekeeping in the Post-Cold War Era’, in Edward Newman and Oliver Richmond (eds), The United Nations and Human Security, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001, p.100.

Paris, ‘Saving Liberal Peacebuilding’, Review of International Studies, Vol.36, No.2, 2010, pp.337–65.

Ibid., p.357.

See a response to Paris that challenges his key claims including the idea that ‘there is no alternative to liberal peacebuilding’. Neil Cooper, Mandy Turner and Michael Pugh, ‘The End of History and the Last Liberal Peacebuilder: A Reply to Roland Paris’, Review of International Studies, Vol.37, No.4, 2011, pp.1995–2007. Also, Richmond (n.7 above); Lidén (n.2 above); Charbonneau (n.2 above); David Chandler, ‘Introduction: Peace without Politics?’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.12, No.3, 2005, pp.307–21.

Nehal Bhuta, ‘Against State-Building’, Constellations, Vol.15, No.4, 2008, pp.517–42; Beate Jahn, ‘The Tragedy of Liberal Diplomacy: Democratization, Intervention, Statebuilding’ (Parts I & 2), Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol.1, No.1, 2007, pp.87–106, Vol.1, No.2, 2007, pp.211–229.

Krishna (see n.4 above); Naeem Inayatullah and David Blaney, International Relations and the Problem of Difference, Abingdon: Routledge, 2004. On the post-colonial criticism of modernization theory, see Naeem Inayatullah and David Blaney, ‘Neo-modernization? IR and the Inner Life of Modernization Theory’, European Journal of International Relations, Vol.8, No.1, 2002, pp.103–37.

Homi K. Bhabha, The Location of Culture, Abingdon: Routledge, 1994.

Lidén (see n.2 above).

See Jacques Derrida, Posições [Positions], Belo Horizonte: Autêntica Editora, 2001; Edward Said, Orientalismo: O Oriente como Invenção do Ocidente [Orientalism: How the West Invented the Orient], São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1990.

Tzvetan Todorov, The Conquest of America. The Question of the Other, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.

Rohan Kalyan, ‘The Ambiguity of the Law in Everyday Life’, Virtual Politics, 5 Mar. 2009 (at: www.virtualpolitics-india.blogspot.com/2009/03/ambiguity-of-law-in-everyday-life.html).

Cited in Sibylle Fischer, Modernity Disavowed: Haiti and the Cultures of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004, p.131.

Krishna (see n.4 above), pp.72–3.

Martin Munro and Robbie Shilliam, ‘Alternative Sources of Cosmopolitanism: Nationalism, Universalism and Créolité in Francophone Caribbean Thought’, in Shilliam (ed.), International Relations and Non-Western Thought: Imperialism, Colonialism and Investigations of Global Modernity, London: Routledge, 2011, pp.159–77.

Sidney W. Mintz, ‘Can Haiti Change?’, Foreign Affairs, Vol.74, No.1, 1995, pp.73–86.

Susan Buck-Morss, ‘Hegel and Haiti’, Critical Inquiry, Vol.26, No.4, 2000, p.837.

Bruno Charbonneau, ‘Dreams of Empire: France, Europe, and the New Interventionism in Africa’. Modern & Cotemporary France, Vol.16, No.3, 2008, p.280.

Ibid, p.281.

Aimé Césaire, as cited in Munro and Shilliam (see n.22 above), p.164.

Michel Foucault, Em Defesa da Sociedade [Society must be Defended], São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2005, pp.325–51.

Buck-Morss (see n.24 above), p.865.

For a bold articulation of how relations of alterity – or multiple exclusions – offer the basis of modern subjectivity, see R.B.J. Walker, ‘The Double Outside of Modern International’, Ephemera, Vol.6, No.1, 2006, pp.56–89.

Christophe Wargny, L'Haiti n'existe pas! 1804–2004: deux cents ans de solitude [Haiti Does not Exist! 1804–2004: Two Hundred Years of Isolation], Paris: Autrement, 2004, p.190. 

Buck-Morss (see n.24 above).

Hispaniola had a singular elite comprising so-called gens de couleur or mulattos, the majority of whom descended from conjugal relations between French farmers – grand blancs – and their slave women. The mulattos were intermediaries in terms of class, status and power between the grand blancs and the great majority of African slaves. Even resulting from miscegenation processes between Europeans and Africans, mulattos considered themselves closer to white Europeans and therefore ‘more civilized’ and ‘advanced’ than African blacks. Mintz (see n.23 above); Alex Dupuy, ‘Legacies of the Haitian Revolution: The Duvalier Regime and Color Politics in Haiti: 1957–1971’, Conference on Black Liberation and the Spirit of 57, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Nov. 2007.

Pierre Luc-Joseph, Haiti: Les Origines du Chaos [Haiti: Origins of Chaos], Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, 1997.

Jason D. MacLeod, ‘From De-to-Post-to-Neo-Colonization: A Brief History of Haiti's Occupations’, JDM, 10 Nov. 2011 (at: www.jasondmacleod.com/?page_id=175).

Hans Schmidt, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915–1934, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1995, p.13.

Ibid.

Mintz (see n.22 above).

Krishna (see n.4 above).

Wargny (see n.31 above), p. 174.

Bhabha (see n.15 above).

Ibid.

Krishna (see n.4 above).

Message transmitted to the public by the official Brazilian spokesman, André Singer, 5 Mar. 2004 (at: www.gazetadigital.com.br/conteudo/show/secao/10/materia/30135).

Estado de São Paulo, Brasil vai comandar Força de Paz da ONU no Haiti [Brazil to Command the Peace Mission in Haiti], 8 Apr. 2004 (at: www.estadao.com.br/arquivo/mundo/2004/not20040408p26625.htm).

For a similar argument regarding France and the EU, see Charbonneau (n.25 above).

Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes (MAEE) [Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs]; Deniau apud Olivier Milhaud (see n.6 above).

Deniau apud Olivier Milhaud (see n.6 above).

Le Monde, 2 Dec. 1995, Deniau, as cited in Milhaud (see n.6 above).

Nevertheless, one might also draw attention to the ambiguity of the Francophonie idea. It refers to a space where people speak French due to colonization and whose aim is above all to promote the French language and culture. But, mainly because it is an organization created during the decolonization period and by non-metropolitan countries, Milhaud asks, ‘How could any attempt to go beyond colonialism… not be trapped by suspicions of neo-colonialism?’, Deniau, as cited in Milhaud (see n.6 above).

Other structural and circumstantial issues justified US reticence to get involved in Haiti in 2004. For instance, military intervention was not seen as an effective way to deal with the problem of Haitian refugees illegally entering the United States, mainly through Florida. Moreover, involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan took precedence.

Wladimir Valler Filho, O Brasil e a crise haitiana: a cooperação técnica como instrumento de solidariedade e de ação diplomática [Brazil and the Haitian Crisis: Technical Cooperation as an Instrument of Solidarity and Diplomatic Action], Brasília: FUNAG, 2007.

Roland Paris, ‘International Peacebuilding and the Mission Civilisatrice’, Review of International Studies, Vol.28, No.4, 2002, pp.637–56.

Bhabha (see n.15 above).

See MINUSTAH official web site (at: www.minustah.org).

One of the most emblematic events occurred in February 2005, when MINUSTAH troops were escorting a large peaceful political demonstration. A group of Haitian national police officers bypassed a MINUSTAH checkpoint and began shooting at the demonstrators, killing one of them and injuring some others. MINUSTAH SRSG (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) stated publicly that its task of protecting the civilians was to take priority over the task of supporting the HNP (Hatian National Police), and that if such an incident happened again, he would order the troops to fire on the HNP. This event sparked a major crisis between MINUSTAH SRSG and the Haitian government.

United Nations, ‘A New Partnership Agenda: Charting a New Horizon for UN Peacekeeping’, New York, UN, 2009, p.21 (at: www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents/newhorizon.pdf).

Carlos Chagas Vianna Braga, ‘MINUSTAH and the Security Environment in Haiti: Brazil and South America Cooperation in the Field’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.17, No.5, 2010, pp.711–22.

Roberto Abdenur, Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, 2004–06, mentions the pressure exerted at his level in an article published in ‘É hora de o Brasil encerrar a missão no Haiti?’ [Is it Time for Brazil to End its Mission in Haiti?], Folha de São Paulo, 24 May 2008 (at: www.brasilhaiti.com/conteudoimprensa.asp?id=195).

This position is interesting since it reinforces the way Brazil, by making use of its post-colonial condition and in order to legitimize an alternative way of intervention, tries to differentiate itself from (French) colonial and (US) imperial imaginary, avoiding a more intense and permissive use of force and emphasizing its familiarity with Haitian problems. Nevertheless, Brazil's position reinforces its leadership vis-à-vis Latin American and Caribbean counterparts, inevitably reproducing hierarchical relationships and, at the same time, demanding special attention in order to avoid being associated with previous colonial practices.

Susan Rice, ‘Written Testimony Submitted by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on “Confronting New Challenges Facing United Nations Peacekeeping Operations”’, US Mission to the UN, 29 July 2009 (at: www.usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/2009/july/126844.htm).

The ‘Core Group’ was established by Security Council Resolution 1542 of 2004 to facilitate the implementation of MINUSTAH's mandate, promote interaction with the Haitian authorities as partners, and enhance the effectiveness of the international response in Haiti. The Group, chaired by the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Haiti and his/her deputies, comprises representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), international financial institutions and other interested stakeholders (at: www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8083.doc.htm).

Isabel Vincent, ‘A Political Alliance in Haiti was the Easy Part’, Macleans [Ontario], 6 March 2006, emphasized the Brazilian electoral initiative (at: www.macleans.ca/world/global/article.jsp?content=20060306_122669_122669).

Kalyan (see n.19 above).

Celso Amorim, ‘Speech at the Economic Forum, Jedá, Saudi Arabia’, Resenha de Política Exterior do Brasil, Vol.32, No.96, 2005, p.80.

Paulo Esteves, ‘“Ikke-likegyldighet” brasilians kutenrikspolitikk’ [Non-Indifference and Brazilian Engagement with Multidimensional PKO's], Internasjonal Politikk, Vol.69, No.2, 2011, pp.282–92.

Ibid.

This idea was articulated by former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, Ambassador Edmond Mullet, in a lecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), 19 June 2011.

Rut Diamint, ‘El 2x9: ¿una incipiente comunidad de Seguridad  en América Latina?’ [The 2x9: An Incipient Security Community in Latin America?], Policy paper 18, Berlin: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2007 (at: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/la-seguridad/50501.pdf).

Drawing on experience from Argentina, a tripartite project (Pro Huerta Trilateral Cooperation Project) focuses on educating people about cholera, training them in farming practices and providing vegetable seeds. Based on Canadian technical expertise, the project is run in close collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture. Presently, the diets of more than 90,000 people have greatly improved through Pro-Huerta Haiti's work, which has expanded through an agreement between Argentina, Canada and Haiti (at: www.new-ag.info/en/developments/devItem.php?a=1823).

When comparing content and form of US cooperation agreements in Haiti during the 1990s with more recent accords, one may say that while US assistance was mainly guided by more abstract and long term necessities (informed, for instance, by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) information), such as the construction of democracy, control of population augmentation and economic growth, tripartite agreements tend to concentrate on more obvious and urgent local demands. See, Paulo Gustavo Pelegrino Correa, MINUSTAH e Diplomacia Solidária: criação de um novo paradigma nas operações de paz? [MINUSTAH and Diplomatic Solidarity: Creation of a New Paradigm for Peace Operations?], unpublished Masters dissertation, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 2009.

At a meeting on 18 September 2009, Bernard Kouchner, French minister of foreign and European affairs and Celso Amorim, Brazilian foreign minister, discussed strengthening cooperation among France, Brazil and Haiti. In a meeting with the Haitian President René Préval, Kouchner and Amorim launched a project for the creation of a breast milk bank, successfully tested in Brazil. It aims to collect breast milk to help mothers who cannot breastfeed. Haiti will provide the premises and the necessary staff. Brazil will provide expertise and France will finance the purchase of equipment. Ambassade de France à Port-au-Prince [Embassy of France in Port-au-Prince] (at: www.ambafrance-ht.org/Deplacement-de-Bernard-Kouchner-et).

Rosa E. Brooks, ‘Failed States, or the State as Failure?’, University of Chicago Law Review, Vol.72, No.4, 2005, pp.1159–96.

Robert Cox, ‘Social Forces, States, and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory’, Millennium, Vol.10, No.2, 1981, pp.126–55.

Michael Pugh, Peacekeeping and Critical Theory, International Peacekeeping, Vol.11, No.1, 2004, pp.39–58; Laura Zanotti, ‘Taming Chaos: A Foucauldian View of UN Peacekeeping, Democracy and Normalization’, International Peacekeeping, Vol.13, No.2, 2006, pp.150–67.

Kate Manzo, ‘Critical Humanism: Postcolonialism and Postmodern Ethics’, in David Campbell and Michael Shapiro (eds), Moral Spaces. Rethinking Ethics and World Politics, Minnesota, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

For the idea of a ‘Brazilian Way of Peacekeeping’, see Clovis Brigagão, Contribuições Brasileiras às Missões de Paz [Brazilian Contributions to Peace Missions], Rio de Janeiro: Gramma, 2008.