MINUSTAH and the Security Environment in Haiti: Brazil and South American Cooperation in the Field

Abstract

This article focuses on the main challenges faced by MINUSTAH in implementing its mandate and how its military component, mainly composed of South American contingents, coped with them and achieved a high level of regional cooperation and success in improving security in Haiti. From a Brazilian standpoint, it addresses how the integrated action of the nation's military and civilian actors and the cultural similarities with Haiti played a crucial role in interactions with the local population and with Haitian and international authorities. This study benefits from a combination of an academic approach and a perspective from the field, acquired over the year during which the author served as assistant to the MINUSTAH Force Commander.

Notes

MINUSTAH's mandate was established in UN Security Council Resolution 1542 of 30 April 2004. Implementation began on 1 June 2004.

UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, ‘MINUSTAH Evaluation Report’, 10 Mar. 2005.

There was a delay on the part of military contingents of various countries, especially Brazil, in recognizing that MINUSTAH, operating under Chapter VII, had many peace enforcement characteristics. This situation eventually led to a more proactive posture, quite different from traditional Chapter VI peacekeeping missions. However, the delay initially resulted in a posture sometimes classified as timid, with troops reluctant to use force beyond self-defence and interpreting the rules of engagement conservatively.

Charles T. Call and Gigja Sorensen, U.N. Operations and State-building: A Case Study of Haiti, New York: Center on International Cooperation, 2009.

Christophe Wargny, Haiti n'existe pas [Haiti Does Not Exist], Paris: Éditions Autrement, 2004, p.37.

Ibid., p.44.

Luc-Joseph Pierre, Haiti: Les Origines du Chaos [Haiti: Origins of Chaos], Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, 1997, pp.58–61.

Eddy Etienne, Haiti 1804–2004: Deux Cent Ans de Grands Combats Diplomatiques et de Luttes Intestines Minables! [Haiti 1804–2004: Two Hundred Years of Great Diplomatic Conflict and Pitiable Internal Struggle], Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Lakay, 2004, pp. 35–6.

Political militia created by François Duvalier (Papa Doc), famous for the intense use of violence.

UN Security Council. Resolution 1542, 30 April 2004.

For a chronology of UN missions in Haiti see Red de Seguridad y Defensa de America Latina (RESDAL), Informe Especial: Misiones de Paz y Cooperación en America Latina – Haiti [Special Issue: Peace Missions and Cooperation in Latin America – Haiti], Buenos Aires, 2007, at: www.resdal.org/atlas/atlas07-cap25.pdf

By September 2004 the situation in Haiti was critical, with major violence breaking out in several areas and with the consequences of Hurricane Hanna, which hit the city of Gonaives, inundating it and requiring an enormous humanitarian effort.

UN Security Council, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stability Mission in Haiti’, UN doc., S/2004/908, 18 Nov. 2004.

Roberto Abdenur, Brazilian Ambassador to the United States, 2004–06, mentions the pressure exerted at the diplomatic level in ‘É hora de o Brasil encerrar a missão no Haiti?’ [Is It Time for Brasil to End Its Mission in Haiti?], Folha de São Paulo, 24 May 2008, at: www.brasilhaiti.com/conteudoimprensa.asp?id=195. The author also witnessed those pressures during numerous audiences of distinguished visitors with the Force Commander or with the MINUSTAH SRSG.

Brazilian personnel had already operated under Chapter VII in East Timor, but the Brazilian military contingent was too small and too specific for wider lessons to be learned from the experience.

Supporting and operating with the HNP during the first two years of the mandate was especially complicated. The HNP had major problems of corruption, human rights and partisan political deployment. In addition, it lacked human resources, weapons and equipment.

Nancy Roc, 2004: Un Bicentenaire Amer, Les grands Dossiers de Metropolis Volume III [2004: A Bitter Bicentenary, The Key State Files, Volume 3], Port-au-Prince: Imprimerie Henri Deschamps, 2005.

The Haitian Army was disbanded by a decree from President Aristide in 1994. Some soldiers did not accept the situation and kept their weapons, occasionally confronting the authorities. Ten years later, the problem still persisted.

The Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the civilian side and the Civil–Military Coordination Centre on the military side contributed to reducing these tensions.

UN Security Council, ‘Report of the Security Council Mission to Haiti (11 to 14 March 2009)’, UN doc., S/2009/175, 2009.

Before the elections, the great majority of Haitians had neither identity cards nor any other means of personal identification.

UN Security Council, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stability Mission in Haiti’, UN doc., S/2004/403, 16 Apr. 2004.

Michael Dziedzic and Robert M. Perito, ‘Haiti: Confronting the Gangs of Port-au-Prince’, special report 208, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC, 2008, at: www.usip.org/resources/haiti-confronting-the-gangs-port-au-prince

Security Council Mission report (see n.20 above).

Abdenur (see n.14 above).

See UN Security Council Resolutions 1780/2007, 1840/2008.

Joseph Nye defines the term as the ‘combination of hard and soft power in effective ways’, in ‘Joseph Nye on Smart Power’, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2008, at: www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/insight/international/joseph-nye

‘Strong point’ is a common military term that defines a specific tactic in defensive operations.

A major incident occurred in February 2005 when a demonstration escorted by MINUSTAH troops was attacked and broken up by the HNP. A demonstrator was shot and killed, sparking a major crisis between the SRSG and the TGoH.

Dziedzic and Perito (see n.23 above).

SRSG Hédi Annabi fell victim to the 2010 earthquake together with his Principal Deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa, and numerous other members of the MINUSTAH civilian, police and military pillars.

UN News Centre, ‘Haiti in Desperate Need of Socio-economic Development, Stresses UN Envoy’, 10 Oct. 2008, at: www.un.or/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=28526&Cr1=MINUSTAH

See n.20 above.