UN ending 13-year mission in Haiti

Peacekeeping troops to leave within days, as civilians set to help reform justice system

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI— A UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti that has helped maintain order through 13 years of political turmoil and catastrophe is coming to an end. The last of the blue-helmeted soldiers from around the world are leaving despite concerns that the police and justice system are still not adequate to ensure security in the country.

The UN planned to lower its flag at its headquarters in Port-au-Prince during a ceremony Thursday that will be attended by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse. After winding down, there are now about 100 international soldiers in the country and they will leave within days. The mission will officially end on Oct. 15.

Immediately afterward, the UN will start a new mission made up of about 1,300 international civilian police officers, along with 350 civilians who will help the country reform a deeply troubled justice system. Various agencies and programs of the international body, such as the Food and Agricultural Organization, will also still be working in the country.

“It will be a much smaller peacekeeping mission,” said Sandra Honore, a diplomat from Trinidad and Tobago who has served since July 2013 as the head of the UN mission in Haiti known as MINUSTAH, its French acronym. “The United Nations is not leaving.” MINUSTAH began in 2004, when a violent rebellion swept the country and forced then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide out of power and into exile. Its goals included restoring security and rebuilding the political institutions. In April, the UN Security Council deemed the country sufficiently stable and voted to wind down the military presence.

Many Haitians have viewed the multinational peacekeepers as an affront to national sovereignty. UN troops are believed to have inadvertently introduced the deadly cholera bacteria to the country and have also been accused of causing civilian casualties in fierce battles with gangs in Port-au-Prince and of sexually abusing minors. But the mission is also credited with stabilizing the country, particularly after the January 2010 earthquake, and building up the national police force.

“The job may not be complete, but they have essentially done much of what they were originally designed to do in terms of preventing any kind of armed takeover of the state, in terms of increasing the safety of civilians,” said Mark Schneider, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.