DOES HAITI NEED POLICE STATE? Haiti’s top gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, has called for Haitians to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry. A year ago Henry requested a multi-national UN force to bring its gang warfare under control. Now Kenya’s President William Ruto has committed to leading such a force. He has already sent an assessment team to see about deploying 1,000 of Kenya’s police. They would add to the 11,000 police Haiti already has for its nation of 11 million-plus people. But that would amount to only one police officer for every 1,000 people.
When we consider that the violence has displaced about 200,000 Haitians whose homes have burned down, it’s a daunting task. Possibly for that reason, Ruto plans to send another team to make a more comprehensive evaluation of the current situation. Meanwhile, the US is drafting a UN Security Council resolution that would authorize the intervention.
Lawless law enforcers
But is Kenya the right leader for such a force? A Kenya-based watchdog, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit, says no. Specifically, it has documented 482 cases occurring in the past year of police abuse. They include “extrajudicial killings, deaths in custody, [and] deliberate torture of children.” And there may be many more cases. Because police refuse to report all the deaths & injuries resulting from recent anti-government protests.
Police tactics have especially targeted urban youth, whom Ruto had vowed to protect from police abuse. And it’s urban youth of course who are causing most of the gang violence in Haiti. Their gang tactics include rape and mutilation to spread terror. So how much of a free hand do the police need to stop such outrages? When lawlessness increases, the love of most grows cold. And the arm of lawless law enforcers grows stronger.
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