August 29, 2023
To: The Honorable William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya
From: FANM in Action
Subject: Warning to the Kenyan Government - Do not lead an illegitimate armed foreign intervention in Haiti planned by powerful nations attempting to subvert democracy, human rights, and self-determination in Haiti
Dear President Ruto,
We, at FANM in Action, an organization amplifying calls from civil society and human rights organizations inside Haitidefending democracy, human rights, and community security, are addressing you today to warn against an international military deployment supported by nation-states such as the United States, Canada, and France, who are promoting a request made by the illegitimate, corrupt, and repressive government of de facto Haitian PM Ariel HENRY. That regime is pushing an agenda running counter to the will of the Haitian people.
Haitians from across the political spectrum have come together and put long-running political disagreements aside in order to develop consensus proposals for a broad-based transitional government that could move Haiti towards fair elections. Specifics of the latest proposal included supporting the establishment of a legitimate transitional government, the restoration of security, a Haitian-Led reparations process, urgent humanitarian needs response capacity, and justice and accountability. The proposal also called for stopping arms flows. The governance transition would allow Haiti to break the current cycle perpetuating a situation where governance, and political, economic, and security decision-making, are dominated by actors who collaborate with armed gangs. It would move Haiti toward accountability and a pathway to re-establish democracy, livelihoods and community security.
Yet these concrete, legitimate proposals have stalled, largely because Haiti’s corrupt, repressive regime, whose international support insulates it from domestic pressure, has refused to meaningfully participate in any negotiations towards fair elections or a just political transition.
The regime ruling Haiti today is compromised by its dismal human rights record and its connection to the activity of gangs who are operating with complete impunity. There is evidence of widespread gang infiltration of the police and collusion with gang leaders such as Vitel’homme Innocent. He was charged with Hostage taking, and Conspiracy to Commit Hostage Taking, by an indictment filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. A 2021 analysis by Harvard Law School and Haitian human rights groups concluded that attacks organized by government officials and allied gangs against opposition neighborhoods were sufficiently widespread and politically motivated to constitute crimes against humanity. The regime does not represent Haitian interests. It is responsible for the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe and for creating and sustaining the Haitian crisis through its refusal to step down. Twenty former high officials allied with the ruling party are facing international sanctions for corruption and crime. The regime government has neither the legitimacy to rule nor the legal authority to request foreign intervention, and should not be considered a credible partner for international peacekeeping efforts.
We are therefore calling on African nations to not send troops to Haiti as part of a UN-sponsored foreign military force. We are calling on nation-states such as the United States, Canada, and France to show clear substance to their rhetoric favoring protection of human rights and the restoration of security in Haiti. This must start by blocking arms shipments to Haiti, by enforcing accountability for weapons traffickers and those profiteering from the violence in Haiti, and by ending their unconditional support to the de facto, unelected regime in Haiti, shifting support to legitimate local initiatives. These substantive measures are necessary to create the necessary space for legitimate Haitian voices to be able to define a compromise and put in place a legitimate and competent transitional government.
Foreign interventions in Haiti also already have a consistent track record of harming civilians with no accountability. The deadly introduction of cholera by the United Nations in 2010, in which they refused to recognize their role for 6 years, the injuring of civilians, the perpetration of up to 564 acts of sexual exploitation and abuse under a cloud of institutional denial, leaving victims and the resulting children without resources or recourse, and the misdirecting of emergency assistance, are all the legacy of the most recent intervention earlier this century.
Based on the legacy of previous foreign military interventions, and based on current circumstances and the balance of power in Haiti, it is clear that the arrival of an armed foreign intervention will result in the loss of many lives – both Haitian and foreign – and an ill-advised, failed, bungled foreign act of interference that won’t lead to sustained stability in Haiti. It will, on the contrary, cement exploitative, anti-democratic forces’ grip on power. The Haitian people will be condemned to continued misery and repression. Only a truly sovereign and legitimate government can credibly decide how the international community can support Haiti’s security in a way that respects human rights, and can direct aid flows appropriately and transparently.
Our civil society partners in Haiti recently made a heart-felt request to our African cousins and friends “to show true solidarity with the Haitian people…We urge all actors to recognize the rights of the Haitian people to security, dignity, and self-determination. It follows from these fundamental human rights principles that foreign military intervention at the behest and for the benefit of an illegitimate, corrupt, and repressive de facto regime is perverse and liable to cause great harm. It will certainly not bring long-term stability to Haiti.”
Best regards,
FANM in Action