Jamaica Part of Group of Standing Partners to Steer GSF in Haiti

Jamaica has agreed to be a part of the Group of Standing Partners charged with steering the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti.

With a 12-month mandate, the 5,550-strong force will work alongside Haitian authorities to neutralise gangs, secure infrastructure and support humanitarian access.

Its main aim is to protect vulnerable populations from escalating violence and prevent the displacement that inevitably causes.

The newly authorised multinational mission by the United Nations (UN) Security Council will replace the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.

Addressing Wednesday’s (October 1) Post Cabinet Press Briefing at Jamaica House, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, said it is critical for a vote to be taken, as the MSS mission expires on October 2.

“We have an agreed way forward that would not leave Haiti at odds as to what’s next for us. Is the international community leaving us behind? But it’s also for the forces that are there to ensure that there is a next chapter, a next phase that is UN-backed and that will have resources in order to ensure that we do our very best,” Senator Johnson Smith explained.

She noted that Jamaica has been stating its concern for Haiti within CARICOM and externally, from the perspective of her people, of the chronic humanitarian crisis and the security crisis that has spiralled into mass dislocation and gross humanitarian abuses.

“It must be that from solidarity and also proximity and Jamaica’s concern for regional security and our own national security interests that we do our best by our brothers and sisters in Haiti. So, we have been advocating for support for this successor mechanism, as well as the establishment of a new mission office, UN mission office in Haiti, which will allow for more predictable funding and more systematic support of the mission that is deployed there,” the Minister said.

She noted that the GSF mission is intended to work in parallel with the Organisation of American States (OAS) roadmap for Haiti’s return to stability and security, which focuses more on the humanitarian aspects.

Haiti has been hit by economic chaos, political crisis and increasingly violent gang violence since its President, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021.