A Kenyan court temporarily blocked the government from deploying hundreds of police personnel in Haiti in a UN-approved mission aimed at helping the Caribbean nation tackle rampant gang violence.

The court order issued on Monday is valid until 24 October and followed a petition jointly filed by one of the opposition political parties and two Kenyans who say the decision to deploy the police officers outside the east African country is illegal.

According to a court document seen by Reuters, the order bars Kenyan government officials including the president and his interior minister “from deploying police officers to Haiti or any other country until 24th October 2023”.

In July, Kenya pledged to offer 1,000 police officers after Haiti appealed for international help with security personnel to assist in its battle against gangs blamed for spiraling violence.

The United Nations estimates some 200,000 Haitians have been displaced during escalating violence, with armed gangs carrying out indiscriminate killings, kidnappings, gang rapes and torching people’s homes.

According to the petitioners, the deployment of the police officers is “not only nonsensical and irrational but unconstitutional”.

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[–] Gadg8eer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Huh? Just for clarity's sake, is this a good or bad thing?

[–] AnarchoDakosaurus@toast.ooo 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Depends on how you see it. Last time U.N. peacekeepers were in Haiti it was a complete disaster. They were caught running child sex trafficking rings.

It was in fact, so prolific there is an entire wiki dedicated to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_by_UN_peacekeepers

On the other hand, without some sort of outside intervention or help the status quo in Haiti will remain. I don't really think any of it is " good " so to speak but I struggle to imagine another U.N. mission will bring about fruitful results for anyone involved.

[–] CookieCrumb@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not going to deny the shitshow it was last time the UN sent troops to Haiti but here's me naively hoping that this kind of mess doesn't repeat.

On thing I read these days it's a good thing they're sending police officers (who are generally charged to return things to order and peace) and not soldiers (who, generally, are tasked to destroy an enemy).

Granted that's a broad generalisation since I don't believe UN peacekeeping troops are sent to places with the explicit orders to destroy something but I think there is a difference in the general mindset and training between police an military.

So maybe, maybe this will do some good? If Kenya is allowed to send police officers.

[–] AnarchoDakosaurus@toast.ooo 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you read the wiki it details that police and soldiers took part in the abuse alike. Of course this doesn't happen with every U.N. deployment, but the bad blood and amnesty towards peacekeepers will not be easily forgotten by the locals.

The courts are probably saving everyone some trouble here.

[–] CookieCrumb@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

I was about to respond "but that was the Haitian police, wasn't it?" But to be fair I don't think that matters. You are right police was involved and that whole mess will not have led to acceptance of UN troops.

But I'm not sure if the courts are saving people from trouble because the situation in Haiti obviously reached a point where the Haitian police and government are not able to handle that kind of crime rate. Otherwise they wouldn't have asked for outside assistance. And I think the first time they asked was about a year ago.

I would also hope that smart people have thought things through and came to the conclusion that this would be helpful the most likely and did not willy nilly decide that sending troops would be a famous idea. 🤷

[+] freagle@lemmygrad.ml -8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Love to see it when the bourgeois liberal structures are used against bourgeois liberal interests. Hopefully the courts can keep this whole thing from happening. We need to starve the West of all reserves and that means they can't delegate their imperialism to any more puppets than they already have.

[–] explodicle@local106.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which involved party is "the West" in this situation?

[–] protist@mander.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

The implication here being you think the status quo in Haiti is just fine, or there's some other plan you favor but have not shared