As Barbados struggles with its citizen safety and security due to a spate of gun murders, one of the most extreme examples of a breakdown in law and order is playing out in the northern Caribbean.
Haiti, a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state, is battling one of its worst episodes of crime and violence in recent times. The fact that the state apparatus has essentially broken down has created the circumstance for hoodlums and bandits to roam the streets in a literal free-for-all.
At the centre of Haiti’s crisis is gun violence and the free flow of high-powered firearms into the desperately poor nation. Marauding gangs of gun-toting young men have worsened an already dire situation that has spiralled out of control.
As some regional leaders offer limited military and financial support to the CARICOM member nation, the situation there has become exceedingly challenging and beyond the scope of these small islands to address in any meaningful way.
In fact, countries like Jamaica, which are sending boots on the ground in Port-au-Prince, have faced some backlash at home for exposing their soldiers to a situation that they may not be prepared to handle.
Kenyan President William Ruto, who is currently on a visit to Haiti, has faced street protests and legal action by Kenyans over his aggressive push to place Kenyan soldiers on the streets of the French-speaking impoverished nation.
Importantly, Ruto, who is receiving significant financial support from the United States of America to undertake this mission, has also been criticised by some who view Kenya as a proxy for a US government that does not want to “dirty” its hands with the Haitian situation.
Ruto has also indicated that the “anti-gang mission” of 400 Kenyan troops could be converted to a full United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation.
“On the suggestion to transit this into a fully UN peacekeeping mission, we have absolutely no problem with it, if that is the direction the UN Security Council wants to take,” the Kenyan leader was quoted as saying.
According to a Reuters report, the United States and Ecuador circulated a draft text that would renew the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mandate for another 12 months and ask the UN to begin planning to transition the MSS mission to a UN peacekeeping operation.
The level of insecurity in Haiti is extremely dire with the UN outlining that between April and June, at least 1 379 people were killed or injured, and another 428 kidnapped including at least one member of The Bahamas’ diplomatic staff.
The complete breakdown in security has left an estimated 700 000 Haitians homeless as gang violence persists.
Granted, the situation in Haiti is way beyond anything witnessed in any other part of the Caribbean, or the hemisphere for that matter, what it does demonstrate is the necessity to create multi-pronged approaches to tackling crime and violence, especially in developing countries where resources are limited.
Moreover, the evidence suggests that a hardline approach to dealing with serious crime has not reaped the kind of success many expect.
It has been suggested that in the region, only Jamaica has “rolled out a specific crime prevention strategy – but one that, unfortunately, has not proven very effective” according to a report by Anthony Maingot, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology at Florida International University and a native of Trinidad and Tobago.
Political leaders often overpromise in an effort to appease constituents, though they are aware of the complexities and contributing factors to rising crime.
For us in Barbados, the proliferation of illegal drugs, the expanding gang culture, the get rich mentality, low academic achievements of a growing number of young people, coupled with high youth unemployment, all contribute to the crime situation.
Another factor that is often not given enough attention is the growing number of people operating below the poverty line, while, at the same time, the increasing class of Barbadians who see nothing wrong with flaunting their wealth and financial status in the faces of those who are struggling.
Also of concern to Barbadians is the perceived relationships that exist between political classes and some undesirable characters in this society.
What the crime and gang situation in Haiti has taught us is that crime does not occur in a vacuum, that it has the capacity to destabilise the entire society, deter investment, and reverse national development.
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