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The security situation in Haiti is so out of control that kidnappings and crimes are no longer logged in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital. According to experts on security and human rights, the most worrying thing about the situation are the links that allegedly exist between gangs and government authorities, manifested through the impunity enjoyed by gang members.
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As a result of these links between government and gangs, attacks in working-class neighborhoods by armed gangs have increased in the last two years. The districts of Saline and Bel-Air in particular are the usual sites of massacres that are constantly denounced by human rights defenders. Meanwhile, citizens are doubly victimized: because they live in territories where they have no rights, and because they are automatically labeled as outlaws.
In order to analyze the complex situation on security, justice and human rights, CONNECTAS organized the Dialogue “Insecurity in Haiti: how to live among fear of gangs?” with the support of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). The experts discussed the relation of political forces in the country’s insecurity, the links between gang leaders and the police, and the role that economic elites play in the dynamics of violence and insecurity. They also analyzed how people live under the dictatorship of gangs in working-class neighborhoods, and the compromises they have to make with gangs in order to survive.
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The invited panelists were Emanuella Douyon, President of the Think Tank Policité; Kettly Julien, Executive Director of the Mobile Institute for Democratic Education (IMED), an organization that promotes democratic values in Haiti through education; and Roberson Edouard, Doctor in Sociology and researcher on issues related to inequality, poverty, public policies and violence.
Insecurity in Haiti has historical reasons that respond, for example, to the role of the State, such as political or social inequality, and the pauperization of society. It can be said that since the eighties, security has worsened and the proof of this is in the increase in armed gangs and the incompetence of the State against them, as explained by Kettly Julien, who has been a social leader on gender issues.
On the other hand, insecurity can be explained by the “systematic ineptitude of the State that generates a social fracture in which the social differences between elites and the population become evident,” as stated Roberson Edouard, who works on security and justice issues. To this must be added the fact that at present the violence exercised is no longer supported by the citizens, since a threshold has been passed where there is impunity, there is a manipulated judicial system and the same system is corrupt. ‘Save yourself’, it is the norm that governs today, according to Edouard.
How the gangs became so strong? First, it is important to see the context of the country. For example, in poor neighborhoods there are no schools, health centers, basic services to care for people, basically there is a complete absence of the state. In addition, there is a lack of economic opportunities and those young people who do not leave the country have the possibility of ending up in one of these gangs.
According to Edouard, the criminal dimension is just the tip of the iceberg of the gangs in Haiti. Behind them there are elites that have appropriated the iron and cement market and instrumentalize the gangs to control it. They are the master minds behind the violence that is being experienced in the territory and they are the ones who provide weapons to the young people.
In Haiti there is systematic corruption and complicity of the authorities with the general structures, and the justice system is not working properly. For Edouard, this happens because the laws do not reflect the values of the population or the real situation of society. For example, there are people who cannot live with the salary paid by the State, which is also an issue that is rarely discussed in the country. This makes people choose to have additional income through corruption in order to have decent living conditions. The expert explained that it is difficult to apply the law if those who enact it do not follow the laws.
This impunity has also made the gangs have more and more power over the territory and this in turn is fragmented by disputes over invisible borders. Each gang controls a territory, making it evident the disappearance of the state and state infrastructures, which include everything from cultural centers to jobs. The government does not provide security in these areas and is so obvious that “any young person can be asked to map gang territories from memory,” said Douyon.
For Emanuella Douyon, there are people who the only into the economic system is through violence. Young people have scarce opportunities and that makes gangs easily attract them, because although it is a risky job, “being armed makes you more protected than the rest of the population,” explained Douyon.
The most worrying thing about this situation is that the government seems not to be interested in this situation and it is evident how people get used to live among gangs and at their mercy, because in a way they are filling the vacuum of the government. Likewise, the gangs have remapped the country, since they occupy not only urban areas, but also the country side and national routes.
Edouard explains that the gangs began in the neighborhood committees as a form of internal security to protect citizens, therefore they were legitimized by society. Later, these structures began to become criminal groups that hid under the argument of being protectors of the community. Finally, a relationship of necessity is created with the citizenry, since it is the gangs that end up defending the inhabitants of their area from other gangs and offering their “services”.
In addition, cohabiting the territory also implies reporting on what is happening, which is why the country’s journalists have given the gangs a voice and a leading role in explaining the violence. Although this interest is given in a professional way, Douyon says that there is no support for journalism in the country and the risks to these are evident, so there is no possibility of reporting or echoing the intimidation that gangs have on the population.
It is important to make clear the link between politics and criminal groups, since accessing electoral power in the country implies being close to them. “Political actors have access to electoral groups through gangs or even wage gang warfare,” said Edouard. At the same time, this gives immunity to people involved in politics, and there`s no possibility of accountability.
On the other hand, Douyon recommended that citizens put pressure on the authorities trough civil action. In short, government must be forced to take responsibility for the population, especially those who are impoverished, terrified and blocked in the face of the gang situation.
It is also evident that violence has changed economic logics in the country, since now the products do not compete with prices, but by diverting shipments or warehouses of products. There is a lot of money circulating in the streets, but it is not clear to what channels that money is injected, which would lead to understanding that there is a close link between organized crime and industry, as Edouard said.
It is worth wondering if there is a link between the gangs and the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. According to Douyon, after the earthquake vulnerable population increased and this caused a lot of external aid to reach the country. This money that began to circulate was not controlled in a proper way and caused that a lot of territories did not get help and some people took advantage of this money to use it for their own interests and benefit.
The presence of non-governmental actors such as the United Nations has been questioned. Edouard explains that there are reports that observe the implementation of some initiatives by the UN, but it is clear that violence did not decrease despite the efforts. He also says that “there were never as many armed groups as now and gang members have become increasingly involved in criminality, now we have a more unstable country.”
To this must be added the failed disarmament and reintegration campaigns, as deaths and victims continue to increase every day. Therefore, for Douyon, the only way to confront the problem is by preventing young people from entering these structures through an awareness of the damage they cause at the national level. Although there have been attempts to negotiate with gangs, they have been a failure, as they have not been addressed in the appropriate manner and with a minimum of action by the government.
Likewise, for Edouard government must control arm trafficking. It is necessary to understand who the armed groups are, and which ones are urban gangs. In short, it is necessary to distinguish the types of organizations present throughout the territory. Those organizations that are involved in blood crimes are those to which the law must act immediately. This must be accompanied by disarmament and reintegration programs, while offering quality job opportunities for all people.
President of the Think Tank POLICITÉ. Douyon has a Master’s degree in development economics and specialized in development policy projects from the University Paris 1 – Sorbonne, and a Master’s degree in economics applied to urban planning from the National Tsing Hua University of Taiwan.
Executive Director of the Mobile Institute for Democratic Education (IMED), an organization that promotes democratic values in Haiti through education. Julien has been a social leader for several years and a champion of gender, justice and fundamental rights issues.
He is a Doctor of Sociology and a researcher on issues related to inequality, poverty, public policies and violence, on which he has several publications. He is a CIERA associate researcher and co-founder of the CRESEJ research center, which works on security and justice issues in Haiti.
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