Elder & Patel 1

Haneen Elder & Feny Patel

Honors IR

5th hr

Report on International Civilian Mission in Haiti

December 8, 2010
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Background on Issue/Conflict:

As many may recall Haiti unfortunately suffered from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on

January 12th, 2010 that left more than 200,000 people dead. If that’s wasn’t tragic enough, the

UN headquarters in Haiti was one of the buildings that had collapsed killing many of the

officials. This made it a little more difficult to get the specific kind of help needed. With over 1.5

million homeless, the UN was forced to rethink some of their initial priorities. For example,

when the UN first started out, their main goal was to help create a stable democratic government.

However, as time progressed the International Civilian Mission in Haiti1 (MINUSTAH) began to

realize that without the cooperation of the citizens, constructing a just, stable government would

be near impossible.

This was when MINUSTAH came up with resolution 1927, which authorized temporary

deployment of 680 additional police in order to building upon the weakened Haitian National

Police. They had also wanted to add a military component of 8,940 troops. By doing this

MINUSTAH hopes to place enough force throughout Haiti, to cause the people to begin to

cooperate and build start to rebuild what little democracy there once was. As time has progressed

the UN Security Council has recognized the need for MINUSTAH to remain in Haiti and take on

the roles and responsibilities of leading a state. The Security Council has allowed for

collaboration with OCHA (Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) when dealing with

the earthquake recovery efforts. As the days begin to progress MINUSTAH find themselves

becoming more and more focused on finding effective ways to provide the basic essentials to the

thousands of people still left in camps. Although they are doing the best that they can, it is going

1
"MICIVIH - International Civilian Mission in Haiti, OAS/UN : Core Page." Welcome to the United Nations: It's Your
World. 12 Mar. 2000. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. <http://www.un.org/rights/micivih/first.htm>.
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to take a lot of time, patience, and generosity to make this mission a success. Without the help of

volunteers and aid not much can be accomplished.

Background on the UN Involvement:

The United Nations first became involved with Haiti in 1990, in order to help stabilize

their government. Their first goal was to create a stable government using United Nations

Observer Group, ONUVEH. As conditioned worsened the UN went a step further and created

MICIVIH. MICIVIH was created in order to monitor human rights in Haiti, and promote

awareness of the civil justice and equality.

It wasn’t until 1995, that MICIVIH was able to really assume all control while still

having the Haitian military comply. During this period the UN was able to launch a number of

successful missions that brought hope of finally achieving social justice in Haiti. Some of those

missions were the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH), the United Nations

Transition Mission in Haiti (UNTMIH), and the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti

(MIPONUH). All of these had a common goal of providing enough police force in Haiti to

ensure that the citizens are behaving and positively contributing to society. The UN was able to

somewhat instill a level of democracy by peacefully changing powers between two presidents for

the first time. However, even though they were able to democratically elect a leader, due to the

lack of stability, no reforms were ever able to follow through.

With recommendations by the Security General; on April 30th, 2004 resolution 1542 was

approved and enforced. Resolution 1542 was meant to “take all necessary to put an end to

impunity and ensure the continued promotion and protections of human rights and the
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establishment of a State based on the rule of law…”2 The resolution ended up being a success

and allowed for Haiti to begin to once again create a traditional government. Everything from the

media to the economy was flourishing. People were beginning feel that Haiti is finally

contributing to the world. Unfortunately, due to the earthquake and the Haiti UN headquarters

getting destroyed, they are once again forced to start from square one; restoring humanity.

Assessment of Success:

While many would say that the UN is doing the best they could, some would argue the

opposite. An article written by the Associated Press, discuss how tests have shown that there is

an outbreak of cholera. Initially there were a total of 305 deaths, however, they have been said to

have risen to 4,694 as of October 28, 2010.3 In response the UN made a statement claiming: "has

taken very seriously the allegations that sewage water coming from latrines at the back of the

Nepalese military base in Mirebalais could be the source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti."4 With

a death the death toll being as high as it is many are skeptical that the UN has concerned

themselves with things that are not of priority. Some believe that if the UN specifically,

MINUSTAH does not being to take more precautionary measures, they may do more harm than

good and possibly ruin any trust that the Haitian military may still have in us. Some even believe

that it would be best if the UN withdrew their occupational force since they are believed to be the

ones who brought cholera into the country.

2
United Nations Security Council." UN Security Council, 30 Apr. 2004. Web. 8 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org/pss/20694500>.
3
CNN Wire Staff. "U.N. Investigates Allegations of Cholera Source in Haiti - CNN." Featured Articles from
CNN. 28 Oct. 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2010-10-
28/world/haiti.cholera_1_cholera-outbreak-cholera-cases-septic-tank?_s=PM:WORLD>.
4
UN Mission in Haiti." Associated Press, Oct. 2010. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://www.haiti-info.com/?U-N-
mission-in-Haiti-takes-violent>
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However, not all have chosen to focus their attention on the negative aspects. One article

claims that with the help of OCHA and new technology MINUSTAH will immensely improve

the humanitarian work currently taking place in Haiti. They claim that it can strengthen

preparedness for responses to major humanitarian emergencies, investing $7.4 million in such

research.5 Although, because of how some people feel about the UN, as a precautionary measure,

MINUSTAH will need to present a report on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake; 12

January 2011. It would be at this point a decision on whether the project should continue or not

will be made. If the decision is to discontinue the project than MINSTAH will be forced to come

up with another plan that would help Haiti recovery, as quickly and efficiently as possible.

However, many anticipate that the project will be a huge success and essentially change how

countries begin to approach disasters.

5
UN Partners with Academia to Explore How Technology Can Help in Disaster Response." Welcome to
the United Nations: It's Your World. 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36955&Cr=information&Cr1=technology>.