Press Release

For Immediate Release | 12-02-2024

Contact: Christina Schiavoni, cms@grassrootsonline.org, 617-690-4079

Over 70 Civil Society Organizations Call on Biden, UN to End Intervention in Haiti

In the face of an escalating crisis in Haiti, over 70 Haitian social movements and their US-based and international civil society allies are calling on the Biden administration and United Nations secretary-general’s office to re-evaluate US and UN involvement in the country.

“Haiti is experiencing an acute security crisis that has worsened since February, marked by massacres, arson targeting residents’ property, and forced internal displacement.” said Juslene Tyresias, Program Coordinator and Deputy Director of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP, Mouvman Peyizan Papay).

“The Haitian authorities appear powerless, and despite the presence of the foreign force known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM), armed gangs continue to wreak havoc openly and with impunity,” she added.

The organizational signers seek the Biden administration to use its lame duck period — the time between the election and the new administration’s inauguration — to implement the demands of Haitian social movements. These movements have seen the situation grow more critical in recent weeks, including in areas previously less prone to violence.

A central demand of the letter includes removing the over 3,000 UN troops, anchored by the Kenyan military. Haitian civil society has argued that foreign intervention has created more problems than solve them.

“The situation Haiti faces today is not a coincidence. It is the result of the continuity of the neocolonial system and the interference of imperialist powers,” said Ricot Jean Pierre, Program Director of the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA, Platfòm Ayisyen Pledwaye Pou Devlopman Altènatif).

Addressing this interference, as the letter states, especially involves stopping the flow of weapons into Haiti from the US — the biggest source of arms according to a March report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Rather than further destabilizing the country, the US and UN should allow a just, humanitarian and Haitian-led domestic solution, as outlined in the Montana Accord, to unfold without interference.

“The demands outlined in the sign-on letter to the U.S. government and the U.N. Secretary-General are urgent.” said Boaventura Monjane, Solidarity Programme Officer for West Africa and Haiti at Grassroots International. “We strongly call on the recipients to act immediately to ensure the freedom, self-determination, and dignity of Haitians — both in Haiti and throughout the diaspora.”

Grassroots International is a global grantmaking and movement support organization. Since 1983, the organization has accompanied, funded, and worked in solidarity with movements, predominantly in the Global South and the U.S., on the frontlines of change.

The Mouvman Peyizan Papay, or Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), is the oldest and among the most important local peasant movements in Haiti. Based in Haiti’s Central plateau, the MPP is a pioneer in agroecology and in working at the intersections of food sovereignty and climate justice.

The Platfòm Ayisyen Pledwaye Pou Devlopman Altènatif, or Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), is a coalition of nine Haitian organizations working together to promote the emergence of a new Haiti, to challenge unfair trade deals that devastate Haiti’s farmers, and to promote public policies based on the common good.