'To Bless All Mankind' August 14, 2017 Issue

A lesson on UN peacekeeping—from Haiti

The <i>Monitor’s</i> Editorial Board

Adapted from an article published in The Christian Science Monitor, February 15, 2017.

United Nations peacekeeping forces in Haiti are on track to be withdrawn soon, a result of progress in reducing violence on the Caribbean island.

“Security is not perfect, but I think it is much better,” said head of UN peacekeeping Hervé Ladsous. One sign of progress: A more professional police force was able to help keep a relative peace during an election in November that brought a new president, Jovenel Moïse, to power.

UN peacekeepers were sent to Haiti in 2004 following an uprising that toppled then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They have been controversial, mainly for inadvertently introducing cholera. But they have also been important for a new approach at countering armed gangs and kidnappers.

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