- O'Neill says law enforcement needs adequate equipment, manpower
- Neighbors must halt gun trafficking, deportations, he adds
- U.N. Security Council set to consider hybrid support model
- Over 1 million people are displaced as gangs grow territory
March 11 (Reuters) - The United Nations' Haiti rights expert on Tuesday said he believed solving a
spiraling insecurity crisis in the Caribbean nation was "doable," if law enforcement are properly supplied and neighboring countries do their part.
"We're talking about 2,500, maybe 3,000 well-trained and equipped international police. It's doable," William O'Neill, the U.N. High Commissioner's Designated Expert on Human Rights in Haiti, told a press briefing.
The U.N. Security Council is set to debate a hybrid security support model that would establish a budgeted office to help supply an existing,
voluntary mission after lack of contributions has left it woefully under-manned and under-equipped.
Haiti's government, which has called for urgent international security support since 2022, more recently requested a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission to boost under-staffed police, but this
met opposition from Russia and China.
But O'Neill said the support office could help supply key equipment such as spare parts, helicopters and adequate vehicles for navigating Haiti's capital and mountainous rural terrain.
"You cannot guarantee a dignified safe return, which is required under international law," he said.
Over 1 million people are internally displaced, food prices are soaring and Haiti's Le Nouvelliste newspaper reported that the wealthy suburb of Petion-Ville, which hosts diplomats via helicopter pads, was one of the capital's last free communes.
"The risk of the capital falling under gang control is palpable," O'Neill said. "There is not a day to lose."
