The United Nations Security Council voted this morning for a six-month extension of the Haiti Gang Suppression Force (GSF), a UN-authorized multinational mission commissioned to suppress gangs and secure critical infrastructure.
The vote saw 12 members in favor, with three abstentions: Russia, China, and Pakistan.
While those backing the resolution argued that the GSF has had a positive impact in Haiti – which has been rocked by unrelenting gang violence in recent years – others note the continued security threat in the Caribbean nation.
The force was created in September 2025 as a strengthened replacement to the prior Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.
The MSS was created to quell the dire security situation that developed following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Widely criticized as a failure, the MSS suffered from insufficient follow-through on member state pledges of funding and troops, as well as a weak mandate.
Resolution 2793, which authorized the creation of the GSF, presented a significantly stronger mandate, allowing for 5,500 military personnel – compared to the MSS’s roughly 1,000 – and explicit authorization to conduct anti-gang operations. What makes the GSF particularly unique and unprecedented is that it is not a peacekeeping mission, making it exempt from many of the rules constraining traditional UN peacekeeping operations and thereby strengthening its mandate.
“We believe that there has been some discernible progress as a result of the initial rollout of the GSF,” said the Jamaican representative on behalf of The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) during this morning’s Security Council session.
The U.S. delegate expressed a similarly optimistic outlook for the force, saying, “it is beginning to work.”
But reporting by the Council on Foreign Relations highlighted a less optimistic view of the GSF’s progress, noting that operations that displaced gangs from parts of Port-au-Prince appear to have shifted violence into neighboring areas, including Plaine du Cul-de-Sac.
The UN reported a 23% increase in homicides in Haiti between December 2025 and February 2026 compared with the previous three-month period. Furthermore, notorious gang leaders such as Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier remain at large, and National Route One, a major Haitian highway, reportedly remains under gang control.
There are also concerns over the Trump administration’s plans to work with Vectus Global, a private military company led by Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of the private military contractor Blackwater. Vectus, which has worked with Haitian authorities since 2025, has aided in the deployment of drones which, according to Human Rights Watch, killed 1,243 people, notably 43 civilians, including 17 children, between March 2025 and January 2026.
Human rights groups have also expressed concern over the recent Trump administration’s decision to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians in late July, potentially returning individuals to an increasingly precarious security environment.
This morning’s session also noted “the importance of ensuring security conditions conducive to holding free and fair elections” as essential to the adoption of the resolution. General elections and a constitutional referendum are scheduled for December 13, the first national vote since 2016.
