The full United Nations peacekeeping force pulled out of Haiti on 15 October after a 13-year mission, leaving behind a smaller mission, composed mostly of police and civilians, called the UN Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH).

The former mission left behind a mixed legacy of support for the 2010 earthquake recovery, building up a Haitian police capacity but also legal accusations of peacekeepers bringing cholera back to Haiti and of sexual assaults on local people.

Caribbean Intelligence© gathered some of the highlights of the UN peacekeeping departure:

• The UN Security Council decided on 13 April to phase out its full mission and pull out its military component. They left on 15 October 2017. Humanitarian operations, which should have ended earlier, had been extended to allow for follow-up work in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
• The UN acknowledged that outbreaks of cholera had resulted in over 9,000 deaths and affected more than 800,000 people in Haiti. The Security Council agreed to the establishment of the United Nations Haiti Cholera Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund, and invited Member States, donors, financial institutions, the private sector and others to extend financial support for the initiative.
• The new mission has a mandate to help the Haitian government strengthen rule-of-law institutions, further develop and support the Haitian National Police and engage in human rights monitoring, reporting and analysis.
• The week before the military withdrawal, the head of the UN mission in Haiti, Sandra Honoré, unveiled a peace sculpture in Port-au-Prince. Called “Ann Chwazi Lapè” (meaning ‘Let's Choose Peace’ in Creole), the sculpture is made of illegal weapons seized during security operations.
• The UN said that it had trained 14,000 Haitian officers to date (15,000 by year-end) to take over the role of policing Haiti.

Related links

Sandra Honoré speaks about the UN’s time in Haiti 

Al-Jazeera: UN leaves Haiti after 13 years  

Al-Jazeera: UN peacekeepers leave Haiti: What is their legacy?  

UN departure ceremony video

UN peacekeepers video