Often associated with tragedy, Haiti is a unique country in several ways. It was the first independent nation in Latin America, and the only nation born from a slave revolt. Once the richest French colony in the Western Hemisphere, it is nowadays considered the poorest country in the hemisphere. In its 200 years of existence, Haiti has suffered no less than 32 coups d’états, and instability of government and society has clearly hampered its development, which can be considered sort of an understatement given its widespread poverty.
Foreign forces have entered Haiti on numerous occasions, to aid in stabilizing the country. In the second half of the 20th century, after the last US military forces left, Duvalier’s dictator-dynasty ruled the country by applying military force against its own people, until it was overthrown in 1986. In 1990, hope among Haitians rose high when their first democratically elected President, Mr. Aristide, was installed. Unfortunately, hopes were bashed soon, as the President was overthrown by the military within a year, resulting in widespread chaos.
Against this background, the United Nations set up its first peacekeeping operation in Haiti in September 1993. UNMIH aided in the disbandment of Haiti’s armed forces in the mid-90s and in the creation of a new, civil, national police force, the Police Nationale d’Haïti (PNH). By 2004, instability had worsened, and developed into outright chaos. On 1 June 2004, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1542 establishing the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti (MINUSTAH). MINUSTAH’s mandate was to restore a secure and stable environment, to promote the political process, to strengthen Haiti’s government institutions and rule-of-law-structures, as well as to promote and to protect human rights. The last UN troops left the country in 2017, and the political climate has been of relative stability lately.
