The United Nations Security Council on October 1, 2025, agreed to a United States proposal to more than double the size of a 15-month-old underfunded and understaffed international security mission combating armed gangs in Haiti. Armed gangs have taken control of almost all of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince in a conflict that has forced 1.3 million people from their homes and fueled famine-level hunger. UNICEF said in September that children make up an estimated 50% of gang members in the Caribbean country. “This dramatic expansion of gang violence has jeopardized the very existence of the Haitian state,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz told the council.
Russia, the Chinese Community Party (CCP) and Pakistan abstained from the vote on the measure put forward by Panama and the U.S. The remaining 13 council members voted in favor. The new force still will rely on voluntary contributions of personnel and funding, but the leadership structure will be different. It will be led by a group of representatives from countries that have contributed personnel, plus Canada and the U.S. The force also will be supported by a new U.N. field office.
It remains unclear how the new force will overcome the challenges faced by the current Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission. Kenyan President William Ruto told an event at the U.N. in September that the mission has struggled with staffing and logistics. However, he said Kenya was ready to participate in the new mission. “Today’s vote is a recognition that, due to the lack of true burden sharing, the international community had failed to deliver a mission that was fit for purpose. It lacked the scale, scope and resources needed to take the fight to the gangs and restore a baseline of security in Haiti,” Waltz said.
The CCP’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong said Beijing did not veto the resolution “in light of Haiti’s dire security situation and the concerns and appeals of the international community.” A top U.S. official in Haiti said that continued U.S. funding for the current U.N.-backed security force in Haiti would not be guaranteed if the Security Council rejected Washington’s proposal to restructure and expand the mission.