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The United Nations-backed security force in Haiti, which is staffed largely by police and military officers from Kenya, has been accused of four cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. U.N. investigators said all four of the allegations were \u201csubstantiated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The U.N. <\/span>report<\/span><\/a> on the investigation was dated February 16, but it does not appear to have been disclosed to the public until an independent Haitian news site called AyiboPost obtained a copy and <\/span>published<\/span><\/a> an expose on Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n A spokeswoman for the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) brushed off responsibility for the assaults by telling the AyiboPost that the \u201cforce deployed in Haiti is not a U.N. mission.\u201d In other words, the security troops were sent to gang-riddled Haiti at the behest of the United Nations, but the U.N. is not supervising their deployment and does not take responsibility for their actions.<\/span><\/p>\n The OHCHR spokeswoman, Marta Hurtado Gomez, said it was \u201cthe responsibility of the mission and the concerned states to take the necessary measures to sanction those responsible for abuses, assist victims, and guarantee them access to justice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The AyiboPost was cool to these deflections, describing the violations in Haiti as part of a \u201clong pattern of impunity\u201d for misbehavior by U.N. forces. \u201cIn previous missions, hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers involved in similar abuses in Haiti were never brought to justice,\u201d the news site noted.<\/span><\/p>\n The report allegedly viewed by the AyiboPost was a lengthy summary of the large number of complaints of sexual abuse leveled against personnel in various U.N. agencies around the world, padded out with a great deal of self-congratulatory language about all the firm measures the U.N. has implemented to address such abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n Thirteen pages into the 15-page report, the U.N. discloses that it \u201creceived four allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving personnel from the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti\u201d in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n All of the cases were \u201cfound to be substantiated\u201d by OHCHR investigators and were \u201creferred to the commander of the Gang Suppression Force and the Multinational Security Support Mission for appropriate investigation and remedial measures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n MSS steering committee member Fritznel Pierre told the AyiboPost that one of the cases \u201cinvolved a young Haitian girl and a member of the mission.\u201d Pierre had no further details, and the AyiboPost was unable to trace any of the other complaints.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Miami Herald <\/span><\/i>reported<\/span><\/a> on Friday that one of the victims was a 12-year-old girl. The others included two 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old.<\/span><\/p>\n All of the case files list \u201cPENDING\u201d under the entry for \u201caction taken,\u201d with no description of the actions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFour cases is four too many. There must be thorough and independent investigations and if warranted, prosecutions. No impunity and maximum transparency required. And justice for the victims,\u201d said William O\u2019Neill, the U.N.\u2019s independent expert on human rights in Haiti.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Miami Herald <\/span><\/i>attempted to contact the Haiti mission force commander, Kenyan <\/span>police officer<\/span><\/a> Godfrey Otunge, and MSS spokesman Jack Mbaka, but neither of them responded.<\/span><\/p>\n The existing MSS is in the process of withdrawing from Haiti, to be replaced by a new \u201cGang Suppression Force\u201d that has been requested by the Haitian government, authorized by the U.N. Security Council, and backed by the United States. The first advance team from the Gang Suppression Force consists of soldiers from Chad.<\/span><\/p>\n This new deployment is supposed to be better-equipped and more lethal than the Kenyan police officers were, and it has been authorized to operate separately from the Haitian National Police (HNP).<\/span><\/p>\n Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said on Wednesday that the U.N. Support Office in Haiti will provide accommodations, medical support, and \u201cother key services\u201d to the Gang Suppression Force.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Support Office has deployed two helicopters, which will provide the necessary mobility between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A small office has also been established in Santo Domingo to provide back-office support to both our U.N. entities in Haiti,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn central Haiti violence has been surging in recent days. Thousands of residents have come under attack by the Gran Grif gang, which the U.S. State Department has designated a terrorist organization. Estimates of the death toll range as high as 80,\u201d the <\/span>Miami Herald <\/span><\/i>reported<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n