WASHINGTON, CMC – The Joe Biden Administration in the United States (US) on Friday welcomed the United Nations (UN) Security Council’s unanimous adoption of resolution 2700 that renews an arms embargo on Haiti to prevent the supply of weapons to non-state actors, as well as a targeted assets freeze and travel ban measures.

Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said that, since October 2022, the US has taken steps to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on over 50 individuals for “undermining Haiti’s democratic processes, supporting or financing gangs and criminal organisations, or engaging in significant corruption and human rights violations.”

In addition, Miller said the US continues to take steps to stem the illegal outflow of firearms from the US to the Caribbean, including Haiti.

“The US Government is using new criminal authorities in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to identify and hold firearms traffickers accountable,” he said.

To bolster these efforts, he noted that, in June 2023, Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of retired Jamaican economist Donald Harris, announced the creation of a Department of Justice Coordinator for Caribbean Firearms Prosecutions, including Haiti.

Miller said the Department of State is also supporting the regional Crime Gun Intelligence Unit in Trinidad and Tobago to help Caribbean partner nations solve gun-related crime cases, deter gun crimes in the region and bring criminals to justice.

He also said the State Department is partnering with US Homeland Security Investigations to create a Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit within Haiti “to facilitate investigations and prosecution of transnational crimes, including those with a US nexus.

“This new unit will focus on crimes including firearms and ammunition smuggling, human trafficking and transnational gang activity,” Miller said. “We will continue to use all available tools to promote accountability for corrupt actors, individuals supporting gang violence and other criminal activity in Haiti.

“The United States remains committed to promoting peace and prosperity for the people of Haiti,” he added.

On Friday, the UN Security Council authorised the renewal for one year of the sanctions regime on Haiti, continuing a targeted arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze established in October 2022 “to address the widespread violence, criminal activity and human rights abuses plaguing the country.”

The UN said the Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, unanimously adopted resolution 2700 (2023), “demanded an immediate cessation of kidnappings, sexual and gender-based violence, trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, homicides, extrajudicial killings and recruitment of children by armed groups and criminal networks.

“Those designated for sanctions have been deemed directly or indirectly responsible for or complicit in actions that threaten the peace, security or stability of the country,” the UN said.