KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica will begin its participation in the multinational security support mission in Haiti with the deployment of 24 personnel Thursday, September 12 to provide command, planning and logistics support.

The deployment will comprise 20 Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel and four Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) members.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the disclosure during a post-Cabinet press briefing held on Tuesday at Jamaica House.

“The security forces continue, in a state of readiness, to support further deployment towards our overall commitment as the mission in Haiti is scaled up. Jamaica has close fraternal ties to the people of Haiti and we stand in solidarity with them,” Holness said.

“Jamaica also has a national security interest in the situation in Haiti, one of our closest neighbours. It is in our interest to support a long-lasting resolution to the problems in Haiti,” he added.

The prime minister said Haiti is an example of what could happen if states and governments do not take the problem of gangs seriously and put in place the measures and resources necessary to bring the problem under control.

“It is a regional problem; the threat of gangs must not be viewed as only a citizen-to-citizen problem, where regular policing and the criminal justice system would be sufficient to address the [issue]. The threat is at a level in the region where gangs and the organised armed violence they produce is a threat to the very state,” he argued.

Commending the members of the security forces who will be deployed to Haiti, Holness said “I wish them well. Obviously, we pray for their safety and security. I know their conduct will be exemplary and they will take every precaution for their personal safety.”

He further acknowledged the support of the international partners, the United States and Canada in particular, and the work of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) in supporting the process in Haiti.

Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, in her remarks, said the JDF has been preparing for the deployment for over a year.

“We are at the stage now where we can deploy the persons that we have committed to support the command element of the [security] mission,” Vice Admiral Wemyss-Gorman said.

In July 2023, Prime Minister Holness addressed the United Nation’s Security Council on behalf of Caricom on the urgent need to have a resolution passed to give effect to the multinational security mission in Haiti.

The resolution was passed in October 2023 which gave the appropriate jurisdictional basis for the multinational security support mission to operate.

A trust fund was also established to give certainty around the funding of the operations of the multinational security mission.

In March 2024, with the support of the United States and Canada, Jamaica brought other Caricom personnel together along with Jamaica’s own forces to begin training for deployment to Haiti.

— JIS