News late last week that up to 12 countries have offered support to an international mission in Haiti is most encouraging.

The number two official in the US State Department, Ms Victoria Nuland, is reported to have made the disclosure after a ministerial meeting on Haiti on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.

Ms Nuland, we are told, did not name the countries, but so far it is public knowledge that Kenya has offered to lead the mission with a contribution of 1,000 security personnel, while Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Antigua have also stated their willingness to participate.

Additionally, the United States has offered logistical help, including through air transport, intelligence, housing, and medical support.

We are indeed heartened that help from the international community for our sister Caribbean nation is finally taking shape as the situation there is growing dire each day.

Just yesterday, UN Secretary General António Guterres, in another appeal to the international community to provide security and financial aid, pointed out that Haiti is sinking further into bloodshed and lawlessness.

“Gang-related violence has continued to increase in intensity and brutality, with gangs expanding their control within and beyond Port-au-Prince,” Mr Guterres said in a report published yesterday.

“Sexual violence, including collective rape, continue to be used by gangs to terrorise populations under the control of rival gangs,” he added.

We are told that the gangs are tightening their grip on the country, with snipers shooting indiscriminately from rooftops and people being burned alive, prompting vigilante groups to respond with more violence.

According to the UN, almost 2,800 murders were recorded between October 2022 and June 2023. Of that frightening toll, nearly 80 minors were targeted. Additionally, the UN tells us, kidnappings for ransom are on the rise, as almost 1,500 people were abducted over the past year, including 55 minors. The UN, though, suspects that the true number could be even higher as families don’t always report such crimes to the authorities, preferring instead to negotiate directly with kidnappers.

The UN also reported that, despite the adoption of a sanctions regime and a targeted arms embargo, “experts assess that the illicit trafficking of weapons and ammunition has continued unabated”.

The country cannot continue to drift and descend into further anarchy. Haiti’s law-abiding citizens need urgent help. As Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith correctly argued at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, “Humanitarian support cannot be distributed in insecurity; hospitals cannot deliver care in insecurity; children cannot go to school in insecurity; people cannot go to work in insecurity; candidates cannot offer themselves and citizens cannot vote in insecurity.”

We reiterate out position that the mission to assist Haiti must ensure a return to peace and stability, the holding of free and fair elections, as well as the rebuilding of institutions that will improve the lives of the Haitian people.

Getting all that done will not be easy, but, as Senator Johnson Smith so precisely stated, the situation in Haiti can, and will become even worse if the world does not act.