Ottawa shares confidential files in an effort to convince countries like France to join efforts to sanction elites in Haiti, said Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations.
“We continue to share all the information we can — about the decisions we’ve made — with other countries,” Bob Rae said in an interview.
“Canada always retains the right to make its own decisions, and that is what we are doing,” he explained.
Mr. Rae visited Haiti last December as part of Canada’s efforts to try to form a political consensus on how best Western countries should respond to the country’s cascading political and humanitarian crises.
Since last summer, violent gangs have taken over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. According to a United Nations report published last October, these gangs sexually assault women and children, in addition to restricting access to health care, electricity and drinking water.
They are said to have killed and kidnapped hundreds of people, while filling a power vacuum in a country ruled by politicians whose terms have expired. No election has been held since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The country’s unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, has called for a foreign military intervention, which Washington says Canada should lead, although the idea divides Haitians.
Instead, Canada sought political consensus in Haiti and sanctioned 15 members of the country’s political and economic elite, accusing them of encouraging criminal gangs in their country.
Canada has not publicly released the evidence on which it based its decisions. The length of its sanctions list against Haiti is unmatched.
The United States sanctioned just four Haitians last year over alleged ties to criminal groups, in addition to three that Washington sanctioned in 2020.
Most countries have chosen to follow a United Nations process to identify those affiliated with gangs who should be subject to sanctions. Only one person has been targeted since October — gang federation leader Jimmy Cherizier, known locally as “the barbecue.”
Anyone found on this list will be hit with a travel ban and a freeze of funds. However, Bob Rae expects countries to take a long time to agree on who deserves such restrictions.
“Canada knew that the process at the UN could become complex,” he said. We thought it was important for us to get ahead of this process, which we fully respect, and we look forward to hearing from the experts. »
In an interview last month with The Canadian PressPrime Minister Justin Trudeau called on European governments to follow Canada’s lead and implement their own sanctions, but to no avail.
In an interview earlier this month, former Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who was born in Haiti, criticized France for doing nothing at all about sanctions.
The French Embassy in Ottawa turned to the speech the French representative gave to the UN Security Council on Monday, suggesting that the country is sticking to the UN sanctions process. .
“France welcomes the establishment of the 2653 Committee and its panel of experts. We hope that this Committee will get to work quickly in order to make proposals. The sanctions constitute a dissuasive signal for the criminals, their political and financial supports. But sanctions alone will not solve everything,” said France’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, Nathalie Broadhurst.
“It is with a sense of great urgency that France calls on the international community to redouble its efforts,” she added.
Mr Rae said France’s sanctions would likely have a strong effect. He also noted that the neighboring Dominican Republic is a haven for Haitian elites, but it lacks laws to sanction individuals.
“We have discussions with the European Union (EU), France and others. We continue to have as constructive a dialogue as possible,” he said.
“Our experience in Haiti shows us that the sanctions have had an impact and that this impact will be increased when other countries join us. »
Unlike other countries like the UK, which publishes detailed reasons when it puts someone on its sanctions list, the Canadian approach is to keep the reasons confidential.
Former Haitian prime ministers Laurent Lamothe and Jean-Henry Céant have both demanded that Canada reveal its reasoning, both denying Ottawa’s claims that they support gangs in Haiti. Mr. Lamothe has filed a complaint in Federal Court, while Mr. Céant this week asked the UN to crack down on Canada.
“None of these decisions are taken lightly. They are taken knowing that many people will understandably not be happy to be sanctioned […] It is important for everyone to know that the law must be followed carefully,” Mr Rae said.
In Haiti, the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) has reported that Canada’s sanctions have slightly eased suffering as gangs loosen their grip on citizens.
“They have been ordered to calm down,” director Rosy Auguste Ducena told Radio France International earlier this month.
“Those who have not yet been affected by these sanctions have decided to slow down their relations with the armed bandits, that is the impression we have,” Ducena said.
Still, a former US envoy to Haiti, Dan Foote, has doubts. He resigned in September 2021 due to frustration with Western policies he witnessed in Haiti, which he said “consistently produces catastrophic results.”
“For sanctions to work, they have to be transparent,” Foote said in an interview.
He added that sanctions can have unintended negative consequences. “There are people who would have brought a lot of Haitians to the table who are now under sanctions. »