On May 2, the United States classified the Haitian gangs “Viv Ansanm” and “Gran Grif” as “foreign terrorist organizations”, a measure presented as an end to impunity. However, this decision risks exacerbating the humanitarian, social and migration crises in Haiti.
By criminalizing these groups, demobilization programs, particularly for under-age recruits, become complex. Dialogue between humanitarian actors and gangs, crucial for aid delivery or cease-fires, is compromised.
NGOs could also be accused of “supporting terrorism” by operating in gangrenous areas (60% of Port-au-Prince). The stigmatization of Haitian migrants in the United States could intensify, with accelerated deportations based on mere suspicion.
This repressive approach ignores the local reality: these gangs, rooted in logics of power and linked to elites, are not transnational cells. Extraterritorial sanctions risk fuelling the violence.
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The international community must give priority to inclusive solutions: institution-building, transitional justice and socio-economic investment. Otherwise, this designation will be nothing but a smokescreen, aggravating the chaos it claims to be fighting.
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