U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a rare visit to violence-ravaged Haiti on Thursday (September 5, 2024) heard guarded optimism as he promised $45 million in aid, urged greater international support for a new security mission and sought concrete action toward elections.

Mr. Blinken was the highest-ranking U.S. official in nearly a decade to visit the country, which has been plagued by instability and whose capital had virtually been taken over by criminal gangs.

On Thursday, Mr. Blinken promised $45 million in humanitarian aid but voiced concern about the long-term future of a Kenya-led police force that has been tasked with stabilizing Port-au-Prince and beyond.

He said he would convene talks at the United Nations later this month to raise support for the force, which arrived two months ago and is known as the Multinational Security Support Mission.

“At this critical moment, we do need more funding, we do need more personnel, to sustain and carry out the objectives of this mission,” he said.

Meeting Mr. Blinken, interim Prime Minister Garry Conille acknowledged that Haiti faced an “extremely complex” situation but voiced hope.

“If our partners bear with us, commit to us, we will achieve the goals. Progress we’ve achieved so far is actually quite remarkable,” he said.

The top U.S. diplomat, too, saw reason for optimism.

“What I am seeing is tremendous resilience and the emergence— the reemergence— of hope,” Mr. Blinken said.

Speaking in French, Mr. Blinken addressed Haitians at a news conference: “We are with you.”

The senior U.S. official zipped in an armoured motorcade through crowded, pothole-ridden streets strewn with garbage for meetings in the safety of the U.S. ambassador’s residence, after arriving at an airport where limited commercial flights only recently resumed.

Seeking elections

Haiti has not held elections since 2016, widening a political vacuum that has worsened existing security and health crises.

In hopes of moving toward a more legitimate government, the United States and Caribbean nations recently worked to establish a transitional council representing key stakeholders, with Mr. Conille as interim Prime Minister.

“The critical next step that we talked about is setting up an electoral council. We hope to see that stood up soon,” Mr. Blinken told the coordinator of the transitional council.

Mr. Blinken acknowledged that greater security would be the “foundation” for all progress, including on elections.

The coordinator of the transitional council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, said he hoped to move toward the electoral council next week with a goal of elections in November 2025 and a transfer of power in February 2026.

“Progress has been made on security but there remains much to do,” Mr. Leblanc Fils said.

Gangs in recent years have taken over about 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince as any semblance of government evaporated.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has committed $360 million to the multinational mission meant to stabilize the country, including logistical support and equipment, but has also made clear it will not send US troops.

The mission is expected to include about 2,500 police officers, including from Bangladesh, Benin and Jamaica.

But its establishment was repeatedly set back both by a court in Kenya questioning the legality of the mission and by struggles to complete financing for the force, which is estimated to cost about $600 million per year.

To secure funding, the Biden administration has voiced willingness to make the mission a UN peacekeeping operation, after deliberately not putting the force under the UN flag due to grim past memories in Haiti.

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which deployed from 2004 to 2017, was tarnished by accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and the force’s accidental introduction of cholera, which killed some 10,000 people.

As Mr. Blinken visited, Port-au-Prince was also facing a new energy challenge, with a key power plant going dark after being stormed by demonstrators angered by recurring blackouts.

Mr. Blinken also pressed Haitian leaders to take action against corruption, a serious concern in the country.

The last secretary of state to visit Haiti, John Kerry, met then-President Michel Martelly in 2015.

Last month, U.S. authorities slapped sanctions on Mr. Martelly, who mostly lives in Miami, for allegedly trafficking drugs destined for the United States.

Mr. Blinken said that the action against Mr. Martelly showed that “we will use every tool that we have to hold accountable those who facilitate violence, drug trafficking, instability.”

The U.S. Secretary of State did not stay overnight in Haiti, landing in Santo Domingo on Thursday for meetings with leaders of the Dominican Republic.

Robert S. Gilchrist, Senior Official in the Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labour. Photo: www.state.gov

The United States (U.S.) and India regularly consult at the highest levels on democracy and human rights issues, a senior U.S. State Department official said on April 22 in response to an official report released. “What I will say is the U.S. and India regularly consult at the highest levels on democracy and human rights issues,” a senior official from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour (DRL), Robert S Gilchrist, told reporters after the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices was released by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We strongly encourage, and urge India to uphold its human rights obligations and commitments. We also regularly meet with civil society representatives, both in the U.S. and India, to hear their perspectives, and those sorts of perspectives inform the Human Rights Report,” he said. “And we encourage the Government of India to consult and meet regularly with civil society organisations representing a diversity of people. So there are a number of steps. It remains a key component of our — not just our dialogue but in terms of our engagement with India,” he asserted.

Mr. Gilchrist’s remarks came in response to a query raised by a reporter of a Bangladesh news portal. U.S. Secretary of State Blinken in his remarks on the annual report of the State Department which is mandated by the U.S. Congress, addressed the human rights concerns stating, “The conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to raise deeply troubling concerns for human rights.”He added that the U.S. has condemned the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks while urging Israel to minimise civilian harm in its response.

The section on Israel, which runs 103 pages, documents “credible reports” of more than a dozen types of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, conflict-related sexual violence or punishment, and the punishment of family members for alleged offences by a relative.The resulting conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has had a “significant negative impact” on the human rights status in Israel, the report said. It further cited credible reports of “unlawful killings” by both Hamas and the Israeli Government.

Mr. Blinken said the United States would continue to make assessments about foreign nations’ records on human rights, and potentially authorize consequences for countries that fall short, regardless of their status as an enemy or partner of the United States.