Jamaica to send security personnel to Haiti

By: LATONYA LINTON From JIS

Prime Minister, the Very Honourable Andrew Holness, announces the deployment of security personnel to Haiti during a post-Cabinet press conference on Tuesday (September 10) at Jamaica House. Photo Adrian Walker

Jamaica begins its participation in the multinational security support mission in Haiti with the deployment of 24 troops on Thursday (Sept. 12) to provide command, planning and logistical support.

The deployment will consist of 20 members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and four members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the revelation during a post-Cabinet press conference held on Tuesday (September 10) at Jamaica House.

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

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

The prime minister said Haiti is an example of what can happen when states and governments do not take the problem of gangs seriously and do not deploy the necessary measures and resources to bring the problem under control.

“It is a regional problem; the gang threat cannot be seen as just a civilian problem, where regular police and the criminal justice system would be sufficient to deal with it. The threat is at a level in the region where gangs and the organised armed violence they produce are a threat to the state itself,” he argued.

The prime minister praised the members of the security forces who are being sent to Haiti. “I wish them all the best. Of course, we pray for their safety and security. I know that their behavior will be exemplary and that they will take every precaution for their personal safety,” he said.

He further acknowledged the support of international partners, in particular the United States and Canada, and the work of CARICOM in supporting the process in Haiti.
Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice Admiral (VAdm.) Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, said in her speech that the JDF has been preparing for the deployment for more than a year.

“We are now at the stage where we can deploy the personnel we have committed to supporting the command element of the (security) mission,” said Vice Admiral Wemyss-Gorman.

In July 2023, Prime Minister Holness addressed the United Nations Security Council on behalf of CARICOM on the urgent need to adopt a resolution to implement the multinational security mission in Haiti.

The resolution was adopted in October 2023, providing the appropriate legal basis for the multinational security support mission.

A trust fund was also established to provide certainty over the financing of the multinational security mission’s operations.

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