UN Sanctions on Haiti

The current UN sanctions regime on Haiti was established by Security Council Resolution 2653 (2022), adopted unanimously on 21 October 2022 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It was the Council's response to the rapidly deteriorating security situation following the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the subsequent expansion of armed gang control over Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.

The regime imposes three core measures on designated individuals and entities:

• Targeted asset freezes
• Travel bans
• A targeted arms embargo, prohibiting the supply of weapons and related materiel to listed persons

Resolution 2653 also created the 2653 Sanctions Committee and a Panel of Experts to monitor implementation, investigate violations, and recommend further designations.

The first and most prominent designee was Jimmy Chérizier, known as "Barbecue," the former police officer leading the G9 gang federation, listed on the day the resolution was adopted. Subsequent listings have added other gang leaders and individuals accused of financing or arming armed groups, including some figures from Haiti's political and business elite.

The regime has been renewed annually. Resolution 2700 (2023) and Resolution 2752 (2024) extended the measures and the Panel of Experts mandate, while broadening criteria to capture sexual and gender-based violence, recruitment of children, and obstruction of humanitarian assistance.

The Haiti sanctions sit alongside, but are distinct from, the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission authorized by Resolution 2699 (2023) and led by Kenya. Critics, including Panel of Experts reports, have noted weak enforcement of the arms embargo — most trafficked firearms originate from the United States, particularly Florida — and a slow pace of new designations relative to the scale of gang expansion. Several states, notably the United States and Canada, maintain parallel autonomous sanctions lists targeting a wider set of Haitian political and economic actors.