The Kenyan parliament on Thursday November 16 approved the deployment of a thousand police officers to Haiti, plunged into chaos and gang violences, as part of a UN-backed Mission, despite widespread criticism.
The small Caribbean state is plagued by gang violence, which controls 80% of the capital, with the number of serious crimes reaching record levels, according to the UN representative in the country.
“The ayes have it,” laconically declared parliamentary vice-president Gladys Boos Shollei after asking the elected representatives to vote aloud.
However, the deployment has been suspended by the Nairobi High Court, which has yet to examine an appeal lodged by an opponent arguing that the mission is unconstitutional. The Kenyan government has been strongly criticized for its decision to send police officers to Haiti, a highly unstable and dangerous country.
Human rights NGOs point out that the Kenyan police are accustomed to using force, sometimes lethal, against civilians, which constitutes a major risk in a country where previous foreign interventions have been marked by human rights violations.