Kenya's High Court has ruled against the government's plan to deploy hundreds of police officers to Haiti as part of a UN-backed multinational mission to combat gang violence. Judge Enock Chacha Mwita declared the proposed deployment unconstitutional, illegal, and invalid, stating that it contravenes Kenya's constitution and laws.
The ruling stems from a legal challenge filed by the opposition Thirdway Alliance. The court found that while police can be deployed abroad without parliamentary approval—unlike military deployments—a reciprocal agreement with the host government is required. The petitioners argued, and the government did not contest, that no such arrangement currently exists with Haiti.
The decision leaves the UN-sanctioned mission in limbo and is a setback for the Kenyan government, which had hoped to have officers on the ground this month. The government has announced plans to appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, Haiti's situation remains dire. UN officials report that gang violence surged by 122% in 2023, with at least 4,789 killed and 2,490 kidnapped. The violence has spread beyond Port-au-Prince into rural areas, and Haiti's police force is increasingly outgunned, having lost nearly 3,300 officers in the past three years, mostly due to desertion.
Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean Victor Généus pleaded for the deployment to be expedited, describing the violence as akin to a war zone. UN Special Representative María Isabel Salvador stressed that long-term stability requires a nationally owned political process, cautioning against repeating past mistakes of foreign intervention.
