The United Nations Mission for Justice Support in Haiti (MINUJUSTH) officially concluded its mandate on October 15, 2019, marking the end of a continuous UN peacekeeping presence in Haiti that had lasted 15 years. The UN Security Council approved the transition to a smaller, non-peacekeeping political mission known as BINUH — the UN Integrated Office in Haiti — which would focus on political support and human rights monitoring.
The closure of the peacekeeping mission was a significant milestone, though many observers questioned the timing given Haiti’s ongoing political crisis. The country had been gripped for months by massive anti-government protests, a crippling economic downturn, and rising insecurity in parts of the capital.
The peacekeeping presence in Haiti had a deeply complex legacy. The original MINUSTAH mission, established in 2004 following the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, had provided a measure of security stability but had also been implicated in serious scandals, most notably the introduction of cholera into Haiti in 2010 that killed thousands and the sexual exploitation of Haitians by peacekeeping personnel.
The new BINUH mission was tasked with supporting dialogue among Haitian political actors and providing technical assistance for the reform of justice and security institutions, with a much smaller footprint than its peacekeeping predecessors.