The UN Economic and Social Council and the Peacebuilding Commission convened a joint meeting on June 11, 2025 focused on “Building and Sustaining Peace in Haiti,” bringing together development, political, and security perspectives on Haiti’s crisis in a format that acknowledged the interdependence of these dimensions and the inadequacy of treating them separately. The meeting focused on the need for comprehensive approaches and the importance of inclusive community violence reduction alongside security operations.
The Peacebuilding Commission’s engagement with Haiti reflected recognition that the country’s crisis was not purely a security problem amenable to military solutions but a peacebuilding challenge requiring the simultaneous strengthening of governance, rule of law, economic development, and social cohesion alongside security sector improvement. The commission’s comparative experience with other post-conflict and fragile state situations provided perspectives on what sustainable peace-building required.
Participants at the joint meeting emphasized the importance of community engagement in any peace-building strategy, noting that top-down security operations without genuine community involvement and trust would not produce sustainable results. Communities that had been traumatized by years of gang violence and that had limited trust in security forces needed to be genuine partners in security rather than passive recipients of protection.
The meeting produced recommendations for integrated programming that linked security assistance with economic livelihood support, community reconciliation processes, youth engagement, and local governance strengthening. The recommendations reflected the comprehensive approach that analysts had consistently called for; the challenge was translating them into actual programming and funding in Haiti’s difficult operational environment.