Analysis: The U.N.’s Personal Toll In Haiti

When the estimated 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, it not only caused mass devastation to the Haitian population, but also to many charitable, non-profit and international organizations in Haiti at the time. 

One of these organizations is the United Nations’ MINUSTAH program, the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti.  MINUSTAH is a multidimensional peacekeeping and police force stabilization operation established by the U.N. Security Council in 2004 after the ouster of then-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  
 
According to U.N. statistics, as of November 2009, MINUSTAH had approximately 9,000 total uniformed personnel, 500 international civilian personnel, 1,200 local civilian staff, and 200 United Nations volunteers.  The list of country contributors to the military and police personnel is similarly noteworthy, with over 50 participating countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, France, Jordan, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United States, and Yemen to name a few.  
 
While the numbers varied day by day, by January 14, 2010, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon estimated that approximately 150 U.N. staff remained unaccounted for, and later that week, revealed the confirmed U.N. death toll in Haiti at 40 at that time.  Additional accounting since points to even higher numbers for both sets.
 
The U.N. loss is even more compounded in light of the fact that included within Ki-moon’s confirmed dead are the top two civilian officials at the U.N. mission in Haiti, namely, Special Representative and Head of Mission Hedi Annabi of Tunisia, and his Deputy, Luiz Carlos da Costa of Brazil; the death of Acting U.N. Police Commissioner Doug Coates of Canada was also confirmed by Ki-moon.  “In every sense of the word, they gave their lives for peace,” Ki-moon commented in a statement released on January 16, 2010.  Ki-moon did not provide details of how the deaths were confirmed but earlier in the week, the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Alain Le Roy, confirmed that Annabi had been in his Christopher Hotel headquarters in Port-au-Prince at the time of the natural disaster, a building that collapsed during the earthquake.
 
Of course, the loss of U.N. lives is not more significant than the loss of any other life in the disastrous Haitian earthquake; multinational residents permeate Haiti, and therefore, this is truly a global tragedy.  But in what is rumored to be the worst incident of lost lives the U.N. has ever endured in a single sweep, involving so many international personnel on a hopeful mission aimed at stabilizing Haiti, it is nevertheless something to be considered.  Even in this time of great personal loss, the U.N. continues its relief efforts in Haiti with an estimated 3,000 MINUSTAH troops and police in and around Port-au-Prince assisting with maintaining order and aid efforts. MINUSTAH engineers are also clearing main roads in Port-Au-Prince to better facilitate aid processes.
 
In some circles, the U.N. is looked upon askance.  But whether or not you believe in the U.N.’s ability to effect peace and progress, one thing seems obvious—the people of the U.N. likely believe this to be true.  As U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon remarked in his released statement on the U.N. deaths in Haiti, “our hearts are with them…the many…UN heroes who gave their lives for Haiti and for the highest ideals of the United Nations. Their dearest wish, I am sure, would be that we carry forward the noble work that they and their colleagues performed so well.”
 
Author:
Kerry Ayazi is a legal and political analyst in Los Angeles, California. You can reach Miss. Ayazi at www.kerryayazi.com