World powers at U.N. unanimously adopt arms embargo, travel ban and sanctions aimed at Haiti criminal gangs

United Nations – The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Haiti on Friday, with a targeted arms embargo, a U.N. Panel of Experts for naming those subject to a travel ban and harsh sanctions against gangs supporting criminal activities, specifically citing Jimmy Cherizier, known as "Barbeque." Another draft measure to establish a non-U.N. rapid action force of member nations, called for by the U.N. Secretary General, to help the Haitian police, was delayed.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and is facing an acute political, economic, security and health crisis, with a growing cholera epidemic, sparking a breakdown of law and order. Haiti's criminal gangs, including Cherizier's "G9 Family and Allies" gang, have protested for weeks, calling for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to grant amnesty to gang members, after they blocked Haiti's ports, slowing fuel shipments. 

The United Nations says that a record 4.7 million people are currently facing acute "catastrophic" hunger, because of what its food-related agencies described as  an "unrelenting series of crises has trapped vulnerable Haitians in a cycle of growing desperation, without access to food, fuel, markets, jobs and public services, bringing the country to a standstill." Haitians have left the country in droves to escape the conditions, according to the U.N.