Monique Clesca is an author, former United Nations official and well-known pro-democracy activist from Haiti. In an interview with FRANCE 24, she explained that "daily life is hellish" and compared the capital Port-au-Prince to "an open-air prison". She criticised the UN-backed international force in Haiti as well as the country's transitional presidential council, saying she believes it will not be able to organise elections by the internationally agreed deadline of February 2026.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently warned that Haiti has reached "yet another crisis point". More than 4,000 people have been killed between July 2024 and February 2025. Heavily armed gangs control an area beyond the capital Port-au-Prince, the humanitarian situation is worsening and the institutional situation is very fragile.
Clesca told FRANCE 24 that "it was a failure to even think" that a UN-mandated international force, led mostly by Kenya, could help tame the spiralling violence in Haiti, stressing that it was up to Haitians themselves to solve the problem.
She explained: "It is a signal of the bad governance that there was an agreement for this international force because what we should have done was train more Haitians, train more police, build up the army and build the strength of the population, as well as provide services. Whereas a lot of energy went into this thinking that an international force could come. They have come and a lot of Haitians say they are like tourists. A lot of them are perhaps scared to get into the arm-in-arm warfare of the gangs because in a way, it is not their battle."
Clesca also criticised Haiti's transitional council, saying it "has not done anything on the side of the population". She asserted that the idea of holding elections in February 2026 was unrealistic. "How can you be saying that you're going to hold elections in nine months when you can't even go to the supermarket?"
The activist is part of different NGOs and one of them focuses on the issue of the debt allegedly owed by France to Haiti since the 19th century. As we approach the 200th anniversary of the indemnity Haiti was forced to pay by then-French king Charles X, she is calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to say "we were wrong" about the independence indemnity. Clesca suggested setting up an international commission, both Haitian and French, to look at the situation and assess reparation amounts.
"Emmanuel Macron can go into history in the proper way by recognising that this was a historical injustice and do something about it," she concluded.
Read moreUN warns of 'extreme brutality' surge in Haiti as killings soar, thousands flee
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