The Kenyan government has formally disputed a United Nations report that substantiated four allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving members of the multinational security mission in Haiti, marking a significant diplomatic rift over the conduct of the Kenyan-led police contingent.
In a formal protest to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday, Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi rejected the findings, asserting that Nairobi’s own impartial investigations found no evidence of wrongdoing.
The dispute centers on a UN Human Rights Office report, dated Feb. 16 and made public this month, which details four cases of abuse involving personnel from the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, recently restructured as the Gang Suppression Force (GSF).
According to the UN report, three of the victims were children, including a 12-year-old, while the fourth was an 18-year-old. The UN referred the findings to the mission’s leadership for remedial action, noting it lacks direct legal jurisdiction over the force because it is a UN-backed mission rather than a formal peacekeeping operation.
“The investigations conducted by Kenya were impartial and shared with all relevant stakeholders, including UN human rights offices and Haitian authorities,” Mudavadi stated. He accused the report of “misrepresenting findings” and maintained that Kenyan officers have strictly adhered to the Status of Forces Agreement and operational frameworks since their deployment in June 2024.
The clash highlights ongoing concerns regarding accountability in international interventions in Haiti. The previous UN mission, MINUSTAH, was severely tarnished by widespread sexual abuse scandals and a cholera outbreak before its conclusion in 2017.
The current dispute arrives at a critical juncture for the GSF. This week, the mission began incorporating new personnel from contributing nations, including an advance team from Chad, to bolster the approximately 1,000 Kenyan officers tasked with reclaiming Port-au-Prince from powerful criminal gangs.
While the UN has called for “maximum transparency and no impunity,” legal experts note that under the current mandate, the power to prosecute individual officers remains solely with their home countries. Kenyan authorities reiterated their commitment to Haitian stability but insisted that their sovereign legal processes have cleared their personnel of the specific allegations cited by the UN.
