[News] MINUSTAH by the Numbers

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Why are UN troops in Haiti, and why have they 
been there since they replaced US Marines after 
the 2004 coup that overthrew Haiti's democratic 
government? Put simply, a system that exploits 
the majority of Haiti's people to benefit foreign 
investors and Haiti's tiny elite can only be 
maintained by force. Haiti's grassroots movement 
has consistently opposed MINUSTAH (current annual 
cost = $3/4 billion) since its inception.

A recent article published by the 
<http://www.cepr.net/>Center for Economic Policy 
& Research highlights MINUSTAH's significance to 
US foreign policy, and its cost to the Haitian 
people. For more background on MINUSTAH, see 
"<http://www.haitisolidarity.net/section.php?id=30>U.N. 
Watch" on Haiti Action Committee's website.

MINUSTAH by the Numbers
Thursday, 08 December 2011

The United Nations Peacekeeping operation in 
Haiti, MINUSTAH by its French acronym, has been 
the target of recent popular protests and a 
source of controversy because of its role in 
re-introducing cholera to Haiti, the sexual 
assault of a young Haitian man and other past 
abuses. On November 3, 2011 the Institute for 
Justice and Democracy in Haiti and Bureau des 
Avocats Internationaux filed a legal complaint on 
behalf of over 5,000 cholera victims seeking 
damages from the United Nations. The UN has so 
far not responded or given a timetable for a response.

Here is MINUSTAH, by the numbers:

Percent of worldwide UN peacekeepers that are in 
Haiti, despite it not being a war zone: 12.5

Number of MINUSTAH troops (military and police) currently in Haiti: 12,552

Rank in size among the 16 UN peacekeeping operations worldwide: 3

Rank in size of Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively: 1, 2

Percent of Haiti’s annual government expenditures 
to which MINUSTAH’s budget is equivalent: 50

Percent of Haiti’s GDP to which MINUSTAH’s budget is equivalent: 10.7

Total estimated cost of MINUSTAH since the earthquake: $1,556,461,550

Percent of UN peacekeeping operations worldwide funded by the United States: 27

Percent the U.S. has disbursed out of its $1.15 
billion pledge at the March 2010 donor conference: 18.8

Percent of the U.S.’ contributions to MINUSTAH 
since the earthquake that this represents: 41

Factor by which MINUSTAH’s budget exceeds the 
amount of funds the UN’s cholera appeal has raised: 8

Percent of MINUSTAH’s budget it would take to 
fully fund the UN’s cholera appeal: 1.7

Number of days operating expenses it would take 
to fund a cholera vaccination campaign that would cover the entire country: 18

Percent of a single day’s MINUSTAH budget that 
the cholera vaccination pilot program will use 
over its multiple-week lifespan: 40

Minimum number of people killed from cholera in Haiti since October 2010: 6,908

Number of people killed by homicide in Haiti in 2010: 689

Number of people, per 10 million (roughly the 
population of Haiti), killed by homicide in 
Brazil, the largest troop contributor to MINUSTAH: 2,270

Number of cholera victims who filed a claim with the UN seeking damages: 5,000

Number of cholera victims: 513,997

Rate per minute that Haitians were falling ill with cholera in July 2011: 1

Amount by which MINUSTAH’s budget exceeds the 
UN’s 2012 humanitarian appeal for Haiti: $562,517,100

Number of MINUSTAH personnel who were repatriated 
this year after a cell phone video emerged 
showing troops sexually assaulting a young Haitian man: 5

Number of successful prosecutions against over 
100 MINUSTAH troops repatriated to Sri Lanka 
after allegations of involvement in child prostitution surfaced in 2007: 0

Number of standing claims commissions set up by 
the UN under Status of Forces Agreements so that 
local population may have means of redress from peacekeepers, historically: 0

Years MINUSTAH has been in Haiti: 7

Shortfall in trained national police officers 
that are supposed to take over for MINUSTAH: 10,000

Rank among Haiti’s top donors, including 
governments, that MINUSTAH would be if its budget 
went towards relief and reconstruction efforts: 3

Date on which cholera was discovered: October 21, 2010
Date the head of MINUSTAH was reported saying it 
was “really unfair” to accuse the UN of bringing 
cholera to Haiti: November 22, 2010

Distance, in miles, from the Nepalese MINUSTAH 
base to the location of the first reported case of cholera: .1

Date on which scientific paper confirmed that 
Haitian and Nepalese samples of cholera were 
"almost identical": August 23, 2011

Days since the cholera outbreak it has taken for 
the UN to accept responsibility: 413 (and counting)

Date on which MINUSTAH’s mandate was extended through 2012: October 14, 2011

Percent of Haitians in a recent survey who said 
they wanted MINUSTAH gone within a year: 65

Sources: 1. According to the United Nations there 
are currently 99,329 uniformed peacekeeping 
troops across the World. In Haiti there are 
12,552. 2. MINUSTAH. 3. United Nations 
Peacekeeping. 4. United Nations Peacekeeping Fact 
Sheet. 5. IMF data and MINUSTAH. 6. IMF data and 
MINUSTAH. 7. The 2009/10 budget was $611,751,200, 
the 2010/11 budget was $853,827,400 and the 
2011/2012 budget is $793,517,100. To reach the 
total since the earthquake, half of the 2009/10 
total was added to the entire 2010/2011 total and 
to half of the 2011/2012 total. Data from UN 
Peacekeeping. 8. U.S. and Europe fight over cuts 
in peacekeeping, from Foreign Policy’s Turtle Bay 
blog. 9. UN Office of the Special Envoy for 
Haiti. 10. See 7 and 8, above. 11. According to 
the United Nations Office of Coordination of 
Humanitarian Affairs, $95 million has been 
contributed to the cholera appeal. 12. The 
cholera appeal is seeking $109 million, leaving a 
shortfall of $14 million. 13. Estimated cost of a 
cholera vaccination program covering the entire 
country is $40 million. 14. The cost of the pilot 
cholera vaccination program is about $870,000. 
15. Ministère de la santé publique et de la 
population. 16. United Nations Office on Drugs 
and Crime. 17. United Nations Office on Drugs and 
Crime. 18. Institute for Justice and Democracy in 
Haiti. 19. Ministère de la santé publique et de 
la population. 20. Jake Johnston and Keane Bhatt, 
Not Doing Enough: Unnecessary Sickness and Death 
from Cholera in Haiti. CEPR. 21. The UN’s 2012 
Humanitarian Appeal for Haiti is for $231 
million. 22. UN peacekeepers to be deported from 
Haiti, UN Media. 23. Greg Grandin and Keane 
Bhatt, 10 Reasons Why the UN Occupation of Haiti 
Must End. The Nation. 24. Amy Lieberman, Haiti 
Cholera Case Raises Questions About U.N. 
Accountability. World Politics Review. 25. 
MINUSTAH 26. It is estimated that Haiti needs 
20,000 trained police, they currently have around 
10,000. 27. UN Office of the Special Envoy for 
Haiti. 28. Institute for Justice and Democracy in 
Haiti. 29. Jessica Desvarieux, TIME: At the Heart 
of Haiti's Cholera Riots, Anger at the U.N. 30. 
Final Report of the Independent Panel of Experts 
on the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti. 31. The UN 
continues to deny responsibility. 32. MINUSTAH. 
33. Gordon and Young, Columbia University. 
Although the headline reads “Survey Shows 60% of 
Haitians Support Troubled Peacekeeping Mission”, 
the data shows that 30% want immediate 
withdrawal, 10% want withdrawal within 6 months 
and an additional 25% want withdrawal within a year.


Haiti Action Committee 
<http://www.haitisolidarity.net/>www.haitisolidarity.net and on FACEBOOK



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