The head of Haiti’s presidential transition appealed for “global solidarity” Thursday during his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly, while also endorsing a Biden administration push for a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission in his crisis-wracked nation.

Edgard Leblanc Fils, who spoke as the head of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, said as the world’s first Black independent nation, Haiti “is today the greatest victim of a historical injustice, which has not only delayed our development but saddled our people with a burden.”

“We demand recognition of the moral and historic debt and implementation of justice,” he said.

Leblanc outlined Haiti’s crisis, which U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has described as one of the greatest human tragedies. The ongoing gang abuse and violence against children should be considered “a crime against humanity,” Leblanc said.

He noted that past U.N. peacekeeping missions have not been without controversy. The mission deployed in 2004 after a bloody armed revolt forced the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, its members were accused of sexual abuse and the mission was later found to have introduced a deadly cholera epidemic after the country’s devastating 2010 earthquake. But Leblanc said Haiti needs help finding a way to guarantee funding for the current Kenya-led security support mission.

“This transformation would not only allow to secure more stable financing and to expand the capabilities of the mission, but also strengthen the commitment of member States to security in Haiti,” he said. “I am convinced that this change of status, while ensuring that errors of the past are not repeated, will guarantee the full success of the mission in Haiti.”

Days of drama

Leblanc’s appearance came after days of internal drama in the ongoing U.S.-backed political transition, in which the government and the presidential council Leblanc leads found themselves in a behind-the-scenes war that played out to the embarrassment of many Haitians.

On Saturday, during a visit to Port-au-Prince by Kenya President William Ruto on his way to New York, Leblanc announced that he would not be attending the U.N. forum due to “confusion” over who would be representing Haiti. The U.S. Secret Service, which was offering protection to Prime Minister Garry Conille, had declined a similar detail for Leblanc. The matter was eventually solved after a high-level official at the State Department intervened.

But while Leblanc prepared to travel, the confusion continued as fellow council member Leslie Voltaire met with Guterres and then bumped heads with Conille’s government after a meeting with Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Leblanc didn’t address the scandal involving three of his fellow council members, who are accused of bribery and have refused to step down. Instead, he asserted himself as the official representative of the Haitian republic, the spokesperson of the Haitian people and a champion of democracy. He had been a witness, he said, to many critical moments in the country’s political transition from dictatorship to democracy dating back to his days as the president of the Senate.

In outlining Haiti’s problems — from endemic poverty and inequality to a near takeover by gangs of its capital — on the world’s most important stage Thursday, Leblanc argued that the effects of his country’s colonial past continues to have present-day repercussions. He called for restitution and reparations, endorsing efforts already being led by the Caribbean Community and the U.N..

Reparations demands

The demand for France, Haiti’s original colonial ruler, to repay Haiti is not new. In 2004 during the country’s bicentennial Aristide publicly called on France to repay the 90 million gold francs Haiti was forced to pay after its independence. The amount, he calculated at the time, was the equivalent of more than $21 billion. The payment was ordered in 1825, 21 years after Haiti won its indenpendece from France. It was finally paid off in 1947 after being financed by French banks and the National City Bank of New York.

“This ransom imposed under threat siphoned off resources of a young nation, plunging it into an infernal cycle of impoverishment, which it still struggles to overcome,” Leblanc said.

The unabated violence gripping Haiti is fueling one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with nearly half of the country’s estimated 12 million people going hungry, Leblanc said.

“The increase of armed gangs, general violence and political instability have plunged the nation into a state of extreme vulnerability,” he said. “Citizens live in fear, unable to move around freely throughout the country, to go and work or send their children to school without risk, particularly in the capital of Port-au-Prince.”

On Monday, the U.N. Security Council will meet to decide on a proposal by both the U.S. and Ecuador to extend the multinational security support mission for another year and to work on a transition to a formal U.N. peacekeeping mission.

Springfield, Ohio

Leblanc started his speech with an issue closer to the hearts of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in the U.S. He thanked those who have shown solidarity with Haiti’s migrants, particularly those living in Springfield, Ohio, who have been thrust into presidential election politics by former President Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance over false accusations that they are eating neighbors’ pets.

“The American people reject any incitement to hate against our community,” Leblanc said. “The active participation of Haitian immigrants at various levels of life in the United States is tangible and significant.”

“In this regard, the passions that naturally arise during an election campaign should never serve as a pretext for xenophobia or racism in a country forged by immigrants from all countries, and which has become a model of democracy for the world,” he added.

Leblanc’s calls for reparations came near the end of his speech in which he spoke of the help Haiti needs to hold elections by the end of next year.

“It’s clear to restore public order, to hold free and transparent elections at the end of 2025 to restore trust in the institutions of the state, that we will need the support of the international community,” he said.

Following Leblanc’s speech, Haitians on message boards debated his appearance and welcomed his endorsement of the U.N. peacekeeping mission and his call for reparations. There was a moment near the end of his speech that went viral on social media, when video showed the president grabbing a pitcher of water on the podium and drinking directly from it.

The presidency was forced to issue a note of apology.

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