Thank you for the question.
I think that security has been raised. In my opinion, we do need to address the human rights issues, which are critical, at the same time as we address security and consider the long-term impacts of our interventions.
We are talking about over 100,000 internally displaced people. These are not people living in shelters; these are people completely exposed in public locations. They are dying of famine and all of the human rights violations we talked about. These need to be addressed immediately. This is why people on the ground who would not favour an international intervention are actually asking for it. It's because they are so desperate for some relief.
However, as we address these immediate needs, we need to keep in mind the long-term impacts, which is a mistake that has been made in the past with international interventions. The Haitian government cannot be the voice that foreign governments are listening to, because it's very clear that the Haitian government is not acting in the interests of the Haitian people.
I love the previous witness's idea of involving community leaders—not just Haitian authorities, but civil society as well—who are already active in helping their communities in times like this with the very minimal means they have.
We also have to make sure that we're building the capacity and—I think Mr. LaRose also mentioned—addressing the security issue. Just removing the gangs will not resolve the root cause of the issue. There are influential families and politicians who are puppeteering these gangs. They are paying citizens to protest and cause chaos and roadblocks in their communities. If we don't have sanctions against those individuals, we will see this same situation repeated again and again after the humanitarian crisis is seemingly resolved.
We really have to look at that.