UNITED NATIONS, United States, Oct 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the arms and military equipment embargo on Haiti for another year, and added two people to its sanctions list.

The sanctions regime was established in 2022 in an attempt to curb escalating violence as gangs ravage the country, but the situation has only worsened since.

Initially, it embargoed targeted specific weapons but later was strengthened to prohibit all arms transfers to Haiti, with exclusions for local law enforcement and international forces deployed to aid them.

The Security Council warned that ongoing gang violence "contributes to undermining rule of law and respect for human rights, can impede the provision of humanitarian assistance, and can have wide-ranging negative humanitarian and socioeconomic consequences."

But the efficacy of the sanctions to date remains in doubt.

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic political instability.

The situation has sharply deteriorated since early 2024, when a coordinated gang offensive ultimately forced then-prime minister Ariel Henry to step down.

The United Nations also imposed travel bans and asset freezes via sanctions on Dimitri Herard, who was head of security for president Jovenel Moise when the Haitian leader was assassinated in 2021, and Argentins gang leader Kempes Sanon.

The United States announced Friday that it would also sanction Herard and Sanon.

They join nine individuals and two groups, including gang alliance Viv Ansanm and its leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier on the sanctions list.