Violent gangs control most of the Caribbean country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
More than 5,600 people were killed and thousands more injured or kidnapped in 2024 due to soaring levels of gang violence in Haiti, the United Nations said.
In a statement released on Tuesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk condemned the “absolute horrors” faced by the population of the Caribbean country noting rights abuses and corruption are also rife.
Armed gangs maintain control of most of the capital Port-au-Prince following an outbreak of violence last year. At the same time, the police are also accused of perpetrating violence against gang suspects, as the ongoing conflict serves to make worse the political instability that has plagued the island nation for decades.
“These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,” Volker said.
The UN statement noted that at least 207 people were killed in early December in a massacre orchestrated by the leader of the powerful Wharf Jeremie gang in the Cite Soleil area of the capital.
Moreover, the UN Human Rights Office also documented at least 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs, on some occasions reportedly facilitated by Haitian police officers, and 281 cases of alleged summary executions involving specialised police units in 2024.
“It has long been clear that impunity for human rights violations and abuses, as well as corruption, remain prevalent in Haiti,” Turk said.
Last November, the UN ordered the evacuation of its staff from Haiti’s capital due to clashes between armed gangs, the police and civilians armed with machetes.
However, the UN highlighted that it is “not leaving Haiti” but only “adapting its operations” by moving its staff to safer parts of the country and others working remotely.
Turk called for the national police force to hold accountable officers reportedly involved in rights abuses with international help.
“Restoring the rule of law must be a priority,” Turk said, calling for the Kenyan-led UN mission tasked with quelling the violence to be granted “the logistical and financial support it requires to successfully implement its mandate”.
A 430-strong UN-backed security mission comprised mostly of Kenyan police, was sent last June to support Haiti’s understaffed police department. But violence has continued to grow.
Turk said the full implementation of UN Security Council-mandated sanctions and an arms embargo must be used.
“Weapons flowing into Haiti often end up in the hands of the criminal gangs, with tragic results: thousands killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, essential infrastructure and services, such as schools and hospitals, disrupted and destroyed,” he said.
The Haitian government, backed by the US and by other Caribbean nations, has also been calling for the UN Security Council to authorise a full-scale peacekeeping operation.
But Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council, have opposed the move, insisting that efforts to stop the gang violence should instead be focused on strengthening the Haitian police.
Read the full article here
