Gang violence in Haiti is on the rise with new alliances being forged and expansion into rural areas previously considered safe, warns a new UN report.
The report, published on Tuesday by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the UN political mission in Haiti (BINUH), calls for the urgent deployment of the multinational security support mission authorized by the UN Security Council in October.
But alongside that, greater efforts will need to be made to strengthen the institutions of the rule of law in Haiti, in particular the police, the judiciary and the penitentiary system, the report notes.
Killing fields
The report focuses on the Bas-Artibonite district, located in central Haiti, about 100 kilometers from the capital Port-au-Prince, which has seen a significant increase in gang violence over the past two years.
Between January 2022 and October 2023, at least 1,694 people were killed, injured or kidnapped in Bas-Artibonite.
Kidnappings for ransom by criminal groups have become a constant fear for public transport users in the district, the report says.
The story of Darleine, a 22-year-old woman, is just one of many: she was dragged off a bus in March this year by gang members, who held her captive for more than two weeks and repeatedly beat and raped her.
A few weeks after her release, she committed suicide.
The report documents criminal groups that ransack “rival” villages, executing the local population and resorting to sexual violence against women and even very young children.
The groups are also looting farmers’ properties, crops and livestock and destroying irrigation systems, contributing to the displacement of more than 22,000 people from their villages.
The has significantly reduced the amount of farmland, thus increasing food insecurity.
As of September, more than 45 per cent of the population of Bas-Artibonite was acutely food insecure. Gang violence has also left many farming families unable to pay off debts or access basic services.
A cataclysmic situation
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has warned that across Haiti, at least 3,960 people have been killed, 1,432 injured and 2,951 kidnapped in gang-related violence this year alone.
“The situation in Haiti is cataclysmic. We continue to receive reports of killings, sexual violence, displacement and other violence – including in hospitals,” he said.
“In the face of the horrific violence against the population that is spreading – inside and outside Port-au-Prince – and the inability of the police to stop them, the much-needed multinational security support mission must be deployed to Haiti as soon as possible.”
The High Commissioner stressed that the support mission must include internal control mechanisms and other safeguards to ensure its compliance with international human rights norms and standards.
In light of the escalating violence and following October’s report of the UN Group of Experts on Haiti, this report also calls on the Security Council to update the list of individuals and entities subject to UN sanctions.
“The focus must continue to be on the implementation of the arms embargo and sanctions targeting those responsible for this untenable situation,” said the High Commissioner, who also called on the Haitian authorities “to fulfill their international human rights obligations but also to put in place robust measures to strengthen the country’s institutions and improve governance, including by fighting corruption and impunity.”
SOURCE: UN News
The dismal failure of the UN has caused and will continue to cause Haiti pain and suffering. It is this same UN whose deployed “agents” who have spread disease, killed, and rape Haitians. The UN has been in Haiti for decades and what do they have to show? Nothing but this crap report. They know that France and the US have contributed to what Haiti is today and they have done absolutely nothing to assist. Shame on all of you! And y’all can take that shit piece of reporting and shove it down the UN’s arse! Because all they are interested in is to continue to paint Haiti black with their reports.
Black Haitians of Haiti do you know who you are. You are the Livites, the priesthood from the twelve tribes from the True Hebrew Israelites, which the world does not want you to know about. They have put guns in your hands for you to kill your own people the children of the Most HIGH GOD ALMIGHTY.
You are a special people, a Royal Priesthood, to show forth the PRAISES OF HIM WHO HAVE CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT. Now the time has come for you to return to God Almighty, repent from all your evil and turn to your Everlasting Father with all your hearts. So you can be forgiven for all your wrong doings. Those people who give you the guns are not your friends, they are your enemies.
Put down your guns and unite with your brothers and sisters. The end game is they do not want you to United with you people, while they are united with their people. Please wake up and open your eyes and become wise. This message was sent to you
By Almighty God. Give heed to this message.
AMEN and AMEN.
The Crow are you an idiot. U blame the UN but not put blame on the corrupt people of Haiti. How do one sit on his behind and wait for help and not do anything thing for himself and why do the people of Haiti believe is being part of a gang to their crisis who are they really fighting but I shall say the guns and voodoo aren’t the answer and to the st lucians who traffic these people to your houses your days are here