At least 5,601 people died in gang violence in Haiti last year, the United Nations rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, while appealing for more efforts by the authorities and the international community to address the root causes.
“These deaths represent an increase of over 1,000 on the total killings for 2023, according to figures the OHCHR verified.
A further 2,212 people sustained injuries, and 1,494 fell victim to kidnappers.
“These figures alone cannot capture the he absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, stated.
OHCHR recalled that in one of the most deadly and shocking incidents, at least 207 people were killed in a massacre in early December orchestrated by the leader of the Wharf Jérémie gang in the Cité Soleil area of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The UN agency observed that Many of the victims were older people accused of causing the death of the leader’s son through alleged voodoo practices.
OHCHR disclosed that to erase evidence, gang members mutilated and burned most of the bodies while throwing others into the sea.
OHCHR also documented 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs, which on some occasions were reportedly facilitated by Haitian police officers.
Additionally, 281 cases of alleged summary executions involving specialised police units occurred in 2024.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that restoring the rule of law in Haiti must be a priority.
In this regard, Volker Türk declared that Haiti’s UN-backed Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) needs the logistical and financial support it requires to implement its mandate successfully.
Türk restated his call for the full implementation of the UN Security Council’s sanctions regime on Haiti, as well as the arms embargo, crucial to preventing the supply of firearms and ammunition to the country.
“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.
