At least 3,661 people have been murdered since January in Haiti, devastated by gang violence, the United Nations (UN) warned on Friday, September 27, citing the lack of equipment and personnel of the multinational police mission.
“No more lives should be lost to this senseless crime.”insists the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a press release on the occasion of the publication of a report.
The document, which covers the period from January to June, shows that at least 860 people were killed and another 393 injured during police operations and patrols in Port-au-Prince. The fight against insecurity in Haiti must be “top priority”says the UN, calling on the Haitian authorities and the international community to work harder to prevent further suffering.
Haiti has long suffered from violence by criminal gangs, but in recent months the humanitarian crisis has intensified and worsened. In October 2023, the UN Security Council authorized the dispatch of a Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS) led by Kenya to assist the Haitian police.
The High Commissioner greets “Recent measures have been taken, such as the establishment of a transitional presidential council, a new transitional government and the deployment of the first MMAS contingents”. But “It is clear, however, that the mission needs adequate and sufficient equipment and personnel to effectively and sustainably combat armed gangs and prevent them from spreading and causing further devastation to people’s lives.”says Volker Türk.
Gang rape of children
The president of Kenya, William Ruto, assured on Thursday at the UN in New York that his country would end “for January” 2025 the deployment of additional MMAS contingents up to 2,500 police officers. Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer, which now number about 400 police officers, plus about twenty men from Jamaica and Belize. “Kenya and other Caribbean and African countries are ready to deploy, but are hampered by a lack of equipment, logistics and funds”lamented President Ruto.
In its report, the UN details “extremely serious trends in human rights violations and abuses committed in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in the Artibonite department – as well as in the southern part of the Oeste department, which, until recently, had been largely safe from violence’.
The number of victims of sexual violence, including rape, also increased during the first half of the year, including gang rapes of children under 5 years of age. According to the report, “Gangs continued to use sexual violence to punish, sow fear and subjugate populations”and recruit large numbers of children.
Violence and increasing extortion by gangs are also forcing farmers off their land, while the UN estimates that 1.6 million people in the country face acute food insecurity.
