More than 16,000 people have been killed in armed violence in Haiti since the start of 2022, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that “the worst may be yet to come”.
“The human rights situation in Haiti has reached a boiling point”, with abuses and violence having escalated and intensified since March, UN rights chief Volker Turk said.
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.
“More than 16,000 people have been killed and some 7,000 people injured in armed violence since January 1, 2022, when we began our monitoring on gang-related violence,” Turk told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
He said gangs were spreading fear beyond the capital Port-au-Prince, and the violence threatens to “destabilise the wider sub-region”.
On Tuesday, the UN Security Council in New York adopted a resolution to transform a UN-backed security mission in Haiti into a larger, full-fledged force with military troops.
The new force can now have a maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement.
“International commitment and backing for this are urgent. Without them, the worst may be yet to come for Haiti and the broader region,” said Turk.
The UN high commissioner for human rights decried the “spiral of violence” between gang members, the population, and the security forces.
He said that since March, the Haitian government had stepped up its use of explosive drones in its anti-gang operations in the capital.
“As of mid-September, drone strikes have killed at least 559 people, including 11 children. Most of these drone strikes are likely unlawful under international human rights law,” said Turk.
He said it was also “deeply worrying” that so-called self-defence groups and spontaneous crowds had killed more than 500 alleged gang members this year.
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