The UN human rights head reiterated a plea for the prompt deployment of an international assistance force, warning that Haiti is “dangling over an abyss” due to escalating gang violence and severe political and economic woes.
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner of Human rights, stated in a video message to the Security Council, where he stated that “The state’s lack of capacity to fulfill human rights has completely eroded people’s confidence.”
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Turk shared that on his recent visit to the country back in February, the gang violence situation had driven the country to a point where it is “dangling over an abyss”.
Since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in July 2021, the Caribbean country—the poorest in the Americas—has been engulfed in a political and economic crisis, with gangs now in charge of the majority of the city.
According to a study released by the UN last week, Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, “has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict.”
Maria Isabel Salvador, the UN representative in the nation, also issued a similar warning, noting that “gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate.”
The ambassador highlighted statistics from the Haitian National Police and the United Nations that revealed that in the first three months of 2023, the number of recorded violent crimes—including murders, rapes, kidnappings, and lynchings—more than doubled.
Children are among those who suffer from “the most heinous crimes, including killings, kidnappings, and rape,” she continued.
For months, UN representatives have requested that the Security Council dispatch a specialist, non-UN international military force to assist police in re-establishing order.
Turk recently renewed his request, stating that “an immediate need to support Haiti’s institutions by deploying a time-bound, specialized, and human rights-compliant support force, with a comprehensive action plan.”
Despite the fact that several countries have supported this idea, no one has stepped up to take the lead.
