According to the UN human rights High Commissioner Volker Turk, January was the bloodiest month in Haiti in the country’s two years of turmoil, with over 1,100 people murdered, maimed, or kidnapped.
He noted in a recent statement, “The already dire human rights situation has deteriorated even further, amid unrelenting and expanding gang violence, with disastrous consequences for Haitians.”
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According to the rights office, around 300 gang members were murdered or injured in January, while at least 806 non-participants in violent exchanges were slain, injured, or abducted.
As per the statement, this raises the overall number of impacted individuals to 1,108, which is more than three times the amount noted in January 2023.
UN rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado stated that 266 people were abducted and 547 people died during the month-long crisis.
The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti, has been in chaos for years due to violent gangs that have taken over portions of the country and left the public health system and economy in ruins.
The nation descended into even more anarchy following President Jovenel Moise’s death in 2021. Since 2016, there have been no elections, and the president is still unfilled.
Large portions of the nation are now overrun by gangs, and a new UN study states that the number of killings in Haiti more than quadrupled to about 4,800 last year.
The rights office stated that since 167 children were shot and murdered by gunfire in the previous year, the effects of the violence on young people were especially concerning.
“Some were executed by gangs or so-called ‘self-defense’ groups for their suspected support for rivals,” the statement stated, emphasizing that “the recruitment of children into gangs remained extremely worrisome”.
The office said that gang violence was affecting every commune within the Port-au-Prince metropolitan region and that gang activity was intensifying beyond the city.
The statement revealed that “The intensity of clashes which, in some cases, have lasted several hours, may indicate that some gangs have recently received new ammunition.”
“People in areas controlled by gangs have been targeted directly. Gangs also continue to use sexual violence against women and girls as a weapon and spread fear by sharing on local social media gruesome photos and videos of killed individuals and women being raped.”
Since February 5, 2024, hundreds of protesters in Port-au-Prince and around the nation have been calling for Prime Minister Ariel Henry to resign in accordance with a political deal made in 2022, which has also caused turmoil in Haiti.
Turk emphasized how urgent it is to send a multinational team, authorized by the UN Security Council in October of last year, to assist Haiti’s overburdened police force.
However, this month, a Kenyan court rejected Nairobi’s proposal to lead the operation with up to 1,000 people, casting uncertainty on that force.
