The United Nations recently reported that gang violence in Haiti has escalated, killing over 5,600 people last year—1,000 more than in 2023—and causing thousands more to be injured or abducted. The impoverished Caribbean nation has been plagued by political instability for decades, which has been exacerbated in recent years by gangs that have become more powerful.
UN rights chief Volker Turk highlighted in a recent statement, “These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti, but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected.”
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Violence has persisted despite a police assistance operation headed by Kenya and supported by the UN and the US.
According to a statement released on January 7, 2025, the head of the influential Wharf Jeremie gang planned a massacre in the capital’s Cite Soleil neighborhood in early December that claimed the lives of at least 207 people.
Many of the victims were elderly individuals who were accused of practicing voodoo and of poisoning their kids by a gang boss. After being executed, the suspects were sent to a “training center,” where many of them were burnt or mutilated.
In 2024, the UN human rights office stated that 315 lynchings of gang members and those allegedly connected to gangs had occurred, often with the help of Haitian police officials.
Furthermore, it stated that 281 occurrences of purported summary executions using specialist police units occurred in the previous year.
“It has long been clear that impunity for human rights violations and abuses, as well as corruption, remain prevalent in Haiti,” Turk noted.
The Kenyan-led mission should be given “the logistical and financial support it requires to successfully implement its mandate,” he remarked, adding that “restoring the rule of law must be a priority.”
Turk also demanded that personnel accused of violating human rights with foreign assistance be held accountable by the national police force.
He also demanded that a weapons embargo and sanctions be authorized by the Security Council to be fully implemented.
Turk explained, “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.”
The head of UN human rights criticized ongoing deportations to Haiti, saying “the acute insecurity and resulting human rights crisis in the country simply do not allow for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians”.
