A report titled Impact Of The “Bwa Kale” Movement Over Insecurity And Kidnapping In Haiti by local human rights research group CARDH suggests that Violence by armed gangs has fallen “drastically” since the emergence of a vigilante justice movement that has seen at least 160 suspected criminals killed in the last month.
The vigilante movement, known as “Bwa Kale”, was created by residents of the capital Port-au-Prince who lynched and set fire to over a dozen suspected gang members in the early morning of April 24.
- Advertisement -
The report says:
Since the launch of the Bwa Kale movement, on April 24, giving birth to a bipartite collaboration police-population, at least 160 alleged bandits have been chased, lynched and burnt alive all over the country: 134 in the Ouest department, equivalent of 83.75%; five (5) in the Central Department, 3.12% ; nine (9) in Artibonite, 5.62% ; one (1) in the South, 0.62%; nine (9) in Grand’Anse, 5.62% ; one (1) in the North, 0.62%. Beside this, at least 78 more had been executed prior to “Bwa Kale”
This is a popular reaction (natural and conventional right of legitime defense) to face the extreme cruelty of the gangs, given the powerlessness of the police, the incapacity of the State to use its legitimate monopoly over the means of violence, and the international “fiddling around” and getting stuck in the rhetoric of promises….
This citizen’s awakening resulted in a drastic reduction of kidnappings from April 24 to May 24 (almost no cases of abduction reported) and other manifestations of gangs ‘violence (killings, rapes…).
Forty-three cases of murders registered.
This movement must be framed to give a sustainable security, otherwise the gangs’ retaliations will be worse than the atrocities committed prior to “Bwa Kale”. The massacre orchestrated by the “5 segond” gang in Source Matelas, on April 19, where about 40 people disappeared or were assassinated, was in retaliation against the citizen brigade set up in the aftermath of the 29 November, 2022 attack (at least 12 murders).
It also deems to limit potential abuses (a few cases being under review).
This is the responsibility of central and local authorities, and more generally of the elites, but also of the international cooperation in Haiti having mandates focusing on institutional reinforcement (police / Justice) and the Rule of law (MINUSTAH, MINUJUSTH, BINUH), and on behalf of the responsibility to protect.
The security is before all a question of means (Emmanuel Macron). The police need concrete means (materials, technologies…) to tackle gangs and perform its mission, similar to any other police: “protect and serve”.
Criminological research is important for a better understanding of these new behaviors and prevent their impacts on the future of the country. Institutional measures must be considered to fundamentally tackle this new organization (of the) against criminality, the gangs obviously known (Izo, Ti Lapli….) not being the “bosses”, otherwise, there will be further.
