The UN’s human rights commissioner warned that violent gangs are turning thousands of people’s lives into “living nightmares” and encouraged the international community to think about sending a specialized military force to Haiti.
Volker Türk, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, made the statement at the conclusion of a two-day trip to Haiti at the behest of a government that is struggling to keep tabs on gangs who are murdering, raping, and pillaging an increasing number of districts. Since President Jovenel Mose was assassinated in July 2021, violence has increased in the poor nation.
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“It is time for the international community to help the Haitian authorities regain full control so this suffering can be stopped,” Türk notes.
He continued by expressing concern that “the situation in Haiti is not receiving the urgent spotlight that it deserves” due to the competing crises taking place throughout the world.
A 24-page report on what it alleged as widespread murders, gang rapes, and sniper assaults in Cite Soleil, Haiti’s largest slum, was published by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti shortly after Türk conducted a press conference. It is located in Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.
Turk stated, “The findings of this report are horrifying.” He added, “It paints a picture of how people are being harassed and terrorized by criminal gangs for months without the state being able to stop it.”
According to the research, at least 263 individuals were slain and at least 57 women and girls were sexually assaulted in Brooklyn, one neighborhood of Cite Soleil, between last July 8 and December 31. The region became the focal point for violent clashes between rival gangs.
According to the study, during that period, locals experienced “an almost permanent climate of terror due to the use of snipers that killed, at random, any person who passed in their field of vision.”
Officials further stated that snipers would ambush innocent citizens while standing atop schools and other structures throughout the day, with an average of six victims or wounded each week. At least 17 women and many children, the youngest barely 8 years old, were among the targeted.
According to the report, gang members reportedly broke into residences at random in competitor territory and killed at least 95 individuals, including six children, one of whom was just 2 years old. At impromptu roadblocks, many who attempted to leave the carnage were slain.
The report noted, “It is important to emphasize … that this violence and these abuses are not committed randomly but are motivated by the interest of political actors in controlling territories.”
Officials highlighted that one gang leader killed three men because they were discussing the potential of foreign military involvement, which Prime Minister Ariel Henry urgently asked for in October but to no avail as a fuel terminal siege closed petrol outlets and severely hampered life in Haiti.
At least eight gangs were named in the study as being responsible for the violence, including Haiti’s biggest gang, G9 Family and Allies, which is a federation of gangs commanded by a former police officer named Jimmy Chérizier. It has been charged with restricting access to food and water, including by allegedly destroying public water mains and threatening to murder water truck drivers who ventured into particular neighborhoods.
