UN rights office calls for more action to combat ‘senseless criminality’ in Haiti

Tackling insecurity in the Caribbean country must be the utmost priority, the report said, urging the authorities and the international community to do more to protect people and prevent further suffering.

“No more lives should be lost to this senseless criminality,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Abuse, rape and intimidation

Haiti has been plagued by violence and insecurity at the hands of armed gangs, amid ongoing political, socioeconomic and humanitarian challenges.

The situation escalated in March, when gangs mounted coordinated attacks against key government sites, including several police stations and two of the main prisons in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The report, which covers the first six months of the year, details extremely serious patterns of human rights violations and abuses taking place across the capital and in the Artibonite Department, the country’s largest agricultural region.

Gang violence has also spread to the southern part of West Department, which until recently had been largely unaffected.

The number of victims of sexual violence, including rape, also increased in the first half of the year. The report noted that “gangs have continued to use sexual violence to punish, spread fear and subjugate populations”.

Children recruited, farmers extorted

Meanwhile, at least 860 people were killed and 393 injured during police operations and patrols across the capital, including at least 36 children, in what could constitute use of unnecessary and disproportionate force. Gangs have also recruited large numbers of children into their ranks.

The increasing unrest in Artibonite Department has further imperilled food production, at a time when roughly 1.6 million Haitians face emergency-level food security.

The report said the gangs “have extorted farmers cultivating their lands and have often descended on fields, armed with guns and machetes, to steal their crops and livestock.”

The attacks “have forced farmers to abandon more than 3,000 hectares of land and move to less fertile but safer areas, which has contributed to the food crisis.”

Listen to our interview with William O’Neill, the UN’s designated expert on human rights issues in Haiti, who recently completed a 12-day mission to the country.

Support Multinational Mission

The UN rights chief has welcomed “recent positive steps” in Haiti, such as the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council, the new transitional government, and the deployment of the first contingents of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), led by Kenya.

The UN Security Council authorized the MSS in October 2023 to back up Haiti’s beleaguered police force. Some 430 personnel have been deployed to date.

“It is clear, however, that the Mission needs adequate and sufficient equipment and personnel to counter the criminal gangs effectively and sustainably and stop them spreading further and wreaking havoc on people’s lives,” Mr. Türk said.  

OHCHR is supporting the MSS to establish and implement a compliance mechanism to ensure its operational framework and practice are aligned with international human rights standards and any potential violations are effectively addressed, in line with Security Council resolution 2699 (2023). 

Strengthen state institutions

Mr. Türk urged the Haitian authorities to take robust steps to strengthen the national police, the judiciary and other state institutions crippled by endemic corruption, if the rule of law is to be restored and those responsible for violations and abuses held to account. 

They must also protect children from gangs and step up efforts to address gender and sexual violence and to protect internally displaced people.

The High Commissioner also urged the international community to implement the targeted arms embargo, travel ban, and asset freeze imposed by the UN Security Council, to curb the gang violence.