Geneva (AFP) – Gang violence in Haiti and security operations targeting the gangs led to more than 5,500 deaths between March 2025 and mid-January, the United Nations said Tuesday. The UN rights office called for more action to tackle rampant corruption and impunity in the poorest country in the Americas.
“While gang violence remains endemic and expanded out of the capital, other sources of violence by self-defence groups and non-organised members of the population are also concerning,” a new report by UN rights chief Volker Turk said. According to data verified by the Human Rights Office, at least 5,519 people were killed in Haiti and 2,608 injured between March 1 last year and January 15, 2026. Of those, at least 1,424 people were killed as a result of violence by gangs, while 790 were injured. Operations against gangs led by security forces caused at least 3,497 deaths and 1,742 injuries. Meanwhile, attacks against gangs by self-defence groups caused at least 598 people to be killed and 76 injured.
For years, Haiti has been in the throes of deadly gang violence, with frequent murders, rapes, and kidnappings. The report said that over the past 12 months, the gangs had expanded beyond the capital Port-au-Prince, pushing into its outskirts and moving further north. Gangs have been able to “fortify strategic corridors and maintain dominance over critical maritime and overland routes that sustain their financing and operational resilience,” the report said.
The report also documented cases of unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by the police, including actual or attempted summary executions of gang members or their suspected supporters, which it said resulted in 196 deaths. Since March 2025, a private military company, reportedly hired by the Haitian government, has taken part in security operations, including using drone strikes and helicopter gunfire, the report said. Some, or even most, of these operations “could be described as targeted killings,” the UN rights office said.
The report details violence perpetrated by self-defence groups and mobs, which have lynched individuals suspected of gang affiliation. “Some killings were allegedly encouraged, supported or facilitated by police elements,” the report said. “Efforts to further bolster the rule of law, particularly in the justice and detention sectors, must remain a priority to be able to tackle corruption and impunity,” said Turk.
The UN Security Council last year authorised a new international Gang Suppression Force tasked with neutralising the gangs. It can only be effective “if there are also stronger efforts to identify, detain, investigate, and prosecute, in accordance with international standards, those who fund, organise and support the gangs’ activities,” Turk added.
© 2024 AFP
