“In the month of April alone, more than 600 people died in a new wave of extreme violence that hit several neighborhoods of the capital,” Port-au-Prince, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
The figures for April are registered “after the murder of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023, in addition to 393 injured and 395 kidnapped during the period,” he detailed.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced “an endless cycle of violence in Haiti.”
“The emergency situation in terms of human rights requires a firm and urgent response,” he said.
Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, has been devastated by current security, political and health crises, and now by the armed gangs that control much of the capital.
In a quarterly report (January to March) released on Tuesday, the UN highlights that the violence is not only becoming more extreme and frequent, but is escalating inexorably as gangs try to expand their control.
Areas of Port-au-Prince that were previously considered safe, such as Kenscoff and Pétion Ville, as well as the Artibonite department, are now impacted by violence.
Kidnappings (at least 395 in the first quarter of 2023) increased by 12% compared to the previous quarter, and gangs continue to use sexual violence to impose terror and make the population suffer.
Among other tactics used by these groups, the report mentions incidents during which snipers have opened indiscriminate fire on passers-by or homes. There have also been cases of people being burned alive on transport.
The document also notes the rise of self-defense groups, known as “vigilance brigades,” following calls by politicians and journalists for citizens to organize and fight gang violence.
These groups have triggered mass lynchings, killing at least 75 people, 66 of them gang members, in the first quarter, according to the report.
On his first official visit to Haiti in February, Türk urged the international community to support the reinforcement of Haiti’s national police and to urgently deploy a support force for a limited period.
“I reiterate my call to the international community to deploy a specialized support force, which respects human rights, and limited in time, with a complete action plan to help Haitian institutions,” the official insisted on Tuesday.
“The State has the obligation to protect its citizens. The population should be able to count on the police and judicial authorities to combat gang violence,” Türk said.
“But the reality is that the State does not have the capacity to act. The population does its own justice, but that only feeds the spiral of violence », he warned.
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