THE United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has called on the world to help tackle insecurity in Haiti where hundreds have been killed, thousands displaced as a result of gang violence.
At a media briefing, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UNHRC said the latest figures documented by the UN Human Rights Office indicated that at least 3,661 people have been killed since January 2024, maintaining the high levels of violence seen in 2023.
Shamdasani said: “Tackling insecurity in Haiti, where hundreds have been killed, injured, or displaced as a result of gang violence, must be the utmost priority,” said spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva. No more lives should be lost to this senseless criminality.”.
She said there had been recent positive steps, 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).
“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,” Shamdasani said.
She said to date, an advance contingent of approximately 430 MSS personnel has been deployed in Haiti. The UN Human Rights Office was supporting the MSS to establish and has implemented a compliance mechanism to ensure the mission’s operational framework and practice were aligned with international human rights standards and any potential violations are effectively addressed, in line with Security Council resolution 2699.
“Our report details extremely serious patterns of human rights violations taking place across the capital of Port au Prince, and in the Artbonite department, as well as in the southern part of the west departement which until recently had been largely unaffected by the violence. The number of victims of sexual violence, including rape, also increased in the first half of the year. According to the report, gangs have continued to use sexual violence to punish, spread fear and subjugate populations,” .” Shamdasani said.
She highlighted that during the reporting period, at least 860 people were killed and 393 injured during police operations and patrols across Port-au-Prince, including at least 36 children, in what could constitute use of unnecessary and disproportionate force, the report says. The gangs have also recruited large numbers of children into their ranks.
In Artibonite, the country’s agricultural heartland, increasing gang violence and extortion have forced farmers to abandon more than 3,000 hectares of land, further imperiling Haiti’s food production, at a time when an estimated 1.6m people in the country face emergency-level acute food insecurity.
“The UN High Commissioner Volker Türk is urging the Haitian authorities to take robust steps to strengthen the police and other state institutions crippled by endemic corruption, including the judiciary, if the rule of law is to be restored and those responsible for violations and abuses held to account,” said Shamdasani.
The High Commissioner has also called on the authorities to protect children from gangs and to redouble efforts to tackle gender and sexual violence and to protect internally displaced people.
In addition, he urged the international community to comprehensively implement the targeted arms embargo, the travel ban, and asset freeze imposed by the UN Security Council, to stem gang violence in Haiti.
