UN: More than 1,500 killed in Haiti this year as gangs recruit children, violate human rights

The number of Haitians killed by criminal gangs in the first three months of this year have skyrocketed and armed gang violence remains the main driver of human-rights abuses in the volatile Caribbean country, a new United Nations human rights report said Thursday.

More than 1,500 Haitians have died at the hands of armed gangs, who continue to mount a deadly siege on Haiti’s capital. The alarming violence is exacerbating an already dire human rights situation, especially on children, according to the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights.

Children are getting caught in the crossfire and being killed during violent attacks, and are also increasingly used by gangs as lookouts for kidnappings or to carry out armed attacks.

“The situation of the violence on children is particularly worrying,” the report said.

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said dealing with Haiti’s ongoing security issues “must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering.”

The continued use of sexual violence by gangs to brutalize and control the population, the attacks on neighborhoods, and the recruitment and abuse of children who are unable to leave gangs’ ranks for fear of retaliation, “are outrageous and must stop at once.”

The report covers the period between Sept. 25, 2023, and Feb. 29, the first day of the current siege. Through a series of deadly, coordinated attacks, a united front of armed gang leaders have targeted police stations, the main seaport and airports in Port-au-Prince, and orchestrated the release of thousands of inmates from the country’s two largest prisons. They’ve also set fire to schools, hospitals and pharmacies while expanding the violence into wealthy neighborhoods.

The large-scale attacks, while concentrated in the capital, have also spread to the Lower Artibonite Valley, just north of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. Gang violence has prevented the functioning of at least 10 hospitals and clinics, forced the closure of schools and is increasingly responsible for growing poverty in the rural community.