Crisis in Haiti

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• At least 5,601 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, an increase of over 1,000 on the total killings for 2023, according to figures verified by the UN Human Rights Office. A further 2,212 people were injured and 1,494 kidnapped.

• The island nation is mired in a complex humanitarian crisis, driven primarily by rampant violence by armed criminal gangs, against a backdrop of severe disasters and economic crisis.

• In one of the most deadly and shocking incidents in 2024, at least 207 people were killed in early December in a massacre orchestrated by the leader of the powerful Wharf Jeremie gang in Port-au-Prince.

• The UN Human Rights Office documented 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs, on some occasions reportedly facilitated by Haitian police officers, in 2024.

• Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, restated his call for the full implementation of the Security Council’s sanctions regime as well as the arms embargo, crucial to preventing the supply of firearms and ammunition to the country.

• Weapons flowing into Haiti often end up in the hands of the criminal gangs, with tragic results.

• In October 2024, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to expand the arms embargo in Haiti to all types of weapons and ammunition.

Haiti’s humanitarian situation is worsening • Haiti is wracked by violence that has escalated to unprecedented levels.

• Haiti remains the poorest country in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region and among the poorest countries in the world.

• With 5.4 million people – half the population – facing acute food insecurity, and 700,000 displaced, urgent international intervention is needed to address a crisis compounded by armed groups violence, economic instability, and insufficient humanitarian funding.

• Mass displacement has led to widespread insecurity in the nation, with almost half of Haiti’s 11.9 million civilians in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

• The power of gangs in Haiti has grown since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Mose, and they are now estimated to control up to 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

• The gang violence has spread from the capital to isolated rural areas. The pervasive assaults include sexual violence, kidnapping, looting, roadblocks to intimidate and rob civilians and forced recruitment by armed gangs.

• Sexual violence and abuse against women and girls is on the rise, and tens of thousands of children are unable to attend school due to insecurity.

• Haiti’s military is small and only modestly equipped. The Haitian National Police (HNP) is unable to fully contain the outbreak of violence and needs international support so that Haitians can return to a situation where they can go about their daily lives without the fear of being murdered, displaced, kidnapped, or raped.

• Assistance from the international community is needed to support the HNP in its efforts to stabilise the situation.

• In 2023, the UN Security Council in 2023 authorised the deployment of a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti to help its national police quell surging gang violence. The MSS mission was further re-authorised in September for a further one year.

• About 400 police officers from Kenya are leading the mission and were joined days ago by some 150 military police officers from Central America, the majority from Guatemala. Jamaica, Bahamas and Belize have sent a handful of personnel, while other nations including Barbados, Bangladesh and Chad have pledged to do the same.

• The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to a violent uprising by civilian vigilante groups.

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