UN confirms at least 3,661 fatalities in violence in 2024 – The Frontier Post

Port-au-Prince (AFP): More than 3,600 people have been killed this year in “senseless” gang violence that has ravaged Haiti, the United Nations said on Friday.

One of the world’s poorest countries has plunged into anarchy, with gangs taking over the capital Port-au-Prince and security and healthcare systems collapsing.

About 600,000 people were displaced in the first six months of 2024 and 1,280 were injured in gang violence, including 295 women and 63 children, the UN rights office (OHCHR) said in a report.

At least 893 people, including 25 children, were kidnapped and held for ransom by criminal groups, vying for power in a vacuum created by a political crisis and weak state authority.

“The latest figures from the UN Human Rights Office indicate that at least 3,661 people have been killed since January this year, maintaining high levels of violence seen in 2023,” the agency said.

“No more lives should be lost to this senseless crime,” said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The OHCHR has urged Haitian authorities and the international community to do more to protect people on the Caribbean island.

“We are raising the alarm,” rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva, warning that “illegal arms flows continue to enter Haiti.”

The report describes horrific violence.

While some victims were struck by indiscriminate gunfire, others were executed in broad daylight for allegedly informing authorities of opposing gang activity.

Fear and submission

“Some of those victims had their bodies mutilated with machetes and then burned.

“Gangs filmed the scenes and shared them widely on social media to spread fear and control the population,” the report said.

According to the report, gangs used sexual violence “to punish, instill fear and subjugate populations”.

It said at least 860 people were killed and 393 injured during police operations and patrols in Port-au-Prince, including at least 36 children, in what could be unnecessary and disproportionate force.

The gangs have also recruited large numbers of children, it added.

An estimated 1.6 million people in Haiti face emergency-level food insecurity.

In October 2023, the UN Security Council approved sending a multinational stabilization force, led by Kenya, to assist the Haitian police.

Kenyan President William Ruto told the UN General Assembly on Thursday that his country would complete the deployment of the 2,500-strong Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) by January.

‘Wreak havoc’

About 430 MSS personnel have been deployed so far. In addition to Kenya, the force consists of approximately twenty soldiers from Jamaica and Belize.

Ruto said Kenya and other African and Caribbean countries were ready to deploy but were hampered by insufficient equipment, logistics and financing.

Turk said the stabilization force needed more help.

“I welcome 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 MSS,” he said.

“It is clear, however, that the mission requires adequate and sufficient equipment and personnel to effectively and sustainably combat the criminal gangs, and prevent them from spreading further and wreaking havoc on people’s lives.”

Turk urged Haitian authorities to reform the police and other state institutions, including the judiciary, which are crippled by endemic corruption.

He said the international community must comprehensively implement the arms embargo, travel ban and asset freeze imposed by the UN Security Council to end gang violence.

Shamdasani said that “firearms and ammunition continue to enter Haiti through poorly controlled air spaces, unguarded coastlines and porous borders, and of course the gangs exploit these gaps.”

“Arms and ammunition have continued to flow into the country, mainly from the United States, but also from the Dominican Republic and Jamaica,” she said.