UN human rights office calls for more action to fight ‘senseless crimes’ in Haiti
Addressing unrest in the Caribbean nation must be a top priority, the report said, calling on authorities and the international community to do more to protect people and prevent further suffering. .
“No more lives should be lost because of this senseless crime,” speak UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
Abuse, rape and threats
Haiti is suffering from violence and insecurity at the hands of armed gangs, amid ongoing political, socioeconomic and humanitarian challenges.
The situation escalated in March, when gangs coordinated attacks on key government sites, including several police stations and two of the main prisons in the capital Port-au-Prince. .
the reportin the first six months of the year, detailing patterns of extremely serious human rights violations and abuses taking place across the capital and in the Artibonite Department, the country’s largest agricultural region.
Gang violence has also spread to the southern part of the West Department, which until recently was largely unaffected.
The number of victims of sexual violence, including rape, also increased during the reporting period. The report notes that “Gangs have continued to use sexual violence to punish, instill fear, and subjugate people”.
Children were recruited, farmers were blackmailed
Meanwhile, at least 860 people were killed and 393 injured in police and patrol operations across the capital, including at least 36 children, in an act that could be considered an unreasonable use of force. necessary and disproportionate. Gangs also recruit large numbers of children into their ranks.
Growing unrest in the Artibonite Department has put food production in even greater jeopardy, at a time when some 1.6 million Haitians face emergency levels of food security.
The gangs “extorted money from farmers cultivating their land and often descended on fields, armed with guns and machetes, to steal their crops and livestock,” the report said.
The attacks “forced farmers to abandon more than 3,000 hectares of land and move to less fertile but safer areas, contributing to the food crisis.”
Listen to our interview with William O’Neill, the UN-appointed expert on human rights issues in Haiti, who recently completed a 12-day working trip to the country.
Multinational mission support
The UN human rights chief welcomed “recent positive steps forward” in Haiti, such as the establishment of the Transitional Presidential Council, the new transitional government and the deployment of the first forces of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), led by Kenya.
United Nations Security Council authorized MSS in October 2023 to support Haiti’s beleaguered police force. So far, about 430 personnel have been deployed.
“However, it is clear The delegation needs enough equipment and personnel to effectively fight criminal gangs and sustainable, while preventing them from spreading further and devastating people’s lives,” Mr. Türk said.
OHCHR is supporting MSS to establish and implement a compliance mechanism to ensure that MSS’s operational framework and practices are consistent with international human rights standards and that any potential violations are effectively addressed, suit Security Council Resolution 2699 (2023).
A family displaced by violence lives in a partially constructed school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Strengthen state institutions
Mr. Türk called on Haitian authorities to take strong steps to strengthen the national police, judiciary and other state institutions that are crippled by widespread corruption, if the rule of law is to be restored. and those responsible for violations and abuses will be held accountable.
They must also protect children from gangs and increase efforts to tackle sexual and gender-based violence and protect internally displaced people.
The High Commissioner also called on the international community to implement arms embargoes, travel bans and asset freezes imposed by the United Nations Security Council to limit gang violence.
