More than 1,000 people were killed in Haiti between July and September as armed gangs continued to attack residents of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other areas, according to the latest human rights report from the United Nations team in the country.
The report says at least 1,167 people were killed and 459 were injured in the three-month period. It says serious abuses continued in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and in the Artibonite and South-East departments, which are regions of Haiti.
Gangs were responsible for more than 45% of the incidents, the report says. About 5% were linked to self-defense groups targeting gang members and people suspected of working with them. More than half of all documented killings and injuries happened during ground or air operations by security forces against gangs, sometimes with help from a private military company using drones. More than 16% of victims had no tie to gangs.
Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Haiti and head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH, pointed to massacres in Kenscoff and other places that had been spared before. He said they show “the absolute need to strengthen both mechanisms for protecting the population” and the presence of the state in recently freed areas.
The report says at least 19 people were beheaded by gangs in Cité Soleil in early August, among them 12 elderly women. At least 105 people, 19 of them children, died in two attacks on Kenscoff, one in July and one in August. More than 36 people were shot to death in a courtyard at a Protestant church.
Attacks also hit the communes of Saint-Michel-de-l’Attalaye in Artibonite and Marigot in South-East. The report says both areas had been largely free of gang infiltration.
The report says gang members pushed out of neighborhoods such as Bel Air and La Saline earlier in the year slowly regained ground and committed more abuses there. Armed groups also killed people in retaliation for security operations, and killed those who refused extortion, would not follow gang rules, or had reported gang leaders’ attempts to interfere in the electoral process.
Explosive drone attacks killed at least four people, including two children, and injured 10 others. The report also records 44 killings or attempted killings outside the legal process that involved Haitian National Police members, compared with 14 in the previous quarter.
At least 137 people were kidnapped for ransom, up from 81 between April and June. Children made up 10% of victims. BINUH documented 344 victims of sexual violence by gang members, aged eight to 75. Most cases, 77%, involved gang rape.
Gangs also kept recruiting and exploiting children. During August, clashes between security forces and a gang in Gressier left at least 32 boys, ages 14 to 16, dead. The gang had recruited them by force.
The report calls on Haitian authorities to bolster protection and aid for people hurt by violence. It also calls on the international community to stay committed to Haiti and to speed up full deployment of the Gang Suppression Force, in line with international human rights standards. The UN Security Council has authorized the force, which has not yet been fully deployed.