UNITED NATIONS - The Human Rights Service (HRS) of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Wednesday said that during the first three months of this year, at least 1,617 people were killed and 580 injured as a result of violence involving gangs, self-defence groups, unorganized members of the population, and operations by the Haitian National Police (PNH).
Violence in Haiti (File Photo)In a report released in Port au Prince, the HRS said that the killings occurred between January 1 and March 31 this year and that men represented 85 per cent of the victims, women 13 per cent, and children two per cent.
It said that the majority of these incidents were documented in the Port au Prince metropolitan area, followed by the Artibonite department and the Central and Northern departments.
HRS said that at the same time, during this period, at least 1,612 were kidnapped for ransom by gangs, with 63 per cent of the cases occurring in the Artibonite department, 35 per cent in the Port au Prince metropolitan area, and the remaining two per cent in the Central department.
It said sexual violence targeting women and girls has persisted.
HRS said that all documented cases were recorded in neighborhoods of the capital under gang control, with the exception of one incident that occurred in the Artibonite department.
It said that three dynamics of violence and abuses against the population, which had clearly emerged during the second half of 2024, have consolidated.
First, there is the violence linked to the criminal activities of gangs, responsible for 35 per cent of the deaths and injuries. Second, police operations against gangs, as well as executions involving police members, accounted for 56 per cent of the documented deaths and injuries. Finally, third, violent actions by self-defence groups and the “popular justice” movement, known as “Bwa Kalé,” represent nine per cent of the recorded incidents (deaths and injuries).
Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, told the daily news briefing that “our human rights colleagues say the first quarter was marked by the intensification of the activities of criminal groups to expand their territorial influence in the metropolitan area of Port au Prince and its surroundings.
He said the World Food Programme (WFP) in Haiti, said that so far this year, they have reached over 1.3 million people in the country with meals.
“More than 750,000 hot meals have been provided to more than 110,000 recently displaced people. They have also provided cash assistance, support to prevent malnutrition among children, as well as school meals,” Haq said, adding that the WFP has also been able to distribute rations to hard-hit communities in Cité Soleil, Lower Delmas and La Saline.
“You will recall that, according to the most recent IPC analysis, published earlier this month, more than 5.7 million people – over half the population – face acute food insecurity. WFP is urgently calling on donors to help sustain its operations in the country,” Haq said, noting that the agency requires US$53.7 million to sustain lifesaving food and nutrition assistance for the next six months.
