GENEVA (28 March 2024) – A UN Human Rights Office report
published today calls for immediate and bold action to
tackle the “cataclysmic” situation in
Haiti.
“Corruption, impunity and poor governance,
compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have
eroded the rule of law and brought State institutions…
close to collapse. The impact of generalised insecurity on
the population is dire and deteriorating…and the
population is severely deprived of enjoying its human
rights,” says the report.
“Tackling insecurity
must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent
further human suffering. It is equally important to protect
institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been
attacked to their very core,” said UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights Volker Türk.
The report
covers the period from 25 September 2023 to 29 February 2024
and includes information provided by the Human Rights
Service of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), as
well as information gathered by William O’Neill,
Designated Expert of the High Commissioner on the situation
of Human Rights in Haiti.
The number of
people killed and injured due to gang violence significantly
increased in 2023 – 4,451 killed and 1,668 injured. The
number of victims skyrocketed in the first three months of
2024 – 1,554 killed and 826 injured up to 22
March.
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Gangs continued to use sexual violence to
brutalise, punish and control people. Women have been raped
during gang attacks on neighbourhoods, in many cases after
seeing their husbands killed in front of
them.
According to the report, some women are forced
into exploitative sexual relations with gang members. In
addition, the rape of hostages continues to be used to
coerce families into paying ransoms. Sexual violence remains
severely underreported and largely unpunished.
Gangs
continue to recruit and abuse children – boys and girls
– who are unable to leave gangs’ ranks for fear of
retaliation, which, in some instances, has led to young gang
members being killed for trying to escape. Daily life is
also disrupted by restrictions imposed by gangs on the
movement of people, goods and services.
“All these
practices are outrageous and must stop at once,” said the
High Commissioner.
In parallel to the intensification
of gang violence and the inability of the police to counter
it, so-called “self-defence brigades” have continued to
emerge and take justice into their own hands, the report
says. At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023,
and a further 59 in 2024.
The report also highlights
how, despite an arms embargo, there is a reliable supply of
weapons and ammunition for the gangs coming through porous
borders, resulting in the gangs often having superior
firepower to the Haitian National Police.
The report
calls for tighter national and international controls to
stem trafficking of weapons and ammunition to
Haiti.
“It is shocking that despite the horrific
situation on the ground, arms keep still pouring in. I
appeal for a more effective implementation of the arms
embargo,” Türk said.
The report reiterates the need
for an urgent deployment of a Multinational Security Support
mission to help the National Police to stop violence,
effectively protect the population and restore the rule of
law in the country.
“It is essential that the
mission effectively integrates human rights into the conduct
of its operations and establishes a compliance mechanism to
mitigate and minimize harm,” said the UN Human Rights
Chief.
The report stresses that enhancing security
alone will not bring long-lasting solutions and calls for
policies aiming at the restoration of the rule of law and
the prevention of violence to be
pursued.
“Widespread corruption and dysfunction of
the justice system greatly contribute to the pervasive
impunity for grave human rights violations, and they need to
be addressed urgently,” said
Türk.
“Accountability is paramount to restore
public trust in the rule of law and the state
institutions,” he added.
The High Commissioner also
called on all national stakeholders to engage constructively
in dialogue to facilitate a political agreement that allows
a democratic transition leading to free and fair legislative
and presidential elections.
To read the full report,
please click here
To
watch the video, please go to https://vimeo.com/928008184/814945aaf9?share=copy
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