More than 16,000 people have been killed in armed violence in Haiti since the beginning of 2022, the United Nations revealed on Thursday, cautioning that “the worst may be yet to come.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, told the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the country’s security crisis has escalated sharply since March. “The human rights situation in Haiti has reached a boiling point,” he said, noting widespread abuses including murders, rapes, kidnappings, and looting, largely carried out by violent criminal gangs.
According to UN monitoring, over 16,000 people have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in gang-related violence since January 2022. The crisis has spread beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince, with gangs threatening to destabilize the wider Caribbean sub-region.
In response, the UN Security Council in New York this week approved the transformation of its current security mission into a larger, full-fledged force of up to 5,500 uniformed personnel, including both police and military.
Turk urged urgent international backing, warning: “Without them, the worst may be yet to come for Haiti and the broader region.”
He also condemned the Haitian government’s increasing use of explosive drones in anti-gang operations, reporting that as of mid-September, at least 559 people, including 11 children, had been killed in drone strikes, many of which are “likely unlawful under international human rights law.”
Adding to the turmoil, self-defense groups and spontaneous mobs have killed more than 500 suspected gang members this year, raising further concerns of uncontrolled violence.
What you should know
Haiti faces an escalating humanitarian and security crisis, with over 16,000 deaths since 2022 due to gang violence.
The UN warns that government drone strikes, mob killings, and expanding gang control could destabilize the entire Caribbean unless urgent international support bolsters Haiti’s fragile security system.
