More than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year as a UN-backed mission led Kenya to fight gang violence, officials said Tuesday.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, the number of murders increased by more than 20 percent compared to the whole of 2023. In addition, more than 2,200 people were injured and nearly 1,500 were kidnapped.
“These figures alone do not reflect the absolute horrors of Haiti, but they do show the continuing violence that people are subjected to,” said Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Two journalists and a policeman were among the dead when gunmen opened fire on a crowd gathered on Christmas Eve for the anticipated opening of Haiti’s largest public hospital, which gangs had previously forced to close.
In total, gang violence has left more than 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years, many huddled in makeshift and unsanitary shelters after gunmen destroyed their homes.
“I saw family members being killed and there was nothing I could do to save them,” recalls Gary Joseph, 55, who now lives in an abandoned government office with hundreds of others who fled their neighborhoods. “Everybody was running for their lives the night we were supposed to leave.”
Last year’s victims also included more than 200 people killed in early December in a slum controlled by the gang, including many elderly Haitians, after a gang leader sought revenge for the death of his son suspected of witchcraft, according to the United Nations. . It was one of the biggest carnage recorded in the capital Port-au-Prince in recent history.
At least 110 people were killed in Cite Soleil, Haiti, when a gang leader targeted elderly people suspected of causing his son’s illness through witchcraft, the National Network for Human Rights reported.
Among the dead last year were 315 suspected gang members or people associated with them who were lynched and more than 280 people were killed by police in alleged summary executions, the United Nations said.
Turkey is calling for more logistical and financial support for the UN-backed mission, which began in early June.
About 400 Kenyan police are leading the mission, and they were joined a few days ago by 150 military police officers from Central America, most of them from Guatemala. Several other countries have sent or pledged some personnel, but the total number is far below the 2,500 officers expected for the mission.
Commercial flights are suspended
In another blow to Haiti’s stability, Sunrise Airways announced Monday it would temporarily suspend flights to and from Port-au-Prince, 85 percent of which are controlled by gangs. He said the decision was based on circumstances beyond his control, adding that the safety of passengers and crew members was a priority.
This leaves the country’s main international airport without any commercial flights for the third time this year.
“You can’t go anywhere,” Joseph said, noting that gangs also control all the main roads into and out of Port-au-Prince and randomly open fire on public transport. “No one is safe in this country, especially in Port-au-Prince… Everyone is just counting the days.”
In November, Port-au-Prince airport was closed after gangs opened fire on three planes. Including a Spirit Airlines plane It was mid-flight, the flight attendant was injured.
Although the airport has since reopened, the US Federal Aviation Administration in December extended a ban on US flights to the Haitian capital until March 12 for security reasons. The incident also prompted Canada to update its travel advisory to warn against all travel to Haiti due to the threat of gang violence, and Air Transat is suspended All flights from Port-au-Prince and until the end of April.
Ronnie Jean-Bernard, a 30-year-old former moto taxi driver who now lives in a crowded shelter, said gang violence has forced him to rely on handouts.
“I live mostly on bread and sugar,” he said, noting that government officials stopped giving free meals to his shelter about four months ago.
“Every day is like darkness. I can’t see where life will take me with this government that promises things will get better. I hear that every day.”
As violence escalates, Turk has called on all nations to halt deportations to Haiti.
“The acute insecurity and resulting human rights crisis in the country simply does not allow for the safe, dignified and sustainable return of Haitians. And yet deportations continue,” he said.
Under US President Joe Biden’s administration, some 27,800 Haitians have been deported, according to Thomas Cartwright of Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight data.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Haiti with Haiti, has relocated more than a quarter of a million people to Haiti as part of an ongoing crackdown on migrants.
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