The violence of armed gangs that reign terror in Haiti have killed more than 2,400 people since the beginning of the year, the UN said on Friday.
“Between January 1 and August 15 of this year, at least 2,439 people were killed and 902 others injured,” OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva.
In response to ongoing gang violence and widespread insecurity, there has been an increase in “popular justice” movements or vigilante groups.
“From April 24 until mid-August, more than 350 people were lynched by local people and vigilante groups. Among those killed were 310 suspected gang members, 46 members of the public and one police officer.” , underlined Ms. Shamdasani.
Faced with the wave of violence, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for urgent measures to be taken, in the wake of the appeal of the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in favor of a non-UN multinational force to support the Haitian police.
“The human rights of the Haitian people must be protected and their suffering alleviated,” said Türk, who visited the country in February.
The report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is “chilling”, said Friday to the press Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary General of the United Nations.
At the end of July, Kenya announced that it was ready to lead a multinational force and deploy 1,000 police “to help train and help the Haitian police restore normality in the country”.
Such a proposal, however, requires a green light from the Security Council, even if this international armed force would not be dispatched under the UN flag.
Haiti has been stuck for years in a deep economic, security and political crisis, which has reinforced the grip of gangs. These armed gangs control about 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince, and murders, rapes and arson are frequent.
From August 13 to 16, a gang attack on the Carrefour-Feuilles district killed at least 30 people, including two police officers, according to the provisional report of the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH). And more than 5,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, said Jerry Chandler, director general of Haitian Civil Protection.
The executive director of RNDDH, Pierre Espérance, denounces the fact that the population is “left to fend for itself”.
“The national police is dysfunctional and is facing leadership problems,” he said, criticizing the “highest level connivance” from which the bandits would benefit.
“The Haitian police cannot solve the problem of insecurity. Because it is part of insecurity,” says the activist.
According to him, the problem cannot be solved “without tackling the problems of governance, the absence of the rule of law, impunity and political instability”.
For Clarens Renois, head of the opposition party UNIR, the arrival of an international force in support of the Haitian police must be seen as “an opportunity to seize to bring peace”. But he expresses certain “reservations”, calling for the mission to focus on strengthening the Haitian security forces.
18/08/2023 22:38:18 – Geneva (AFP) © 2023 AFP
