Haiti, at least 5,700 people have been killed or injured in gang violence this year

At least 5,700 people have been killed or injured since the beginning of the year in Haiti, a country ravaged by gangs, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said today.

“From January 1 to September 11, my office documented at least 5,700 people killed or injured by gangs or during operations against them. Gangs have also kidnapped more than 230 people and raped more than 1,000 women and girls,” Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva, adding that the real numbers “are likely to be much higher”.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has long been experiencing a political, economic and security crisis, but the situation has worsened in recent years, with gangs committing more killings, kidnappings, rapes and the recruitment of children.

“Despite some successes in limiting their activities in certain areas of the capital Port-au-Prince, gangs continue to spread and reappear in new areas”, mainly in departments in the west and southeast, Türk explained.

The High Commissioner also spoke of “excessive and disproportionate use of force” by law-enforcement officials and “extrajudicial executions” carried out by so-called self-defence organizations, which according to him have killed or injured approximately 280 people since the beginning of the year.