UN: Situation in Haiti Is 'Cataclysmic'

The 'numbers are all going very much in the wrong direction, very quickly'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 29, 2024 6:38 AM CDT
UN: Situation in Haiti Is 'Cataclysmic'
Blood covers a wall in the Petion-ville area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, March 20, 2024.   (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The situation in Haiti is "cataclysmic," according to a United Nations Human Rights Office report, with more than 1,500 people killed so far this year in gang violence in a country of 11.5 million people. UN human rights expert William O'Neill said Thursday that the violence, which has displaced hundreds of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis, is the worst in more than 30 years, and the "numbers are all going very much in the wrong direction, very quickly," the New York Times reports. Some key findings:

  • "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 report states. "The impact of generalized insecurity on the population is dire and deteriorating."

  • Gangs are using sexual violence "to brutalize, punish, and control people," the report states. "Women have been raped during gang attacks ... in many cases after seeing their husbands killed in front of them."
  • "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," the report states.
  • The report, which focused on five months starting in September, found that violence intensified and gangs expanded their turf. Marisela Silva, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross delegation for Haiti, tells the BBC that 90% of Port-au-Prince is controlled or influenced by gangs, who have been fighting the police instead of each other in recent weeks.
  • Researchers found that large amounts of guns and ammunition are being smuggled into Haiti, leaving the police outgunned as well as outnumbered.

"It's nearly over for the police. They are on the edge," Arnaud Royer, head of the UN human rights office in Haiti, tells the Times. Prime minister Ariel Henry announced his resignation two weeks ago. Members of a transitional council said Wednesday that they are moving toward appointing a prime minister to form "a government of national unity and put Haiti back on the path of democratic legitimacy, stability, and dignity," CNN reports. (More Haiti stories.)

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