Port-au-Prince (EFE).- The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH for its initials in French) released a report Tuesday on the human rights situation in Haiti in the fourth quarter of 2024 and called the situation “very alarming” in its press release.
“The human rights situation in Haiti remained very alarming during the fourth quarter of 2024,” the release said, adding that “despite widespread human rights abuses and violations, the authorities have taken only minimal steps to hold perpetrators accountable.”
Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, at least 1,732 people were killed and 411 were injured “due to gang violence, self-defense groups, and police operations,” a 22% increase from the third quarter.
Massacres, lynchings and police killings in Haiti
Gangs were responsible for 46% of the deaths or injuries, including three large-scale massacres that resulted in more than 300 deaths.
The worst mass killing occurred in the Wharf Jérémie neighborhood of Haiti’s capital, where at least 207 mostly elderly people were slaughtered between Dec. 6 and 11 by a gang led by Monel Felix, known as “Micanor.”
The gang leader said the victims practiced voodoo and were responsible for the death of his child.
During the five days of the attack, neither the police nor any other public authority intervened, according to the report.
Law enforcement was responsible for 39% of documented deaths and injuries, with at least 771 people killed or injured in the fourth quarter.
Nearly one-fifth of these were civilians hit by stray bullets in the streets or in their homes.
In addition, the UN found reports of at least 80 summary executions of suspected gang members who were not armed or involved in violence at the time of the events, including some who were killed in ambulances or hospitals. Two of the victims were children.
BINUH also reported the “consolidation” of a pattern of anti-gang vigilantism or “popular justice” called “Bwa Kale” – Haitian Creole for “erection” but also a metaphor for an act of swift justice – in which mobs of locals kill gang members and then burn their bodies.
At least 268 people were lynched or executed under these circumstances during the last months of 2024, accounting for 15% of deaths and injuries during the period.
Other human rights violations
The BINUH report expressed concern that gang members continued to rape and sexually exploit women and young girls.
Despite the under-reporting of sexual violence due to fear of retaliation and social stigma, the UN found cases of women being abducted and subjected to rape and sexual exploitation, sometimes for extended periods of several months.
The report also highlighted the large number of young boys recruited into the gangs, often by force, with at least 75 children killed and 22 injured during the period, a 70% increase from the previous quarter.
Despite the presence of troops from the Multinational Security Assistance Mission, with a new contingent of 70 officers from El Salvador arriving on Tuesday, violence in Haiti remains unabated, with 7,839 people killed and injured in 2024 compared to 6,236 in 2023. EFE
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