(Opinion) The government of Haiti does not have the resources to protect its people.
According to the United Nations (U.N.), gang violence has claimed the lives of more than 600 people in the past month.
Volker Turk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, “Every report I receive from Haiti underscores the extent of the suffering and makes clear that Haitians need urgent assistance, and they need it now.”
He reiterated his call for the international community to send a special military force to help the Haitian police and government restore order.
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, the Caribbean country – the poorest in the Americas – has been in a state of political and economic disaster.
Most of downtown Port-au-Prince is currently dominated by rival gangs.
In its recently released quarterly report for January through March, the U.N. noted that the violence “is becoming more extreme and frequent (and) is spreading inexorably as gangs seek to expand their control.”
In April alone, more than 600 people were killed in a “new wave of extreme violence in several districts of the capital,” according to Turk’s office, which noted that places previously considered safe were suddenly affected.
“This follows the killing of at least 846 people in the first three months of 2023, in addition to 393 injured and 395 abducted during that period – a 28 percent increase in violence compared to the previous quarter.”
According to the report, gangs “fired into homes” and shot “indiscriminately” with snipers at passersby on the street, and people were “burned alive on public transportation.”
With the Haitian government unable to respond, citizens organized vigilante organizations to fight the gangs, Turk said.
As a result, “mob killings and lynchings of alleged gang members” have increased.
At least 164 such killings were reported in April alone.
Turk, who had previously stated that Haiti was “on the brink of the abyss,” claimed that this would only fuel the spiral of violence.
The High Commissioner noted, “We must not forget that extreme poverty and the lack of basic services are at the root of the current violence and the power of gangs over communities.”
Turk added, “The government, with the support of the international community, must do its utmost to fulfill its obligation to provide people with regular and unimpeded access to clean water, food, health, and shelter.”
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