More than Two Thousands Killed in Haiti Gang Violence since January

The UN said that hundreds of individuals were slain in lynchings by vigilante mobs among the more than 2,400 people who have died in Haiti since the beginning of 2023 as a result of severe gang violence.

The death toll comes after this week's gang violence in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, left 30 locals dead and more than a dozen injured.

"At least 2,439 people have been killed and another 902 injured between January 1 and August 15 of this year," UN rights office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

Additionally, she added, "951 people have been kidnapped" in the same time frame.

And as anger grows over the gang violence, she warned that a rise in popular justice movements and self-defence groups was spurring further violence.

"Since April 24 up to mid-August, more than 350 people have been lynched by local people and vigilante groups," she said, adding that of those, 310 were alleged gang members and one was a police officer.

The remainder were members of the public.

Houses in Port-au-Prince's Carrefour-Feuilles neighbourhood were set on fire in the attacks and two police officers also died, according to a provisional toll provided to AFP by the National Human Rights Defense Network.

The neighbourhood is a strategic area for the gangs, which control about 80 percent of Haiti's capital.

Violent crimes including kidnappings for ransom, carjackings, rapes and armed thefts are common.

In recent days violence in the neighbourhood has caused some 5,000 residents to flee, authorities said.

"Reports from Haiti this week have underscored the extreme brutality of the violence being inflicted on the population and the impact that it is having on their human rights," Shamdasani said.

She said that Volker Turk, the UN's chief of human rights, had requested that immediate action be taken in response to a request for a multinational force from outside the UN to be dispatched to Haiti "to support the Haitian police in addressing the grave security situation and restoring the rule of law."

"The Haitian people's human rights must be protected, and their suffering must be lessened," he stated.

Years of intertwined political, security, and economic challenges have plagued Haiti.

The situation has drastically worsened after President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, with gangs gaining a stronger foothold.