The first quarter of 2024 was the most violent recorded in Haiti since the start of 2022, the UN political mission in this country said in a report published Friday.
Between January and March 2024, at least 2,505 people were killed or injured as a result of gang-related violence, an increase of 53% compared to the previous quarter (October to December 2023), the United Nations Integrated Office said in Haiti (BINUH).
Most of the killings and injuries were documented in the capital Port-au-Prince, but the report added that the Artibonite department was also heavily affected by the violence.
The document indicates that at least 438 people were kidnapped for ransom during the first quarter, all in the departments of West (where the capital Port-au-Prince is located) and Artibonite, a drop of 37% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
Coordinated gang attacks
From the end of February, gangs carried out large-scale coordinated attacks against public institutions and strategic infrastructure in the capital. More than 4,600 inmates escaped from the capital’s two main prisons, at least 22 police stations and sub-stations and other police buildings were ransacked or burned and 19 police officers were killed or injured.
The report states that the impact of violence on children’s rights remains extremely alarming. He adds that sexual violence continues to be used by gangs to attack residents of “rival” neighborhoods and that these gangs continue to recruit and use children to commit criminal activities.
BINUH also notes that popular justice, exercised within the framework of the “Bwa Kalé” movement, as well as “self-defense” groups, have caused at least 141 deaths in the country.
The full report is available online
Humanitarian assistance provided by the UN
On the humanitarian front, UNICEF and its partners continue to deploy mobile clinics to provide consultations, medical treatment and other health care to children and families in displacement sites, said the spokesperson for the Secretary General Friday.
The UN agency says Haiti’s social services are on the brink of collapse amid persistent violence in the capital and that stocks of medical supplies are at an alarming level.
