UNSC Addresses Violence and Organized Crime in Haiti

January 25, 2024 Hour: 5:07 pm

The Security Council will today review the situation in Haiti in light of the most recent reports from UN entities that warn of a complex outlook for stability in the nation.

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The UN body will analyze updated information from the last three months of 2023 on the sources and routes of illicit arms and financial flows, as well as the main challenges to the preservation of human rights and security.

The meeting will review reports prepared by the United Nations Integrated Mission in Haiti (Binuh) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Among other aspects, the texts recognize the efforts for dialogue and political conciliation by Binuh, the Group of Eminent Persons of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and other national and international actors.

In Haiti, over 4,700 people were killed and almost 2,500 others kidnapped in 2023 alone.

There’s opportunity to “support Haitian efforts towards a true democratic governance […] and to end the deadly cycles of violence and abuse,” @TiranaHassan tells the UN Security Council. pic.twitter.com/CXJSlEF1eU

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw)
January 25, 2024

At the same time, they emphasize challenges to the stability of the nation, such as the decrease in the number of police or the expansion of the control of armed gangs.

According to reports, the departments of Oeste and Artibonito continue to be affected by extreme insecurity characterized by indiscriminate violence by armed gangs attacking the civilian population and police units and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, gang influence expanded at an alarming rate to previously less affected areas such as Carrefour-Feuilles, Solino, Bon-Repos, Mariani and Léogâne.

Haiti: @BINUH documented over 8,400 direct victims of gang violence last year, including people killed, injured and kidnapped.

This is a 122% increase compared to 2022, @SALVADORMIsabel told the Security Council on Thursday.https://t.co/xxSnhJomR5

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre)
January 25, 2024

Rising rates of homicides and kidnappings perpetrated by gangs forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, according to testimonies collected.

Between October 1 and December 31, Haitian authorities recorded 1,432 intentional homicides, of which 157 were of women, 24 of girls and 31 of boys, compared to 673 victims in the same period of the previous year.

During the same period, the number of kidnappings was 698 -258 women, 14 of girls and 17 of boys-, compared to 391 kidnappings recorded on the same date in 2022.

Homicides registered in 2023 increased by 119.4 percent over the 2022 figures, with four thousand 789 victims last year (465 women, 93 boys and 48 girls), equivalent to a ratio of 40.9 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants.

The number of people kidnapped per year also shot up from 1,359 in 2022 to 2,490 in 2023, an increase of 83 percent.