Officials said Tuesday that more than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year as a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya tried to stop rampant gang violence.
According to the UN Human Rights Office, the number of homicides increased by more than 20 percent compared to all of 2023. Additionally, over 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 were kidnapped.
“These numbers alone cannot convey the absolute cruelty taking place in Haiti, but they demonstrate the continued violence to which people are subjected,” Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
The victims included two journalists and a policeman who died when gunmen opened fire on a crowd gathered on Christmas Eve for the long-awaited reopening of Haiti's largest public hospital, which had previously been forced to close by gangs.
Overall, gang violence has left more than 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years, with many crowding into makeshift and unsanitary shelters after gunmen razed their homes.
“I saw family members being murdered and there was nothing I could do to save them,” recalled Garry Joseph, 55, who now lives in an abandoned government office along with hundreds of others who fled their neighborhoods. “The night we had to leave, everyone was running for their lives.”
According to the UN, last year's victims also included more than 200 people killed in early December in gang-controlled slums, many of them elderly Haitians, after a gang leader tried to avenge the death of his son, which he suspected was caused by witchcraft. . It was one of the worst massacres recorded in the capital Port-au-Prince in recent history.
At least 110 people died in the Cite Soleil slum in Haiti when a gang leader targeted elderly people he suspected of causing his child's illness through witchcraft, according to the National Human Rights Network.
The UN said the deaths last year included 315 suspected gang members or people associated with them who were lynched, and more than 280 people killed by police in alleged summary executions.
Turk is calling for more logistical and financial support for the UN-backed mission, which launched in early June.
The mission is led by about 400 police officers from Kenya, and a few days ago they were joined by about 150 military police officers from Central America, most of them from Guatemala. Several other countries have sent a handful of personnel or promised to do so, but the overall number remains well below the 2,500 officers expected for the mission.
Commercial flights suspended
In a further blow to Haiti's stability, Sunrise Airways announced Monday that it would temporarily suspend flights to and from Port-au-Prince, 85% of which is controlled by gangs. He stated that the decision was made for reasons beyond his control, adding that the safety of passengers and crew members was a priority.
Therefore, for the third time this year, the country's main international airport is devoid of any commercial flights.
“There is nowhere to go,” Joseph said, noting that gangs also control all major roads in and out of Port-au-Prince and randomly open fire on public transport. “No one is safe in this country, especially in Port-au-Prince… Everyone is just counting their days.”
In November, Port-au-Prince airport was closed after gangs opened fire and hit three planes, including a Spirit Airlines plane this was mid-flight, injuring a flight attendant.
Although the airport has since reopened, in December the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration extended a ban on flights from the U.S. to the Haitian capital until March 12 for safety reasons. The incident also prompted Canada to update its travel advisory, which warns against all travel to Haiti due to the threat from gangs, and Air Transat suspended all flights to and from Port-au-Prince until the end of April.
Rony Jean-Bernard, a 30-year-old former motorcycle taxi driver who now lives in a crowded shelter, said gang violence has forced him to rely on handouts.
“I live on bread and sugar most of the time,” he said, noting that government officials stopped handing out free meals at his shelter about four months ago.
“Every day is like darkness. I can't see where life is taking me when the government promises that everything will get better. I hear it every day.”
As the violence escalated, Turk called on all nations to end deportations to Haiti.
“The grave insecurity and resulting human rights crisis in the country simply do not allow for the safe, dignified and lasting return of Haitians. And yet the deportations continue,” he said.
About 27,800 Haitians have been deported under U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, according to Thomas Cartwright of Witness at the Border, an advocacy group that monitors flight data.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, deported more than a quarter of a million people to Haiti last year as part of an ongoing crackdown on migrants.