(San Juan) A leading human rights group in Haiti is sounding the alarm over a spike in killings and kidnappings, as the UN Security Council prepared to meet on Friday on the worsening violence in the country.
The National Human Rights Network also condemned what it called government inaction in a report dated Thursday.
The group noted that between 1er May and July 12, at least 75 people were killed and 40 others abducted. Among those killed are a lawyer, a schoolboy, two undertakers and at least six police officers. Among those kidnapped is a journalist from Radio Vision 2000 who was later released. Her husband, the former president of Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council, remains in the custody of gang members since his abduction in mid-June.
Gangs are also accused of breaking into a hospital in Canaan, northern Port-au-Prince, stealing medical supplies and kidnapping at least six security guards. In addition, armed criminals last month burned down the building that housed the Jamaican consulate in Haiti.
Violence recently forced Doctors Without Borders to suspend care at one of their hospitals in Port-au-Prince after the group said about 20 armed men burst into a hospital room. operation and removed a patient.
Earlier this year, the rights group said kidnappings and killings had fallen amid a violent uprising targeting suspected gang members, but noted gangs had since resumed activity .
The group urged the authorities to dismantle all armed gangs and restore order and security.
The National Police of Haiti is underfunded and largely controlled by gangs that have grown more powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 and are estimated to now control up to 80% of Port-au -Prince. The department has only some 9,000 active duty officers for a country of more than 11 million people.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has insisted on an international force to help Haiti’s national police, with a UN expert estimating that Haiti needs up to 2,000 more anti-gang police.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry called for the urgent deployment of such a force in October, but the UN Security Council has so far opted to impose sanctions on gang members and others.