UN warns of ‘severe human rights abuses’ in Haiti, illegal flow of weapons

• The United Nation’s latest report on Haiti warns of widespread human rights abuses within the island nation, particularly among the police, amid the unrelenting flow of illegal weapons into the country. Despite the findings, most of the overall number of violent incidents are due to gangs.
• The report states that there are hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons on the streets of Haiti.
• The U.N. warns the problem is only growing worse, with an underfunded national police force and international mission.

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The United Nations is warning of “severe human rights abuses” in Haiti and blames a surge in violence on the unrelenting flow of illegal weapons into the island nation.

The findings come in a U.N. report published on Thursday, March 27, which says more than 4,200 people were killed from July 2024 to February of this year, while nearly 1,400 more were hurt.

Most of the violence is due to gangs, but a rising number of killings are coming from vigilantes and mobs, including the slaying of at least 77 suspected gang members in November 2024.

What were the findings on police corruption?

The report also notes a dramatic rise in police killings during the same period, which saw law enforcement operations leading to the deaths of more than 2,000 people, a 60% increase from the year prior.

About three-quarters of those were gang members, while nearly 30% had no gang affiliations, according to the U.N. In some cases, people were hit by stray bullets as police indiscriminately fired from vehicles in open markets and streets.

The U.N. also said there is corruption deep within the Haitian National Police, with officers committing mass executions of gang members and their families, while hundreds of firearms meant for police have been diverted. However, that number is only a fraction of the estimated hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons on the streets of Haiti.

What is the bigger picture?

Finding these illegal guns is even more difficult with an underfunded police force. A U.N.-backed Kenyan-led multinational security support (MSS) mission was intended to quell the violence problem in Haiti, but the situation has only grown more dire.

Compounding troubles, gangs recently killed two Kenyan officers, and now most Kenyans oppose the continued deployment of their officers to Haiti. Kenya’s president, however, reaffirmed the country’s commitment to the mission this week.