He High Commissioner for Human RightsVolker Türk, concluded this Friday a two-day official visit to Haiti, in which he highlighted the escalation of gang violence, especially in the impoverished neighborhood of Cité Soleil, located on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.
Türk called this extreme violence and gross human rights abuses, including mass killings, gang rapes and sniper attacks, “a living nightmare” for thousands of people.
At the end of his visit, the High Commissioner released a report about the human rights abuses perpetrated in the Caribbean country, which he referred to as “appalling.”
The report “describes how the population is harassed and terrorized by criminal gangs for months without the State being able to prevent it,” he declared.
The study reports, for example, that from July 8 to December 31, 2022, gang violence resulted in 263 murders in Cité Soleil, in the Brooklyn neighborhood, where there were also at least 57 gang rapes of women and girls, as well as kidnappings and sexual exploitation.
On July 8, 2022 alone, gang members killed 95 people, including six children, the report stresses.
The reality of Cité Soleil is experienced by hundreds of thousands of Haitians
According to the report, the situation in the Brooklyn neighborhood is a clear reflection of the reality experienced by hundreds of thousands of other people in Haiti who live in areas under the control of heavily armed gangs.
Thus, he describes how the G-9 gang sowed terror using snipers, who indiscriminately kill anyone who enters their field of vision, and whose balance of fatalities amounts to an average of six people a week.
After blocking access to the neighborhood, its members took control of the entry of basic necessities, such as food and health services. Deteriorating hygienic conditions also led to the spread of infectious diseases such as cholera.
As a paradigmatic case, the study details the case of Rose, a mother of four and five months pregnant, who was severely beaten and raped in the presence of her children by three heavily armed, masked men who forcibly entered her home in I quoted Soleil.
Rose’s husband was shot that day by members of the same gang and before leaving the scene they set fire to his house.
Türk stated that, unfortunately, the case of Cité Soleil is not isolated and that many Haitians go through similar experiences.
It is time for the international community help the Haitian authorities to regain control so that this suffering can stop”, said the High Commissioner, calling for the strengthening of the security forces and the judicial system.
