Police murders and executions increase in Haiti, with children among the victims: UN

More than 1,740 people were killed or wounded in Haiti from July to September, an increase of almost 30% compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest figures released Wednesday by U.N. representatives.

The surge in violence comes as gangs take control of 85% of Port-au-Prince, the capital, up from the previous figure of 80%, while a UN-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell violence in The gangs face difficulties with a lack of funding and personnel, which has prompted calls for a UN peacekeeping mission.

“In the absence of representatives of the State, gangs are increasingly assuming more functions typically assigned to the police and the judiciary, while imposing their own rules,” warned the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH by its acronym. in English.

The 1,223 murders reported in the third quarter are largely attributed to gang violence, although law enforcement officials committed at least 106 extrajudicial murders, including six children as young as 10, accused of passing information to gang members. said BINUH.

Of the 106 extrajudicial murders, 96 were committed by police officers and 10 more by Jean Ernest Muscadin, public prosecutor of the coastal city of Miragoâne, in the south of the country. Overall, Muscadin is accused of having killed, since 2022, at least 36 people suspected of belonging to gangs or committing “common crimes,” BINUH said.

A spokesperson for the Haitian National Police did not respond to requests for comment, while Muscadin declined to comment and hung up when contacted by phone.

Among those murdered this quarter are at least 669 people, killed during police operations against gangs; Three-quarters of the victims were suspected of belonging to those groups, while a quarter of them were civilians, the report indicated.

“The information collected…points to a possible disproportionate use of lethal force and a lack of precautionary measures to protect the population during police operations,” BINUH said.

The number of people killed or injured from July to September increased by 27% compared to the second quarter, although there was a decrease of 32% compared to the first quarter.

Most of the killings and injuries, 234, occurred in the La Saline neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, in residents’ makeshift homes, as gangs compete for control of Haiti’s main port and its container terminal, according to the report. .

The gangs also recently occupied the communities of Carrefour and Gressier, in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, using “extreme brutality to bring residents under their control,” BINUH said.

In one case, a plainclothes police officer was detained by gang members in mid-August: “He was mutilated and forced to eat parts of his body before being burned alive.”

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