It’s not just gangs: UN human rights chief alarmed over rise in Haiti’s civilian deaths
As the United Nations’ mandate of the Kenya-led multinational security mission in Haiti officially ends Thursday, the U.N.’s human rights chief is calling for urgent funding to support the successor force while expressing concerns about the increasing number of atrocities in the Caribbean nation.
“International commitment and backing for this are urgent,” U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said Thursday, welcoming the decision of the U.N. Security Council two days earlier to transition from the Kenyan mission to a larger and more lethal Gang Suppression Force. “Without them, the worst may be yet to come for Haiti and the broader region.”
More than 16,000 people have been killed and some 7,000 people injured in armed violence since Jan. 1, 2022, when the U.N. High Commission began monitoring gang-related violence, Türk said as he delivered an update to the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 60th session on the situation in Haiti.
Türk expressed grave concerns about the number of Haitians who are dying not just at the hands of armed groups, but by Haitian authorities’ use of “unnecessary and disproportionate lethal force in operations against gangs.”
Government drone attacks, for example, have become a near-daily occurrence in Port-au-Prince in recent months, raising serious humanitarian and legal concerns.
“I am concerned that state law enforcement have used unnecessary and disproportionate lethal force in their operations against the gangs,” he said. “For example, operations by law enforcement account for more than half of killings and injuries so far this year — a steep increase compared to 2024. Almost one third of people killed or injured were hit by stray bullets.”
Specialized police units have summarily executed 174 people this year for alleged affiliation with gangs.
Türk underscored concerns about the government’s use of armed drones, as well as the rise of so-called defense groups and “spontaneous angry mobs.” These last two groups, he said, have killed more than 500 alleged gang members this year — with the alleged support of Haitian national police officers.
“Since March, the government has stepped up its use of explosive drones in its anti-gang operations in Port-au-Prince. As of mid-September, drone strikes have killed at least 559 people, including 11 children. Most of these drone strikes are likely unlawful under international human rights law,” he said.
Meanwhile, more children are being subjected to trafficking, exploitation and forced recruitment by gangs. They are used as couriers, lookouts or weapons carriers, and are sometimes coerced into combat roles against rival gangs, security forces and so-called self-defense groups.
“We can only imagine the long-term impact, for the children of Haiti, and for society as a whole,” Türk said.
Rising civilian casualties
In addition to the human rights office, the French medical charity Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and the U.N.’s food aid agency also sounded the alarm on Thursday. The World Food Program warned that rising violence by armed groups in Port-au-Prince is restricting humanitarian access and pushing families deeper into hunger as extreme funding shortfalls force the food agency to slash rations and suspend programs.
Separately, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières said that as Port-au-Prince plunges deeper into crisis marked by violent clashes between police and armed groups, the charity’s doctors are seeing a rise in the number of civilian casualties at its facilities.
Nearly two in five Haitians are in urgent need of medical care due to the violence, while 60% to 80% of Port-au-Prince’s health facilities are closed or not working for the same reasons.
Between January and June, the medical charity’s teams assisted 2,600 survivors of sexual violence, admitted 13,300 patients to emergency rooms and treated 2,267 people for traumatic injuries from violence. Among those with traumatic injuries, 26% were minors, compared to 11% in 2024. Most minors were under the age of 15, and one-third were girls. Some 30% of all minors admitted for violence-related injuries suffered gunshot wounds.
“These figures reflect the alarming deterioration of the situation in Haiti, where civilians, including women and children, are increasingly exposed to danger every day,” said Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, the meidcal charity’s head of mission in Haiti. “Civilians must be spared by the parties to this conflict.”
On September 20, 17 wounded people were treated at the charity’s organization’s hospital in Drouillard following a drone attack the same day in the Cité Soleil neighborhood. Among those brought to the medical group were two men who were already dead on arrival, another man who died while being transferred, 10 women — one of whom died en route to the charity’s trauma hospital in Tabarre — and three children who did not survive their injuries. Two more women injured in the attack died at the nearby Isaïe Jeanty Maternity Hospital.
Haitian civilians, the medical charity said, “are trapped between the threat of explosive drones and the brutal violence of armed groups that loot and burn homes, destroy neighborhoods, terrorize communities, and increasingly use sexual violence as a weapon of control, punishment, and extortion.”
There are an estimated 270,000 to 500,000 firearms circulating illegally in Haiti, with most weapons in the hands of gangs, Türk said.
“Gangs are killing and kidnapping people, extorting them at illegal checkpoints, hijacking trucks transporting food and other supplies, and burning and destroying homes, hospitals, schools, and public buildings. They are committing widespread sexual violence to assert dominance and territorial influence, and displace people,” he added. “The gangs kidnap women and girls, and subject them to extreme brutality, including killing and sexual exploitation.”
The U.N. Human Rights Office is working with the authorities to step up investigations and prosecutions, using Specialized Judicial Units, Türk said, urging strong support for the program to protect victims of sexual violence.
Since the beginning of the year gangs have begun expanding beyond Port-au-Prince into the Center region while continuing their attacks in the Lower Artibonite and reaching into the northwest.
All of this, Türk said, creates fertile ground for more trafficking of weapons, drugs and people.
Despite the overwhelming support for the new Gang Suppression Force, many questions remain, including the final costs, which countries will deploy troops, how soon the additional security forces will arrive and the role of the Kenyan troops. An official said with the Kenyan-mission transitioning as of Thursday into the Gang Suppression Force, there’s no need for panic, and now it’s just a matter of the new command structure along with the force commander taking on their new responsibilities with overseeing the mission.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined several regional leaders, including Dominican President Luis Abinader and the 15-member Caribbean Community Regional bloc in welcoming the Security Council’s 12-month authorization of the Gang Suppression Force.
In a post on X, Rubio said the adoption of the U.S. resolution to establish the Gang Suppression Force and a U.N. Support Office in Haiti to provide logistical and operation support was an “important step” and “decisive action for Haiti.”
“This is a critical effort to restore order, protect lives, and support Haiti’s path to stability & democracy,” he wrote. “The work begins now.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2025 at 12:09 PM.
