UN Marks First Half of 2024 as Most Violent in Haiti

The United Nations (UN) reported on Friday that the first quarter of 2024 was the most violent in Haiti since early 2022, when the worst crime wave in recent years broke out in the country. 

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In total, 2,505 cases of violent deaths or serious injuries caused by criminal gangs were recorded, according to the quarterly report of the UN mission in Haiti (Binuh). This figure represents a 53% increase in relation to the previous period October-December 2023, which until now was the most violent quarter.

The spokesman of the general secretariat, Stéphane Dujarric, said that in the first quarter, 1,660 people (1,347 men, 273 women and 40 children) were killed and 845 were injured (624 men, 179 women and 42 children). These figures exceed the last quarter of 2023, when 1,104 murders were recorded and 532 injured.

Most crimes were counted in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and to a lesser extent in the Artibonite department. 

Binuh's data indicate that there is an alarming level of violence against minors, in addition to sexual violence practiced by armed gangs that control several neighborhoods in the capital. 

According to the UN, since the end of February, "more than 4,600 detainees have escaped from the capital's two main prisons, at least 22 police stations, sub-stations and other police buildings have been ransacked or burned, and 19 police officers have been killed or injured."

Kidnappings for ransom, meanwhile, fell 37% nationwide, with at least 438 people kidnapped, most of them in the Artibonite department, where gangs attack commuters on public transport, the report said.

Haiti is mired in a serious crisis of violence caused, among other factors, by the lack of institutionality, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. In the absence of a replacement for Moïse and following the recent resignation of interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, a Presidential Transitional Council was created last week. 

The body charged with organizing the holding of elections and the formation of a new government has failed to put an end to the current crisis of violence.

The Caribbean country is awaiting an international security mission to be led by Kenya. Several countries have already offered agents, but the mission is delayed due to the lack of funds needed to pay for the deployment.