Haiti sees a rise in killings and police executions with children targeted, UN says

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — More than 1,740 people were killed or injured in Haiti from July to September, a nearly 30% increase over the previous trimester, according to the latest numbers released Wednesday by U.N. officials.

The surge in violence comes as gangs seize control of 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince — up from 80% — while a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence struggles with a lack of funding and personnel, prompting calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

''In the absence of state representatives, gangs increasingly claim roles typically assigned to the police and the judiciary while imposing their own rules,'' warned the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known as BINUH.

The 1,223 killings reported in the third trimester are largely blamed on gang violence, although law enforcement officials carried out at least 106 extrajudicial killings, with victims including six children as young as 10 years old who were accused of passing information to gang members, BINUH said.

Of the 106 extrajudicial killings, 96 were carried out by police officers and 10 others by Jean Ernest Muscadin, public prosecutor for the southern coastal city of Miragoâne. Overall, Muscadin is accused of killing at least 36 people since 2022 who were suspected of being gang members or of committing ''common crimes,'' BINUH said.

A spokesperson for Haiti's National Police did not respond to requests for comment, while Muscadin declined comment and hung up when reached by phone.

Among those killed this trimester are at least 669 people during police operations against gangs, with three-fourths of the victims suspected gang members and one-fourth of them civilians, the report stated.

''Information gathered … 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 with the second trimester, although there was a 32% drop compared with the first trimester.

The majority of killings and injuries – 234 – occurred in La Saline slum of Port-au-Prince, most of them inside residents' makeshift homes as gangs vie for control of Haiti's main port and its container terminal, according to the report.

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 policeman was stopped by gang members in mid-August: ''He was mutilated, then forced to eat parts of his body, before being burned alive.''

At least 122 killings were blamed on self-defense groups that formed last year and have targeted suspected gang members or people accused of crimes including stealing animals or cell phones.

''Victims were mutilated with machetes, stoned, decapitated, burned alive or buried alive,'' the report said. ''Children were not spared.''

Overall, at least 59 children were killed or injured in the third trimester.

Most of the violence remains centered in the capital of Port-au-Prince and the central region of Artibonite, where dozens of people were killed in a massacre earlier this month.

In one bright spot, the number of kidnappings plummeted to 170 during the third trimester compared with earlier this year, with more than 60% of cases occurring in Artibonite, according to the report.

In the second trimester, at least 428 people were kidnapped.

Sexual violence remains pervasive, with at least 55 victims reporting gang rape, including girls and women ages 10 to 70, according to the report, which noted that such cases are largely under-reported.

Women and girls are attacked inside their homes or while walking on streets or using public transportation, with some sexually exploited for months by gang members, BINUH said.

Gang violence has left more than 700,000 people homeless in recent years and it has surged this month, with gunmen trying to take over Solino, one of the last communities in Port-au-Prince that is not under their control.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico