Port-au-Prince, Tuesday, March 24, 2026 – In a damning report on the situation in Haiti released this Tuesday, March 24, 2026, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights paints a picture of a country where the lines between security, crime, and survival are dangerously blurred.
Between March 1, 2025, and January 15, 2026, at least 5,519 people were killed and 2,608 injured, the report reveals.
Behind this toll lies a multi-headed mechanism of violence: gangs, security forces, private companies, and self-defense groups.
Gangs first caused 1,424 deaths and 790 injuries. But the security response has proven even deadlier: law enforcement operations resulted in 3,497 deaths and 1,742 injuries. Added to this are self-defense groups, responsible for 598 deaths and 76 injuries, the report states.
Over the past twelve months, the report continues, armed groups have extended their reach far beyond Port-au-Prince. They now control key areas in Artibonite and Centre departments, securing essential road and maritime routes.
This strategy allows them to secure funding and operational capacity, transforming certain regions into veritable parallel territories, it relates.
On the ground, the population lives in constant terror. Targeted killings, kidnappings, extortion, illegal roadblocks: gangs impose their law. They target those suspected of collaborating with the police, execute some, burn bodies, and organize impromptu “trials.”
Violence has become a spectacle and an instrument of domination, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights notes.
Among the most serious crimes, sexual violence has reached alarming levels. Between March 1 and December 31, 2025, at least 1,571 women and girls were victims of abuse, often gang rapes. Some, including minors, are forced into sexual relationships with gang members, trapped in prolonged exploitation.
“Gangs have continued to use sexual violence to spread terror, subjugate, and punish the population,” the report adds, detailing grave atrocities on a horrifying scale.
But the report also points to abuses on the part of authorities. Between March 2025 and January 2026, 247 cases of summary executions, actual or attempted, were recorded, resulting in 196 deaths and 51 injuries. A trend that raises serious concerns about the disproportionate use of force.
It indicates that since March 2025, a private military company — hired by the Haitian state — has been participating in operations, notably through drone strikes and helicopter fire.
Some of these actions may resemble targeted assassinations, deliberately carried out against pre-identified individuals.
Yet, according to the report, no judicial investigation has been opened to verify the legality of these operations.
This judicial vacuum fuels a central problem: impunity. “No solid mechanism appears to be in place to allow victims to obtain justice or reparations. Yet, as international law reminds us, the state remains responsible for the actions of the private companies it employs.”
In this explosive climate, self-defense groups add an additional layer of violence. Armed with machetes, stones, and increasingly firearms, they practice expedited “vigilante justice.” Suspects are lynched in the street, sometimes with the alleged complicity of certain police officers, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights notes.
Amid this chaos, the report highlights only a few emerging signs of hope. The judicial system is attempting to recover, with the establishment of two specialized units to handle mass crimes and sexual violence.
But these advances remain fragile, particularly in the fight against corruption and the financing of gangs.
“It is essential that authorities ensure security while fully respecting human rights,” insisted Volker Türk.
“It is imperative to maintain the priority of strengthening the rule of law, particularly in the justice and detention sectors, in order to combat corruption and impunity, because these scourges undermine public trust,” Türk added.
In this context, the creation by the UN Security Council of a Gang Suppression Force (GSF), equipped with a monitoring mechanism, could mark a turning point, the report concludes.
https://ctninfo.com/haiti-un-high-commissioner-warns-of-thousands-of-victims-linked-to-gangs-and-security/
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