GENEVA, Switzerland – At the opening of the 62nd UN Human Rights Council session on Monday, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk delivered a grim update on the spiraling security catastrophe unfolding in Haiti, confirming that more than 2,300 people have been killed in gang-related attacks since the start of the year.
Turk told delegates from the council’s 47 member states that the violence has left an additional 1,100 people injured and nearly 100 others abducted for ransom, laying bare the catastrophic impact of unregulated gang control across the Caribbean nation. “In Haiti, gang violence has resulted in at least 2,300 deaths, 1,100 injuries and 99 kidnappings since the start of the year. The Gang Suppression Force is urgently needed and needs to operate in line with international human rights law,” Turk stated during his formal address.
The international push to intervene in Haiti gained traction late last year, when the UN Security Council formally approved the deployment of the GSF, a multinational combined police and military task force assembled to push back against accelerating gang violence that has paralyzed state institutions and left millions of residents trapped in unsafe zones. The new force is authorized to deploy up to 5,500 personnel, replacing the previous Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission, which struggled to operate effectively due to chronic underfunding and insufficient resources.
Turk used his address to press Haitian national authorities to take urgent action to address the rampant criminal activity that has gutted the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere which is home to roughly 12 million people. The security breakdown has also reached the highest echelons of Haiti’s security apparatus: in a recent high-profile abduction, a top Haitian police official, James Boyard – who serves as inspector general of the Haitian National Police and chief of staff to the country’s defense minister – was taken captive alongside his wife and six-year-old child.
Unconfirmed media reports from Haiti indicate the kidnappers are demanding a ransom between $500,000 and $700,000 to release the three family members, though Haitian officials have not yet issued an official statement verifying the ransom demand.
As the crisis deepens, the United Nations is preparing a high-profile show of solidarity with the Haitian people: UN Secretary-General António Guterres will travel to Haiti on Tuesday for a visit focused on centering the experiences of those affected by the violence. UN spokesman Farhan Haq confirmed last week that the trip will not be a procedural negotiating visit, but a trip to meet directly with Haitian men, women and children whose lives have been upended by years of gang conflict.