The United Nations Office for Human Rights reported this Tuesday (03.21.2023) that Haitian armed gangs murdered at least 208 people in the first two weeks of March, which raises the number of deaths due to the actions of these groups. criminals so far from 2023 to 531 people, most of them in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The office spokeswoman, Marta Hurtado, specified at a press conference that another 164 were injured and 101 kidnapped only in the first half of March. “Most of the victims were killed by shooters who shot at them randomly while the victims were in their homes or on the street,” she said.
From January to March 15, “531 people died, 300 were injured and 277 were kidnapped in gang-related incidents,” said the spokeswoman, who also reported that members of these criminal groups are using sexual violence against women. and girls of Haiti to terrorize them and their families.
Tackle “serious situation”
Likewise, the Office reported cases of teachers and students who died in shootings and warned about the lack of protection of young people in schools, which often leads them to be recruited by gangs. To date, this wave of terror has forced some 160,000 people to move to the homes of relatives or friends, often sharing scarce water, food and medical resources with other families.
The UN Human Rights Office is very concerned about the violence in Haiti, where “clashes between gangs are increasingly violent and frequent,” Hurtado said. Experts have detected that gangs are trying to expand their territorial control in the capital and other regions by attacking people living in areas controlled by their rivals.
For them, it is essential, says the United Nations, that the authorities of the Caribbean country “immediately tackle this serious situation.”
