At least 5,601 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, an increase of over 1,000 on the total killings for 2023, according to figures verified by the UN Human Rights Office. A further 2,212 people were injured and 1,494 kidnapped.
“These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
In one of the most deadly and shocking incidents in 2024, at least 207 people were killed in early December in a massacre orchestrated by the leader of the powerful Wharf Jérémie gang in the Cité Soleil area of Port-au-Prince.
Many of the victims were older people accused of causing the death of the leader’s son through alleged voodoo practices. To erase evidence, gang members mutilated and burned most of the bodies, while other bodies were thrown in the sea.
The UN Human Rights Office documented 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs, on some occasions reportedly facilitated by Haitian police officers, in 2024.
In addition, there were 281 cases of alleged summary executions involving specialized police units between 1st January and 31 December 2024.
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