Haiti - April 2023

Haiti’s police confirmed on 24 April that at least a dozen suspected gang members had been killed by a group of residents in the capital, Port-au-Prince. The violence was sparked after gang members stormed and looted homes in residential sections of the city, attacking inhabitants. Although the alleged gang members had been arrested, citizens pulled the suspects from police custody, beating and lynching them with gasoline-soaked tires. The violence highlights increasing public anger over the security situation in Haiti. According to the UN, more civilians have died in Haiti during the first quarter of 2023, ‘than in many of the bloodiest conflicts still ongoing in the rest of the world’. OHCHR issued a statement on 9 May saying that at least 164 mob killings and lynchings of alleged gang members were documented and more than 600 people killed in Haiti during the month of April.

Sources: Associated Press, Le Nouvelliste, Deutsche Welle, United Nations Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights