Haiti - January 2023

More than 100 armed police officers staged violent demonstrations in Haiti’s capital on 26 January, protesting the killing of more than a dozen colleagues by armed gangs. The protesters blamed the government for not taking action and attacked the residence of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, later forcing their way into the country's main airport as the prime minister was returning from a trip to Argentina.

The Haitian human rights organization, RNDDH, stated that 78 police officers had been killed since PM Henry came to power in July 2021, averaging five each month. As the country remains engulfed in gang violence and record-high levels of insecurity, the political crisis deepens. Haiti is now without a functioning parliament and no democratically elected officials after the terms of its last ten remaining senators expired on 10 January.

Sources: Reuters, France 24, Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, Al Jazeera, NPR