Haiti now needs 4,000 to 5,000 international police to help tackle gang violence that is targeting key individuals and hospitals, schools, banks and other critical institutions, William O’Neill, the UN rights expert for the Caribbean nation, said on Thursday.
In July last year, O’Neill said that Haiti needed 1,000 to 2,000 international police trained to deal with gangs.
However, the situation today is so much worse that double that number and more are needed to help the Haitian National Police regain control of security and curb human rights abuses, he said.
Photo: AFP
O’Neill spoke at a news conference launching a UN Human Rights Office report he helped produce, which called for immediate action to tackle the “cataclysmic” situation in Haiti as corruption, impunity and poor governance compounded by increasing gang violence erodes the rule of law and brings state institutions “close to collapse.”
The report, covering the five months ended last month, said that gangs continue to recruit and abuse boys and girls, with some children being killed for trying to escape.
Gangs also continue to use sexual violence “to brutalize, punish and control people,” the report said, citing women raped during gang attacks in neighborhoods, “in many cases after seeing their husbands killed in front of them.”
Last year, the number of people killed and injured as a result of gang violence increased significantly — with 4,451 killed and 1,668 injured, the report said.
The numbers have skyrocketed, with 1,554 killed and 826 injured as of Friday last week, it said.
As a result of the escalating gang violence, so-called “self-defense brigades” have taken justice into their own hands, it said.
“At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023 and a further 59 in 2024,” it said.
The report reiterated the need for urgent deployment of a multinational security mission to help Haiti’s police stop the violence and restore the rule of law.
It urged tighter national and international controls to stem the trafficking of weapons and ammunition to gangs and others.
O’Neill, who was appointed by the Geneva-based UN human rights chief, said that the “alarming” targeting of key institutions and individuals began in the past four or five weeks — with 18 attacks on hospitals documented, attacks on schools including one set on fire three days ago and one of Haiti’s elite academic institutions set ablaze on Wednesday.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military