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Left is vulnerable, the community then formed a martial arts group and Haiti’s security forces strengthened their operations and made small profits just to be rejected again by the gang.
And at all stages of this cycle, human rights violations are carried out against civilians, according to a report released on Friday by the UN office in Haiti (Binuh) and UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).
“Trapped in the midst of this endless horror story are the people of Haiti, who are in the mercy of terrible violence by gangs and exposed to human rights violations from security forces and violations by what is called the ‘self defense’ group,” Volker Türk said, High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The report also warned of “the early signs of criminal government” in the central department where the gang began to consolidate their benefits and acts as an authority governing de facto.
Four years horrified
Since 2021 and the murder of President Jovenel Moïse, gang violence has dominated the capital city of Port-Au-Prince which is now 85 percent controlled by gangs, the United Nations said.
More than 1.3 million Haiti residents have been displaced because of this violence, representing the biggest transfer due to political upheaval in Haiti’s history.
Food vulnerability among the neglected Haiti people is rampant, with Haiti one of five countries around the world who experience conditions such as hunger.
In March 2025, violence had also developed to areas that were previously untouched in the country, especially the Artibonite Department and the center where 92,000 and 147,000 were moved each.
The report also noted that recently, the gangs had begun to develop beyond the center of Haiti to the border of the Dominican Republic, with a real purpose in controlling the main paths through which most of the illegal weapons trade occurred.
“The expansion of territorial gang controls raises a big risk of spreading violence and increase transnational trade in weapons and people“Said Ravina Shamdasani, a UNHCR Spokesman at a briefing in Geneva.
Human rights are threatened with extinction
Between October 2024 and June 2025, 4,864 people in Haiti were killed by gang violence. At least hundreds of others were injured, kidnapped, raped and traded.
“Harassment of human rights outside the port-Prince is increasingly intensive in regions in countries where the presence of the state is very limited,” said Ulrika Richardson, Head of Binuh and the Coordinator of the United Nations Population.
While many of these human rights violations – including rejection of the right to life and physical integrity, sexual violence and forced transfer – are being carried out by organized gangs, there are also violations of human rights documented in the hands of the Haiti authority.
Specifically, between October 2024 and June 2025, there were 19 executions outside of the law by security forces in the Artibonite Department and Center – 17 of them in Artibonite.
Martial arts groups, which are increasingly common as a result of inadequate state security, have also committed violations of human rights, often in the form of a death penalty without a court of suspected gang members.
“Violations and violations of human rights that we have documented are further evidence of why Haiti and the international community really need to move on to end violence,” said Türk.
At this point, there are no documented human rights violations carried out by the mission of multinational security support (MSS) which is approved by the United Nations and funded and managed mostly by Kenya.
No accountability
National Police and MSS Haiti have launched several operations to regain the lost area of the gang. While some have succeeded briefly, the operation could not maintain lasting presence or protect the local community, according to the report.
In fact, the report shows that in the middle, the situation is trending in the opposite direction to the gang that consolidates territorial benefits outside the capital and starts to institutionalize the form of criminal government.
As a result of this continuous insecurity, the judicial operation is almost jammed at the center and the Artibonite Department.
“The international community must strengthen their support to the authorities, which bears the main responsibility to protect the Haiti population,” said Ms. Richardson.
