Haiti is stepping up resistance to gangs in the capital, but the violence is spreading elsewhere

At least 47 people were killed and 22 others injured in the attack, according to news reports, in one of the deadliest recent attacks in a once relatively peaceful region that is increasingly being targeted by armed groups looking to expand their reach beyond Port-au-Prince.

The massacre had grim consequences new UN report released on Tuesday documents how gang violence in Haiti is spreading geographically even as authorities’ anti-gang campaign intensifies in Port-au-Prince.

At least 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured from April to June, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, known by its French acronym, BINUH. The figure means 14 percent fewer fatalities than in the first three months of the year, a small decline that masks a very different reality across the country. More than half of the casualties were caused by gangs, while about 40 percent occurred during security operations against them and 5 percent were linked to self-defense and vigilante groups.

“These figures show that society continues to bear an unacceptable toll from violence,” said Carlos Ruiz Massieu, head of BINUH and the main UN representative in Haiti, in a statement accompanying the report.

Limitations of harsh measures

Security operations have curtailed gang activity in parts of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, including Delmas and Tabarre. But in some cases, the pressure is to divert violence rather than suppress it.

In the capital’s sprawling areas, Plaine du Cul-de-Sac and Cité Soleil, rival gangs engage in fierce battles for territory and illicit revenues during the quarter. The fighting killed 463 people, while hundreds more were injured or raped. More than 18,000 residents fled their homes, and health and education services came to a standstill.

The report partly attributed the intensity of the clashes to security operations elsewhere in the capital, which pushed gang members towards Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. The area is strategically located along two main roads connecting the capital’s container port and Varreux oil terminal with northern Haiti.

Outside Port-au-Prince, gangs continue to move into new areas. In Artibonite, Haiti’s main agricultural region northwest of the capital, armed groups attacked communities, killing residents in their homes and farmers working in their fields. Further south, the Village de Dieu gang carried out a series of raids around Séguin, an area that had not previously experienced similar violence. BINUH said the attack could reflect efforts to create new sources of income, including through control of roads leading to the port of Marigot.

The attack on Kenscoff this week underscores how difficult it will be to stem the expansion. The hillside community has experienced dozens of gang attacks since last year, according to the UN.

Rape as a tool of terror

Perhaps the most striking evidence of the collapse of civilian protection is the sheer scale of sexual violence.

BINUH documented at least 796 victims of gang-related rape in the second quarter. In most cases, there are multiple perpetrators involved, and the UN warns that sexual violence remains vastly underreported because survivors fear retribution and stigma or distrust the police and courts.

In areas contested by rival gangs, rape has been used to punish and terrorize the population. The reports described women being beaten and raped, sometimes in front of their children, because they lived in areas controlled by rival gangs. Their homes were sometimes ransacked and burned.

Kidnappings also rose sharply, with at least 81 people kidnapped for ransom in the quarter.

Risk against

However, as authorities intensified their campaign, civilians were also caught up in operations intended to flush out the gangs.

More than 800 people were killed or injured in security force operations in the region, which included the use of explosive drones deployed by a government task force made up of Haitian police officers and members of foreign private military companies. At least 95 of the victims were civilians unaffiliated with gangs, according to the report.

BINUH said nine civilians, including six children, were killed or injured in drone operations that used explosives. The UN also said it had received no information that authorities had opened an investigation into casualties incurred during security operations, including those involving private military companies.

The report comes as Haiti and its international partners bet on significantly increasing their international security presence. The UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, an international contingent created to strengthen Haiti’s police, has not yet been fully deployed.

But the violence documented by BINUH shows that the challenge is no longer simply reclaiming neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. Gangs in Haiti are adapting to the pressure, seeking new territory and income, while the methods used against them pose risks to civilians.

In May, nearly 1.47 million people were internally displaced across Haiti, more than half of them children.

The bodies found in Kenscoff on Monday were not included in the UN’s latest quarterly tally. They belong to the next one.