UN: More than 5,600 people killed by gang violence in Haiti in 2024

More than 5,600 people were reported killed in Haiti last year as a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya struggles to contain rampant gang violence, officials said Tuesday.

The number of killings increased by more than 20% compared with all of 2023, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. In addition, more than 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped, it said.

The Human Rights office, he said, “documented 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs,” and they also report “281 cases of alleged summary executions involving specialized police units.”

Volker Türk, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement “these figures show the unremitting violence to which Haitians are being subjected, adding that impunity for human rights violations and abuses, as well as corruption, remain prevalent in Haiti.”

Among those killed last year are 315 suspected gang members or people associated with them who were lynched and more than 280 people killed by police in alleged summary executions, the U.N. said.

Coordinated gang attacks on prisons, police stations, and the primary international airport have escalated in Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Gangs are estimated to control approximately 85% of the capital.