Haitian capital ‘paralysed and isolated’ by gang violence, Security Council hears

This article is published in association with United Nations.

More than 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti as surging gang violence, lawlessness, and impunity expose the population – especially women and girls – to heightened risks of exploitation and sexual violence. 

 Since January, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), recorded over 4,000 individuals deliberately killed – a 24 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.  

“The capital city was for all intents and purposes paralysed by gangs and isolated due to the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the international airport,” Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas at the department of political affairs (DPPA), told ambassadors in the Security Council on Wednesday.

Having visited the country recently, he warned that, gangs have only “strengthened their foothold”, which now affects all communes of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and beyond, “pushing the situation closer to the brink.”

He called on the international community to act decisively and urgently or the “total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario”.

Gang control expands

Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), echoed that warning.

“As gang control expands, the state’s capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking, with social, economic and security implications,” she told ambassadors, briefing remotely from Vienna.

“This erosion of state legitimacy has cascading effects,” she said, with legal commerce becoming paralysed as gangs control major trade routes, such conditions worsening “already dire levels of food insecurity and humanitarian need,” she added.  

Rise of ‘vigilante’ groups

Amidst increasing public frustration with the limited protection capacity of the state, “vigilante” or self-defence groups are now gaining in popular appeal.  

Although some are motivated by the urgent need to protect their communities, many operate outside existing legal frameworks, in some cases, engaging in extrajudicial actions and colluding with gangs.  

The rise of these actors is pushing demand for guns and military-grade weapons, “fuelling illicit arms markets and raising the risk of licit weapons being diverted to criminal elements,” Ms. Waly said.  

Human trafficking

Meanwhile, the broader deterioration of the security and economic situation in the capital and the rest of the country continues to fuel a sharper escalation in human rights violations.  

Despite persistent under-reporting of sexual violence due to fear of reprisals, social stigma and lack of trust in institutions, BINUH reported an increase in sexual violence committed by gangs in the past three months.  

In May, Haitian police raided a medical facility in Pétion-Ville suspected of being involved in illicit organ trade, as allegations of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal are now arising.  

As the situation in Haiti remains desperate, “there is not a moment to lose,” Mr. Jenča urged.