Attachments
SUMMARY
For more than two months, the rural areas of Kenscoff and some neighborhoods of Carrefour, two communes in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, have been experiencing repeated attacks by criminal gangs. Between 27 January and 27 March 2025, these attacks resulted in serious human rights abuses. At least 262 people were killed (115 members of the population and 147 gang members), and 66 others were injured (59 members of the population and seven gang members). Eight members of the security forces were also killed (4) and injured (4).
Gang members displayed extreme brutality, aiming to instill fear within the population. They executed men, women, and children inside their homes and shot others on roads and paths as they tried to flee the violence, including an infant. Sexual violence was also committed against at least seven women and young girls during the planning and execution of the attacks. The gangs also ransacked several homes and set fire to more than 190 of them. These attacks forced more than 3,000 people to flee their localities.
With limited human and logistical resources already deployed in several areas across the capital and the Artibonite department, specialized police units, accompanied by the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd’H) and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, arrived in the area on 27 January, about five hours after the start of the attacks. Although this deployment was able to push back the gangs, they resumed their attacks on the localities of Belot, Bois d’Avril, and Godet on the morning of 3 February. Despite a quick response from security forces this time, the violence had already caused panic and led to further displacement of the population.
The delay in the response of security forces on 27 January to the gang attacks, as well as statements from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice and Public Security, indicating that the authorities had received information about the preparation of these attacks several days prior to their execution, could highlight a lack of alignment between the national police leadership and the government. Some ministerial instructions issued in response to the attacks could be interpreted in this regard.
Located to the south of Port-au-Prince, the mountainous commune of Kenscoff holds strategic importance as it overlooks the commune of Pétion-Ville, where many institutions, banks, commercial areas, and embassies are situated. These gangs would have also carried out these attacks to control the recently rehabilitated road between Kenscoff and Jacmel, the only relatively safe road alternative for accessing southern Haiti. Gaining control of this route would lead to severe travel restrictions and hinder humanitarian aid delivery operations in the southern part of the country. Finally, the possibility that these attacks are intended to destabilize the authorities by highlighting their inability to protect one of the most residential areas of the capital should not be dismissed.
According to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between January 1 and 27 March 2025 (the latest available update at the time of publication), at least 1,518 people were killed and 572 injured in Haiti due to attacks by gangs, operations by security forces, as well as acts of violence perpetrated by self-defense groups and unorganized members of the population. These figures are in addition to the 5,601 people killed and 2,212 injured in similar circumstances across the country in 2024.