Nearly 5,000 Haitians Killed In 9 Months As Gang Violence Spreads Beyond Capital

The United Nations in a fresh report issued Friday is urging international support for Haiti, amid crippling gang violence has claimed 4,864 lives between October and June.

In this nine month period, over 20% of these deaths occurred in the Centre and Artibonite areas, signaling that violence is extending well beyond Port-au-Prince into surrounding regions.

“The spread of gang control poses a serious threat of escalating violence and fueling cross-border trafficking of weapons and people,” the report warns

Gangs are believed to be expanding their influence in these areas as part of a broader effort to control critical routes linking the capital to northern Haiti and the Dominican Republic border, to extract payments.

One key element of the UN report is the call for outside nations to tighten regulations on firearm sales to Haiti and to continue strong support for the Kenya-led security mission aimed at bolstering the country’s police force – an initiative that Washington backed.

“Human rights violations are worsening outside Port-au-Prince in regions where the State has little or no presence,” Ulrika Richardson, the UN’s resident coordinator in Haiti, has said.

Al Jazeera has for example, documented one such major instance of violence which occurred outside the capital:

One instance the UN chronicles from March involved the police interception of a minibus driving from the city of Gonaives to Port-au-Prince. Officers allegedly found three firearms and 10,488 cartridges inside the bus, a fact which sparked concern and uproar among residents nearby.

“Enraged, members of the local population who witnessed the scene lynched to death, using stones, sticks, and machetes, two individuals: the driver and another man present in the vehicle,” the report said.

Haiti has long been a failed state crisis which at times enters in an out of mainstream media coverage and public awareness.

En Haïti, toujours plus enlisé dans la violence, 27.000 personnes déplacées en une semaine@IOMHaiti I @BINUH_UN I @OCHAHaiti I @UNHumanRights I @UlrikaR_UN https://t.co/nLR5kAGmBP

— ONU Info (@ONUinfo) July 11, 2025

But it’s a nightmare political issue for any US administration, and the US has long ago sought to wash its hands of direct involvement there, after several failed and controversial UN ‘boots on the ground’ missions there.