Pursuant to Security Council resolution 2466 (2019), Ms. Helen Meagher La Lime, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations presented her periodic report (every 120 days) which covers the main developments since the publication of its previous report and provides an update on the implementation of the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and on the activities undertaken by the United Nations to support the Haitian Government in the context of the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID -19). Regarding the insecurity situation, the report reveals :

"[...] Haiti experienced an overall increase in criminality and gang-related activity in the first months of 2020, even as the protests of 2019, which had increased insecurity, largely abated. While only 30 protests were recorded in the first quarter of 2020, violence was particularly evident in the context of police protests over labour issues. The protests culminated in clashes on 23 February between a group of some 100 mostly off-duty protesting police officers and their sympathizers and members of the Haitian Armed Forces.

Between 1 January and 31 May, the number of reported intentional homicides increased by 33 per cent, with 616 cases reported (591 of the victims, including 11 police officers and 19 minors, were male, and 25, including 4 minors, were female). A total of 75 per cent of the cases were recorded in the West Department, where criminality is traditionally more prevalent owing to gangs vying for control over the marginalized neighbourhoods of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti also experienced a 200 per cent increase in reported abductions, with 92 cases reported to the Haitian National Police between 1 January and 31 May (57 were male, including 11 minors, and 35 were female, including 8 minors). Abductions peaked in February, with 50 reported incidents, prior to decreasing to 25 between March and May. There were 34 reports of sexual and gender-based violence in the first five months of 2020, down from 31 in the five preceding months.

The need for local gangs to generate alternative sources of revenue following the end of peyi lòk reignited inter-gang clashes and led to ongoing reorganizations and shifting alliances. The phenomenon was particularly striking in Port-au-Prince (West Department) and in the Artibonite Department, with regular spikes of gang-related incidents reported in Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets, Martissant and Village de Dieu over the first two months of 2020, as gangs tried to expand their respective areas of control [...]

Amid the public outcry over the increased incidence of abductions, the Haitian National Police launched large-scale police operations, employing improved intelligence and targeting strategies to reverse the kidnapping trend. Arrests of gang members and leaders rose, from 169 in January and February to 232 in March and April, while abductions have declined significantly since March. Anti-gang operations continued, even as the police were mobilized to enforce government measures in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Gang violence peaked in the second half of April, however, with a series of inter-gang clashes and confrontations with the police in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods of Bicentenaire, Grand Ravine, Martissant and Village de Dieu as gang members began to oppose police deterrence measures put in place to impede their ability to carry out abductions.

The proliferation of illicit weapons and ammunition continues to exacerbate insecurity. BINUH and UNDP are working closely with national authorities in the framework of a Peacebuilding Fund project and in close cooperation with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean to develop arms control legislation consistent with international standards. In addition, the Mission is working with the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research to conduct a baseline assessment of the life cycle of weapons and ammunition in Haiti. Although those initiatives will require that work in situ, preparations are being conducted remotely."

SL/ HaitiLibre