At least 5,700 killed, wounded in Haiti gang crisis this year: UN

“The gangs have no popular support; it’s zero. The population hates them, and with good reason,” said human rights expert William O'Neill.(AFP) — Haiti’s gang violence crisis has left at least 5,700 people dead or wounded this year, while more than 1,000 women and girls have been raped, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said Friday.The figures, compiled by the U.N. mission in Haiti through Sept. 11, also include 230 kidnappings, though Türk said “the real figures are likely much higher.”Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, Türk warned that gangs continue to expand despite the deployment of an international security force intended to help Haitian authorities restore order.“Despite some success in containing their activity in parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, gangs continue to adapt and expand, re-emerging in new areas and constantly rearming,” he said.Türk said the deployed Gang Suppression Force remained significantly understaffed. The mission is intended to reach 5,500 personnel but currently has about 1,500.“The force remains far below the strength needed,” Türk said.At the same time, he said, the U.N. had “serious concerns about the unnecessary and disproportionate use of force” by Haiti’s national law enforcement and self-defense groups.“Since the beginning of the year, more than half of all casualties occurred in the context of security operations, with hundreds of people struck by stray bullets and explosive drones,” he said.Türk said “so-called self-defence groups” had killed or injured about 280 people this year.‘Head of the snake’William O’Neill, Türk’s designated expert on human rights in Haiti, told reporters the situation was “dire but not hopeless.”He said a full-strength Gang Suppression Force with the right capabilities — intelligence, night vision and helicopters — could be highly effective against gangs whose power is concentrated in a few hands.He said it was no secret who the gang leaders were or where they were, so if a team could swoop in and arrest the leadership, “most likely the gang collapses.”The gangs understand power, “and if you’re more powerful than they are — game over,” said O’Neill, a lawyer who helped establish the Haitian National Police in 1995.Capturing a group of top leaders “to cut the head of the snake” would be “absolutely a game-changer,” he told the U.N. correspondents’ association.Through arms embargoes and sanctions, “if you can cut off and strangle their access to financing and weaponry, it becomes much easier than to do anything kinetic,” he added.An “overwhelming number” of guns recovered from gangs could be traced to gun shops in “10 to 12 zip codes in Florida,” he said, adding that the United States “needs to do much more.”O’Neill said the gangs had no underlying ideology and were based on “pure criminality,” while about half their members were minors.“The gangs have no popular support; it’s zero. The population hates them, and with good reason,” he said.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads