PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haiti is in freefall. Gangs are tightening their grip on the capital, violence is spreading, and “suffering permeates all social strata” in a nation teetering on the brink, according to the UN human rights office’s designated expert on the country, William O’Neill.
After his fourth visit to assess conditions on the ground, O’Neill briefed journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, describing a nation overwhelmed by pain and despair.
“I hate to sound like a broken record,” he said, “but the situation is more dire each time I go”.
Despite the efforts of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, the threat of the capital falling under full gang control looms larger than ever.
“These violent criminal groups are expanding beyond the capital,” he told reporters. “They kill, rape, terrorise, set fire to homes” and “infiltrate all spheres of society.”
“All this, with the utmost impunity and sometimes, as many sources point out, with the complicity of powerful actors.”
Voices from the ground
O’Neill shared harrowing testimonies from Haitians caught in the turmoil.
One child, a 16-year-old girl, survived the worst. “Seven masked gunmen broke into my home in Kenscoff, raped and beat me and my stepmother. Then they killed my father in front of me,” she told the OHCHR-appointed rights expert.
“The pain is excruciating. Sometimes I forget it, then it comes back. At night, I scream,” she shared.
Despite her trauma, she says she still likes to dance and “dreams of being a psychologist for young survivors.” But resources to support victims remain desperately inadequate, O’Neill stressed.
Another testimony came from ‘L’, a 12-year-old boy who was forcibly recruited by gangs and is now incarcerated at the Centre de Rééducation des Mineurs in Port-au-Prince, accused of gang association.
“I don’t want any more bandits in my country. Later, I’ll be a pilot,” he told O’Neill. “I just want to go back to the street.”
A nation displaced
Haiti’s spiralling violence has displaced over a million people, with thousands more, forced from their homes in recent weeks. “They have nowhere to go,” said O’Neill.
The desperation has fuelled tensions between communities.
In one incident, students threw stones at internally displaced people (IDPs) attempting to seek refuge in their school – a stark example of what O’Neill described as “the desperate turning against the more desperate.”
In makeshift camps, hunger and sexual violence are rampant, and for many, survival hangs by a thread.
A call to action
“Unity and solidarity must guide political action at all levels, in the interests of the population,” O’Neill urged.
The Haitian State must prioritise the fight against impunity and corruption, which remain the biggest barriers to dismantling gangs, he said.
The response to gang violence must uphold international human rights law, particularly the right to life. “No circumstances, however exceptional, can justify the violation of this fundamental right,” he added.
“There is not a day to lose. There is no alternative,” O’Neill concluded. “Haiti’s survival is at stake.”
