Gangs tighten grip on Haiti despite more aggressive policing, UN report finds

By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Sarah Morland

One in four Haitians live in areas controlled by criminal gangs, according to a report by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday, which found armed groups continued to consolidate their control over swathes of the Caribbean island despite more aggressive policing.

• At least 5,519 people were killed and 2,608 injured between January 2025 and March 2026, when the government and private military contractor Vectus Global launched anti-gang drone operations.

• Of these, over 60% were casualties in anti-gang security operations, 27% were killed or injured by gangs, 8% by self-defense groups, 3% by police and 1% by summary executions by local authorities.

• 51 children were killed and 38 injured during security operations, the report found, as stray bullets and explosives hit people in their homes or in the streets.

• No investigation into the legality of the security operations appears to have been opened in this period, nor any accountability mechanisms put into place for victims.

• Around 90% of gang killings resulted from use of firearms that are illegally trafficked from neighboring countries.

• The report documented 1,578 victims of rape - including 165 children - mostly during gang rapes, as well as attacks on kidnap victims and cases of children coerced into relationships.

• As of the end of 2025, the U.N.-backed security force counted 981 troops - well under half its goal of 2,500. In September, the Security Council voted to expand its remit but new deployments have yet to arrive.

• "Gangs continue to use violence, including killings, injuries, kidnappings, human trafficking, rape and sexual exploitation, to exert their dominance over a population that is bleeding dry," the report said.

• Regarding security operations with Vectus, it said: "Some, or even most, of these drone strikes and helicopter operations could be described as targeted killings ... whereas the sole objective of targeted law enforcement operations against individuals should be their arrest and detention."

• The report called for greater accountability and more mechanisms to keep civilians, particularly minors, safe.