UN REPORT: Nearly 5,000 people killed in 9 months as gang violence spreads beyond Haiti’s capital

07/17/2025 / By Laura Harris

A UN report reveals that 4,864 Haitians have died in gang-related violence from October 2024 to June 2025, with over 20 percent of the deaths occurring in the Centre and Artibonite regions.
Violence surged in October with a massacre in Pont Sondé by the Gran Grif gang, sparking a cycle of retaliation involving gangs, vigilantes and police forces, resulting in mass killings, arson and community displacement.
More than 1.3 million people are now internally displaced in Haiti, including over 239,000 from the Artibonite and Centre departments alone, as violence spreads beyond the capital.
Since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, gangs have seized up to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, taking advantage of the political vacuum and the transitional government’s struggle to restore control.
The UN is urging the international community to impose stricter controls on arms sales to Haiti and to support a Kenya-led security mission, warning of intensifying human rights abuses and unchecked gang influence.

A United Nations (UN) report has revealed that nearly 5,000 people in Haiti have been killed in gang-related violence over the past nine months.

The UN report, released on July 11, outlines a chilling escalation in violence driven in large part by the gang Gran Grif, which appears to be pursuing control of key transportation routes between the capital, Haiti’s northern regions and the border with the Dominican Republic.

According to the report, the violence escalated sharply last October, when Gran Grif attacked the town of Pont Sondé in the Artibonite region. The gang had set up a checkpoint at a strategic crossroads but faced resistance from local vigilante groups urging residents to bypass it. In retaliation, Gran Grif launched a brutal assault, indiscriminately shooting at homes, killing at least 100 people, wounding 16 and torching 45 houses and 34 vehicles. Over 6,200 people fled the area in the aftermath. (Related: Around 5% of Haiti’s entire population has migrated to the U.S. since 2020.)

The massacre marked a turning point in the region’s descent into chaos – a deadly cycle of revenge killings between gangs, vigilante groups and the police themselves. In December, gang violence near Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite left over 70 people dead, while vigilante groups retaliated by killing 67 others, many of them relatives or romantic partners of suspected gang members. Police forces also carried out 17 extrajudicial killings during the same period, targeting alleged gang collaborators.

The pattern has repeated itself across both Centre and Artibonite, with both sides of the conflict committing brutal acts of violence. In one March incident, police discovered over 10,000 cartridges and firearms in a minibus traveling from Gonaïves to Port-au-Prince. Enraged by the discovery, local residents lynched two individuals found in the vehicle, killing them with stones, sticks and machetes.

As of June, more than 92,300 people have been displaced from Artibonite and 147,000 from Centre, a staggering 118 percent increase since December in the latter region alone. Across Haiti, nearly 1.3 million people are now internally displaced, according to the UN.

All this resulted in at least 4,864 killings across Haiti from October 2024 to June 2025, with violence rapidly expanding beyond the capital of Port-au-Prince into surrounding regions. More than 20 percent of the deaths occurred in the Centre and Artibonite departments, signaling the deepening reach of gang control outside the capital’s traditional hotspots.

UN urges global action as Haiti spirals deeper into chaos and gang rule

Haiti has been locked in a downward spiral since the assassination of former President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, which left a gaping political vacuum. Gangs have exploited the resulting instability, seizing control of up to 90 percent of the capital and establishing strongholds in previously peaceful regions.

The country’s transitional government, formed in 2024 amid immense pressure, has struggled to assert control. The council has pledged to hold Haiti’s first presidential election in nearly a decade in 2026, though skepticism remains high over whether it can deliver amid deteriorating security.

“Caught in the middle of this unending horror story are the Haitian people, who are at the mercy of horrific violence by gangs and exposed to human rights violations from the security forces and abuses by the so-called ‘self-defense’ groups,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, emphasizing the growing burden on civilians caught in the crossfire.

In response, the UN has issued a stark call to the international community to ramp up support for Haiti. The UN calls for tighter international controls on the sale of firearms to Haiti and continued support for a Kenya-led multinational security mission to reinforce Haiti’s overburdened and under-resourced police force.

“Human rights abuses outside Port-au-Prince are intensifying in areas of the country where the presence of the State is extremely limited,” said Ulrika Richardson, interim head of BINUH and UN resident coordinator. “The international community must strengthen its support to the authorities, who bear the primary responsibility for protecting the Haitian population.”

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This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.