That’s according to the Designated Human Rights Expert for Haiti, William O’Neill, who spoke to UN News ahead of the release of a new report which reveals that at least 542 people were killed and another 355 were injured in just two neighbourhoods of the capital, Port-au-Prince, during a 3.5-month period up to June 20.

At least 26 gangs control up to 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince and some of the surrounding areas. 

More than 176 women and girls, aged 10 to 71, were also victims of rape and gang rape at the hands of suspected gang members “often as a form of punishment against people living in areas controlled by rival gangs,” the report said. 

More than 18,000 people were also forced to flee their homes.

A number of individual cases have been highlighted by UN human rights monitors in the report, published by the UN’s political office in Haiti, known by its French acronym, BINUH.

Murders continue

• Two 17-year-old boys were shot dead by a gang leader after being accused of passing information to a rival gang.
• A 71-year-old man was shot dead by the leader of a gang after approaching him to ask for food.
• A woman was stopped by gang members who harassed her with questions about why she was there. According to witnesses, she was paralyzed with fear and unable to answer. She was accused of being an informant for a rival gang and was executed on the spot.
• 17 boys aged 15 to 17 were executed together by gang members who suspected them of working for a rival gang. Some were taken to and shot at a trash site. 
• Shortly after the World Cup football match between Haiti and Scotland on June 13, a crowd of 300 people including a musical group walked to a neighbourhood where they were attacked by a gang, some of whom were positioned on rooftops. At least 61 people were killed and another 20 were injured. The victims included at least seven children, the youngest of whom was barely seven years old.
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Rape horror

• Five masked men struck a mother of three at her home with the butts of their guns before gang-raping her in front of her children.
• A woman was raped by a group of armed men after they had set fire to her home, killing her husband and her young daughter, who was barely two years old. She was raped in front of her 10-year-old son.
• Other survivors reported being intercepted in the street while returning home and then taken to wooded areas, where they were raped.

After years of violence perpetrated by gangs, widespread insecurity and the displacement of almost 1.5 million people as well as growing humanitarian needs, Haitians are glimpsing signs of hope as a path to democratic elections begins to emerge. At UN Headquarters in New York, the 15-member Security Council discusses what next for Haiti. Full live coverage below.

Powerful armed gangs control large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and continue expanding into other parts of the country. Families are fleeing their homes in record numbers, schools and health centres have closed, and humanitarian agencies are struggling to meet soaring needs as funding runs dangerously low.

Yet amid the crisis there are also signs of progress. Haitian authorities are pressing ahead with long-delayed plans to restore democratic government through elections, security forces have begun pushing gangs out of some strategic areas, and new international support is arriving to help tackle the violence.

Here’s where Haiti stands today.

Humanitarian situation: Millions need help, but aid is running short

The humanitarian crisis continues to deepen as violence, displacement and economic hardship reinforce one another. More than half the country’s population of around 11 million now needs relief aid.

Key facts

• Around 6.4 million people need humanitarian assistance with 3.3 million prioritized for support.
• 1.47 million people have fled their homes largely due to violence.
• More than 5.8 million people are expected to go hungry this year.
• Violence continues to disrupt healthcare, clean water supplies and education, while aid organizations are trying to keep hospitals, nutrition programmes and emergency shelters operating despite shrinking resources.
• The 2026 humanitarian appeal is critically underfunded. By mid-June, only 25 per cent of the required $880 million had been received, limiting life-saving operations.

Can Haiti finally hold elections?

Haiti has not had an elected president since the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, due to long-term instability and insecurity.

Restoring democratic government remains one of the country’s biggest challenges, but credible voting cannot take place unless security improves significantly. 

Armed gangs continue to control many neighbourhoods and major roads, making it difficult to register voters, move election materials and guarantee public safety.

Even so, preparations have accelerated in recent months and with a $120 million election budget agreed it is hoped that the first round of voting can be held before the end of 2026, allowing an elected president to take office in February 2027.

Gang violence dominates everyday life

Violence by heavily armed gangs concentrated largely in Port-au-Prince remains the single biggest obstacle to Haiti’s recovery.

Competition between rival criminal groups over territory and extortion has fuelled increasingly brutal fighting.

The consequences for ordinary Haitians are devastating.

In one major outbreak of violence around the Cité Soleil neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, earlier this year, at least 542 people were killed and 355 injured. 

During those clashes at least 176 women and girls were raped.

Children are also increasingly caught up in the crisis. Many have been forced to flee their homes, while others are being recruited by gangs or exposed to extreme violence.

Are anti-gang operations making a difference?

For the first time in many months, Haitian security forces have begun to record some tangible, if limited, successes against armed gangs.

Specialised police units have pushed criminal groups out of several strategic locations in Port-au-Prince, reopening some major roads and allowing government institutions to return to parts of the city centre. 

A major new development has been the launch of the Gang Suppression Force, a UN-backed international security operation established to help Haiti regain control of areas dominated by criminal groups.

It started patrolling Port-au-Prince in June. In one operation, officers arrested 14 suspects and seized hundreds of Molotov cocktails. 

Meanwhile, two specialised judicial units have begun operating to investigate mass crimes, sexual violence and major financial crimes.

Despite these recent operations, gangs remain capable of launching deadly attacks, extorting communities and disrupting everyday life.

Widespread human rights abuses 

Egregious human rights violations continue across Haiti.

• Armed gangs are responsible for killings, kidnappings, rape and the forced displacement of entire communities. 
• Sexual violence is increasingly being used to terrorize neighbourhoods under gang control.
• Vigilante groups and angry mobs have killed dozens of people suspected of collaborating with gangs with at least 87 people deaths reported; Some of them were beaten to death before their bodies were burned.
• Concerns have also been raised about alleged abuses by members of Haiti’s own security forces, including 40 cases involving summary executions by police officers.

The way forward for Haiti

Haiti’s political, security and humanitarian crises are all connected. It will be hard to hold elections without better security. Security gains will be difficult to sustain without stronger governance. 

And none of it will work if millions of people are still struggling with hunger, displacement and violence.

These are the key priorities:

• Reduce the gangs’ ability to operate and exert control
• Make Haiti safe enough for elections.
• Better protect women and girls. 
• Fund the humanitarian response. 
• Strengthen justice and end impunity.

People are walking along this busy main road as merchants sell fruit and household goods from small stalls.

This city scene is perhaps unremarkable, were it not for the fact that the fear of gang violence amongst the population has frequently scared people off the streets of the capital.

It is estimated that at least 26, sometimes heavily armed, gangs control perhaps up to 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas fomenting terror amongst Haitians through violence, summary executions, extortion and kidnappings for ransom and preventing commerce by blocking the free flow of goods. 

Since the beginning of the year, gang violence has left more than 2,300 people dead and more than 1,100 injured.

What is different now is the mounting of patrols by a new UN Security Council-backed force called the Gang Suppression Force, or GSF, the base for which is located just a few blocks from the Boulevard du 15 Octobre.

On Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres toured the base during a visit to Port-au-Prince.

“Their deployment offers a real opportunity to curb violence and restore the authority of the State,” he told journalists after the visit. “We have no right to waste this opportunity.”

He added that “gangs must be disarmed and dismantled and their members reintegrated – in a Haitian-led process,” reiterating that security alone is not enough, “it must be accompanied by political progress.”

The GSF is receiving logistical, operational and technical support, including the supply of rations, medical care, and transportation from the recently established UN Support Office in Haiti (UNSOH).

It plays a critical role in enabling the force to operate effectively, in its main tasks to neutralize gangs, protect vulnerable populations, and support humanitarian access.

“The objective is clear: to degrade the operational capacity of gangs to a level that Haitian institutions can sustainably manage,” the GSF head Jack Christofides told the Security Council in April.

It’s base, known as Camp Vertières, is in the process of being equipped to receive some of the 5550 personnel, which the Security Council mandated. Troops deployed from multiple countries are currently living on base and offices are being established in shipping containers. 

Years of instability

Haiti has suffered years of instability. Gang violence has contributed to some 1.5 million Haitians fleeing their homes.

Millions more Haitians require humanitarian support as poverty deepens, while the country has not had an elected president since the last incumbent, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in July 2021.

During his visit to Haiti, the UN chief also spoke to people who had been forced to flee due to gang violence. 

“I met families who have lost everything and yet are holding on, together, with a courage and a dignity that command admiration,” Mr. Guterres said. “These families did not ask for my sympathy. They are waiting for action.”

Renewed hope

Despite the challenges Haiti faces, there is renewed hope that as the GSF builds towards its mandated operational capacity, it will be able to make a positive difference to the everyday lives of Haitians, working alongside Haiti’s security forces.

The start of foot patrols and the establishment of forward operating bases across Port-au-Prince and outside the capital, will provide a greater sense of security to Haitians and help bring some normality back to their daily lives.

However, the GSF is expected to have a deeper and longer-lasting impact.

Working with countries in the region to disrupt the supply of guns and ammunition, by focusing more on border crossings and maritime smuggling routes, as well as interrupting financial flows to armed groups, it aims to ensure that gangs can no longer wage war.

Indifference of world to Haiti’s plight

“For the first time in many years, there’s finally some light at the end of the tunnel,” said Mr. Guterres at the end of his visit. “Haiti has a chance to turn a corner – but only if the international community assumes its responsibilities. Let’s be clear: gangs have been terrorizing Haiti. Institutions have been weakened,” he added.

“But the biggest disgrace is indifference, the indifference of a world that has looked away.”

If the partnership between the Haitian authorities, the GSF and the United Nations to tackle Haiti’s unprecedented security situation is a success then even more people will return with confidence to Boulevard du 15 Octobre and other parts of the capital.

The crisis is extending beyond traditional centres of insecurity. Families across both urban and rural communities continue to flee attacks, often multiple times and with increasingly limited options for safety.

“Haiti’s displacement crisis is entering an even more alarming phase,” said Gregoire Goodstein, IOM Chief of Mission in Haiti.

In May alone, renewed attacks in the densely populated Cité Soleil district – the capital’s largest slum – displaced more than 18,000 people within days. 

The surge pushed the number of internally displaced people in Port-au-Prince above 300,000 for the first time on record.

Mr. Goodstein described the experience of one woman who fled Port-au-Prince after her community came under gang attack: “To reach safety, her family waded through the sea up to their necks, then crawled through farm fields covered in mud and waste to avoid being seen by the gangs,” he said.

Most of those fleeing the uptick in violence have sought shelter in overcrowded spontaneous sites or moved in with host families already struggling to meet their own needs.

Safe areas under pressure

The spread of insecurity has increasingly blurred the distinction between areas of conflict and areas of refuge.

Just weeks before the violence in Cité Soleil, armed attacks in Haiti’s South-East Department displaced more than 5,000 people. 

The region had previously been considered a safer destination for people escaping unrest elsewhere in the country.

Humanitarian agencies say this shift reflects a worrying trend: communities that once absorbed displaced families are now becoming displacement hotspots themselves.

At the same time, the crisis has been compounded by continued forced returns. Since the beginning of 2026, more than 110,000 Haitians have been returned to the country, including women, children and other vulnerable groups. 

Many arrive with few resources and limited support, returning to areas already affected by insecurity or struggling to absorb additional population pressures.

Among returnees are particularly vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied children, pregnant women and postpartum women, many of whom face difficult and unsafe conditions upon arrival.

Essential services stretched 

Across displacement sites and within host communities, humanitarian needs continue to grow. Displaced families report severe shortages of shelter, food, clean water and healthcare. 

Access to psychosocial support also remains limited despite widespread trauma linked to repeated displacement and exposure to violence.

Overcrowded living conditions and deteriorating access to services are also increasing protection concerns, including heightened risks of exploitation and abuse.

Humanitarian agencies warn that conditions could worsen further as the Atlantic hurricane season begins. Flooding and severe weather pose an additional threat to thousands of displaced people living in temporary and overcrowded shelters with limited protection from storms.

Supporting solutions

Despite insecurity and difficult operating conditions, IOM and humanitarian partners continue to provide emergency support across some of Haiti’s hardest-hit areas.

Current efforts include emergency shelter, healthcare, water and sanitation services, psychosocial support, relief supplies and site management assistance. 

Aid agencies stress that humanitarian assistance alone will not be enough. Haitian communities need support that extends beyond emergency relief, including improved safety, access to basic services, legal identity documentation and paid work opportunities.

Launched by the Haitian government at the end of May, they are expected to address complex corruption cases, including the illicit trade of arms and money laundering.  

The development comes after courts have been attacked, vandalised and occupied by gangs, while magistrates and justice officials have been the victims of attacks and death threats from these groups. 

The country – which has faced long-standing significant challenges due to political instability, systemic corruption and widespread gang violence – will also use the judicial units to deal with serious human rights violations such as killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, and child trafficking perpetrated by gangs. 

Units must be independent  

So far this year, gang-related violence has resulted in at least 2,310 deaths, 1,106 injuries, and 99 kidnappings. At the same time, 699 people, notably women and young girls, have fallen victim to sexual violence, and hundreds of children continue to be trafficked by gangs. 

OHCHR warned that specialized units must be competent, impartial, and independent, both institutionally and individually.  

“This is essential for enhancing public confidence in the justice system. The safety of judges and the security of courts must also be protected,” Spokesperson Marta Hurtado told journalists in Geneva.  

Stepping stone to accountability

If functioning correctly, the units should be a stepping stone towards facilitating the accountability process, ensuring that victims have access to justice and reparations, she said. 

They should also help strengthen the rule of law, address corruption, and restore public confidence in the currently dysfunctional justice system. 

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has urged the Haitian authorities to quickly implement the specialised judicial units in accordance with international human rights law and best practices, with the support of the international community. 

Much of the violence has been concentrated in Cité Soleil, an impoverished neighbourhood in the capital, where humanitarian workers are now seeking to provide life-saving assistance. 

The Caribbean island nation continues to suffer from years of insecurity and deep-rooted poverty as well as a collapsing economy and political turmoil following a presidential assassination.

Here’s what two women who fled the violence told the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Anidette Saint Fleur, from Quartier Blanchard (Cité Soleil)

“There was shooting everywhere. Then they set a fire very close by and we ran away with the whole family.

We didn’t go back to our homes. The gangs are everywhere in the area. We only had time to leave with our ID documents. We haven’t gone back since.

I always keep a bag ready, just in case. When I hear heavy shooting, I grab my bag and flee with everyone. 

I had just paid my rent and we had to flee. Now we have nothing — no money, no roof — and we don’t know if or when we’ll be able to return. Please help us.

Not having a roof to sleep under and food for the children is the hardest thing for us right now.”

Dorlean Boudin, resident of Sarthe, Carrefour Vincent near Cité Soleil

“There were men with machetes setting fire to houses with people inside. They burned, beheaded, shot, killed — and if you had a shop, they looted everything.

The situation was already very difficult for me, I had very little money. I couldn’t buy food because I had to save money in case of emergency, to flee. We stayed without eating so we could save for transport to escape.

I need to restart a small business to raise the children. I need help with food to feed them, and to buy water because we don’t have any.”

WFP has already reached 8,500 newly displaced people from Cité Soleil with emergency food assistance, while nine WFP-supported schools serving about 12,000 students have been forced to suspend meal distributions. 

WFP’s Janvier Muhima said people were being provided with food supplies including rice, pulses oil and fortified flour so they can feed themselves during this period of displacement.”

Across the country, over 1.4 million people, more than 12 per cent of the population, have been forced to leave their homes, mainly due to criminal violence.

Port-au-Prince has become the epicentre of violence, with up to 90 per cent of the city believed to be under the control of gangs. 

The recruitment of children has reportedly surged, with some estimates indicating that children now comprise 30–50 per cent of some gangs.

5.8 million Haitians, or roughly 52 per cent of the population, are facing crisis levels of food insecurity, or worse. Of those, more than 1.8 million are dealing with emergency levels, which means they are exhausting their last assets and unable to meet even basic food needs.

At least 1.4 million people largely in the capital Port-au-Prince, have been forced to flee their homes due to gang violence, creating what the UN’s Designated Expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, William O’Neill, has called an “unprecedented level of internal displacement.”

Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York on Monday following a 10-day mission to the country, he said that the “on-going human rights crisis creates massive suffering for the Haitian people, especially the most vulnerable.”

At least 26 gangs control up to 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince and some of the surrounding areas. Around half of all gang members are children, under the age of 18.

They violently extort communities, carry out rape and kidnap some for ransom, all while fighting the beleaguered Haitian security forces for territorial dominance.  

Shifting frontlines

Thousands of people “remain trapped in areas controlled by gangs or along shifting frontlines,” said Mr. O’Neill, facing what he described as “invisible borders.”

For young women and girls those borders are even greater: “They face discrimination for being girls, for living in gang-controlled neighborhoods, and for being poor. ‘I just want to live well and safely,’ one girl told me, ‘because this is my country,’” he said.

Haiti is faced with a deepening humanitarian crisis exacerbated by the ongoing violence and frequent extreme weather events including floods and droughts as well as earthquakes. 

The country also faces political uncertainty having not had an elected president since Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. It is hoped that elections will be held later this year.

‘Difficult yet promising moment’

As Designated Expert, Mr. O’Neil’s role is to monitor human rights developments in Haiti and advise the Government of Haiti, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, including women’s rights groups, to assist in their efforts to ensure respect for – and the promotion and protection of – human rights.

He told UN correspondents that he remains “deeply concerned about corruption, impunity and the weakness of accountability mechanisms,” and added that the country is facing “a difficult yet promising moment. 

“If we can help Haiti address insecurity, fight corruption and impunity, and protect human rights, then everyone will prosper.”

Joseph is one of an increasing number of children who are joining gangs in Haiti, a Caribbean island nation which is experiencing overlapping security, humanitarian and governance crises.

Some 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of gang violence and thousands more have died. 

More robust protection measures for children in gang-affected communities are being highlighted in a new report released by the UN in Haiti.

Read Joseph’s account of gang life:

“I grew up in a poor neighbourhood where gangs controlled everything. I saw armed men in the streets all the time. Some were well-dressed, had nice cars, and were surrounded by women. They were the ones who made the rules in our neighbourhood. 

For us children, it was normal. We didn’t have many opportunities to play sports or have fun, and there really wasn’t any hope for the future.

One day, towards the end of August 2024, I was hanging out with a friend and he told me that he was part of a gang. He talked to me about all the positive things the gang gave him, like money and the feeling of being important. He told me I should join them too. I hesitated because I knew it was dangerous, but I decided to give it a try.

Attacking the police

Shortly after I joined, a gang member gave me a radio and asked me to monitor the police and inform the gang of their movements. Then the gang leader gave me a firearm.

There were rumours of a major police operation, and I was told that I would have to fight the police. I was afraid, because I did not want to be killed. I told the gang leader that I wanted to go home. He became very angry and struck me with the weapon. He hit me repeatedly until he broke my hand. He told me that if I tried to leave, he would kill me.

Even though I was very afraid to confront the police, I managed to escape shortly afterwards. Someone in my community told me about an organization that could help me get medical care and support. I contacted them in September 2024 and, since then, they have been helping me through counselling and support to cope with everything I went through.”