According to a UN report, Haiti experienced a 42 percent increase in homicides in 2019
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, submitted to the Security Council a periodic report on Haiti. It provides an update on the establishment of the Office and describes progress made in integrating the activities of the Office and the United Nations country team.
"[...] Haiti continues to face high and rising levels of violence, including common criminality, kidnappings, hijackings, robberies and violent attacks by heavily armed gang members. The number of reported intentional homicides increased by 42 per cent in 2019, compared with the previous year, with 910 recorded cases involving 1,081 victims (including 61 women), a ratio of 9.34 per 100,000 citizens, up from 6.67 for 2018 and 7.91 for 2017. Two thirds of those of those homicides were recorded in West Department, where criminality is traditionally more prevalent. In addition, 42 police officers were killed in 2019, a 147 per cent increase, compared with 17 in 2018, and the highest number since the inception of the Haitian National Police in 1995. Moreover, 31 of 348 police stations were vandalized countrywide (including 8 facilities set ablaze), compared with 7 recorded incidents in 2018. In most cases, the damage was caused by angry mobs in retaliation for alleged police wrongdoing. During the reporting period, 16 criminal incidents affected United Nations personnel, resulting in no casualties. In addition, one BINUH independent contractor was shot and killed on 1 December while leaving a bank in Port-au-Prince.
Sexual and gender-based violence remains prevalent but underreported. In 2019, 227 cases were reported to the police, compared with 418 in 2018. This 45 per cent decrease is attributable to severe underreporting due to heightened stigma and risk of retaliation against victims, in particular in the current security and political context. To raise awareness of the situation, the United Nations supported activities organized by national counterparts in the context of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence campaign launched in November. In addition, the national police sex crimes unit is developing a database of sexual assault complaints that would improve case processing and provide easier access to countrywide statistics.
The political crisis added another layer of complexity to the security situation. Between 1 September and 30 November 2019, the United Nations documented at least 1,341 demonstrations, roadblocks and barricades. At the height of the mobilization in late September, protests turned violent and the presence of heavily armed individuals was observed in the streets, especially in the urban centres of West, Artibonite, South and North Departments. Those developments led to significant restrictions on movement for the United Nations, hampering operations throughout the country. Attesting to the challenges of maintaining public order, the national police reported, during a press conference held on 19 December, having carried out 2,536 interventions to clear roads between 1 September and 30 November. [...]"
Armored vehicles to fight insecurity in Haiti
Haiti standard, February 22, 2020. - The President of the Republic Jovenel Moïse, the outgoing Prime Minister, Jean Michel Lapin and officials of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) as well as those of the Armed Forces of Haiti (Fad'H) received armored vehicles, to combat insecurity in the country.
On February 21, 2020, at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport, returning from Cap-Haitien (North), the Head of State indicated that the acquisition of these armored vehicles is part of the efforts carried out by his administration, in the fight against banditry and crime both in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and in provincial cities.
It should be noted that these armored vehicles are coming at a time when police officers are demanding, at the cost of violence, better working conditions and the right to form a union within the police institution.
Claims that resulted in the removal of five (5) police officers including the self-proclaimed Union Coordinator. A decision that does not seem to deter police protesters.
Michel Martelly ejected from the carnival of Cap-Haitien?
BY STEVENS JEAN FRANÇOIS
In a press release, the 350 Committee seems to have won its case before the organized structures of Cap Haitien civil society, which protested against a possible participation of Sweet Micky in the carnival parade of Cap-Haitien.
Despite the millions of gourdes spent in per diem for the officers assigned to his security and the stormy entrance of a tank that was attributed to him in the city of Cap-Haitien, the training of the former President of the Republic Joseph Michel Martelly, Sweet Micky, is presumably omitted from the carnival parade of Cap-Haitien. Priority has been given to the region in particular to young people within the framework of a policy of promotion of the region. This is stated in the note signed by Marc GEORGES, Chairman of the 350 Committee.
Does the committee have the means to prevent Sweet Micky from inviting himself to the party? Only time will tell!
Haitian state used USAID funding to arm terrorist gangs in Haiti, says police officer
Port-au-Prince, Thursday, February 20, 2020 – A masked police officer said Wednesday in an interview with a foreign journalist that a card program-gifts of $25 allowing officers to buy meals and meet other needs had never reached the hands of members of the National Police of Haiti (PNH)
The man kept a mask throughout the interview. He spoke on the sidelines of a movement that broke out one day after five police officers, fighting to form a union, were fired.
The police officer talked about low wages that have been stagnant for over a decade. He then mentioned a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was to give each police officer a debit card of $25 a month.
The officer says the state used the funds to pay for street gangs in the country’s most deprived neighborhoods, turning these gangs into heavily armed terrorist gangs.
These are not the first allegations of links between USAID, the Haitian government and the arming and financing of terrorist gangs in the country. In October 2019, a government official was shot, but not killed, in a meeting with the terrorists in a USAID field office in Port-au-Prince.
Haiti-Foot: Melchie Dumornay "treated as a star" in Lyon
Having left the country to participate in an internship in the largest club in Europe, Melchie Daelle Dumornay has managed to impose herself as a pro, according to the statements of the president of the Haitian football federation, Yves Dadou Jean-Bart who accompanied the 15-year-old female player during her internship in France.
Melchie Dumornay has been “treated like a star,” says Dadou Jean-Bart, who never misses an opportunity to say something positive about the talented Corventina. On Saturday, November 25, she spent a week in Lyon where she trained with the reserves and the pros.
While Haiti police take frustrations out on streets, UN sounds alarm on gangs, bad cops.
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
FEBRUARY 18, 2020
Haiti’s police are angry. And they are taking their frustrations out on the streets.
Haiti police want to unionize but the internal regulations of the Haiti National Police prohibit it. A few rogue officers have taken their fight to the streets, allegedly destroying property including Carnival stands.
BY JOSE A. IGLESIAS
PORT-AU-PRINCE
Angry over poor pay and miserable working conditions, members of Haiti’s U.S.-backed and United Nations-trained police force are taking their frustrations out on the streets.
They are illegally firing their weapons in the air, vandalizing government property and reportedly setting fire to viewing stands ahead of this weekend’s three-day Pre-Lenten Carnival celebration.
The anger climaxed Monday (Feb. 17th) with Haiti National Police officers, many of them dressed in red T-shirts with their faces covered, marching through the streets of Port-au-Prince, demanding the right to unionize while decrying the lack of pay, poor treatment and health insurance. At the same time, they reminded everyone of what they do.
Soon video footage emerged showing the protesting cops creating chaos on the streets of Petionville as they discharged their weapons in the air outside of police headquarters in broad daylight before making their way to downtown Port-au-Prince. Once on the Champ de Mars, the public square where the presidential palace is located, they again began to fire as Carnival stands went up in smoke.
Videos showed young men in red shirts gathering around the fire and local media pointed the finger at the protesting officers. The National Carnival committee, which is depending on police to provide security for the festivities that start on Sunday, started rebuilding the stands on Tuesday, announcing the show will go on.
Strongly condemning Monday’s violence, acting Haiti Prime Minister Jean-Michel Lapin called on police to respect the public order and protect the institution, which “must be free from political upheavals to remain at the service of democracy,” he said.
“These barbaric acts, illegal, unacceptable and unworthy of the police, remind us of the indiscriminate violence of extremists and terrorists who are hiding behind the demands to sow disorder and chaos,” he said in a press statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
Lapin said the government has taken note of officers’ demands for better treatment, and asked them to show “serenity, patience, and foresight” while Haiti crosses a difficult path. Later in a press conference he said having a hospital for the police is a priority for the government. He also said they must have an efficient ambulance system and an efficient fire department.
The government’s condemnation came on the same day that the United Nations issued a report on gang violence in Port-au-Prince. Focused on a three-day outbreak of gang violence in the pro-opposition Bel Air neighborhood on Nov. 4-6, 2019, UN investigators accuse Haitian police of failing to protect residents from corrupt officers and gang leaders. At least three people died in the violence while six others were injured and 30 families were left homeless after their houses were set on fire, the UN said. Investigators also noted that the attacks also allegedly involved three active members of the Haiti National Police.
According to the report, one of the Haiti’s most notorious gang leaders, former police officer Jimmy Cherizier, who goes by the name Barbecue, was behind the attacks. Cherizier is the subject of a February 2019 warrant, which has not been carried out, for his alleged involvement in another massacre, this one in the the Grand Ravine neighborhood in November 2017. He has also been cited in the La Saline massacre, in November 2018.
Bel Air, UN human rights investigators noted, is under the informal control of gang leaders who engage in criminal activity such as murder, extortion and kidnappings for ransom, theft and the hijacking of trucks. The neighborhood is also considered one of the traditional bases for anti-government mobilization. The report said Cherizier in a radio interview denied his involvement in the Bel Air attack but offered to compensate the victims who lost their houses.
“Far from being an isolated incident, the Bel Air attack illustrates the recent evolution of the current context in Haiti, mainly characterized by widespread insecurity in working-class neighborhoods and slums, the impunity of criminal gang members who commit human rights abuses, the alleged collusion between them and certain political and economic actors, the links between gang members and some Haitian National Police officers, as well as the lack of police intervention to protect the population,” the report said.
Among the recommendations, investigators with the UN Human Right’s Office and the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti called on Haitian authorities to do more to protect residents in Bel Air and other similar neighborhoods, and to conduct independent and in-depth judicial investigations into acts of violence committed by gangs in Bel Air. The perpetrators of violence should also be brought to justice, they said.
While the UN report was released amid increased concerns about violence in Haiti, Monday’s violent revolt by officers was only the latest after a series of unprecedented protests, buoyed by simmering discontent, began sweeping through the Haiti National Police last year.
Founded in 1995 after Haiti was forced to disband the army, the police, which have been plagued by allegations of human rights violations and corruptions, have been the focus of ongoing rebuilding efforts ever since a U.N. peacekeeping mission returned in 2004 and found that the force had been decimated by political interference, corruption and drug trafficking.
In recent years, the United States, Canada and the U.N., have invested millions in training and recruiting officers to get the force to where it is today, about 15,000-strong. But with Haiti in a constant state of political and economic turmoil, officers have found themselves overworked, poorly equipped and poorly paid in trying to address the country’s security needs, which lately have included anti-government protests and a deadly resurgence in kidnappings.
Police officers earned on average between 20,000 gourdes and 25,000 gourdes a month, or $221 and $276 before taxes. With the country’s double-digit inflation, depreciating domestic currency and rising cost of living, the money amounts to very little, they say.
“We are sent into operations without tear gas, without bullets, without boots, without uniforms,” said Yanick Joseph, one of the leaders of the union movement.
On Nov. 17, frustrations came to a boil with Joseph and other officers announcing the formation of a union in front of police headquarters in Petionville. The move put officers in an open conflict with the high command of the police, whose internal regulations prohibit such organizing efforts.
The unionization effort, the officer said, has defined itself and after 24 years of existence, the police could take control of its own destiny, he argued. “We are in a battle. We aren’t attacking anyone and we don’t want anyone to attack,” he said.
Jeff Hassler, who lost his right leg during a police operation in the Savane Pistache neighborhood, said he received “no assistance,” following his injury.
“We will always pound the pavement demanding a union and assistance for disabled police officers,” he said, standing with the help of crutches while holding up a sign that read “Police officers suffering from a disability deserve help.”
Until recently Haitian officials and police hierarchy did not say much about the union effort despite several street protests, which drew hundreds of officers both in the capital and in Cap Haitien, the second largest city. Then came Feb. 7 when Joseph, 34, was summoned to the the Office of the Police Inspector General.