The United Nations raises the death toll in the recent Cité Soleil massacre in Haiti’s capital Human rights news

The United Nations now says 207 people were killed in a slum in the capital, Port-au-Prince, earlier this month.

The United Nations has raised the death toll from the latest mass killing in Haiti, saying its investigations found 207 people dead. Killed by a gangincluding dozens of elders and voodoo religious leaders.

In a report published on Monday, the United Nations Office in Haiti provided details of the events that occurred between December 6 and 11 in Haiti. Jeremy Wharf neighbourhood Cité Soleil, a poor coastal neighborhood in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The report concluded that the gang took people from their homes and places of worship, interrogated them and then “executed” them with bullets and machetes before burning their bodies and throwing them into the sea.

Earlier this month, human rights groups in Haiti assessed this More than 100 people were killed In fact, however, a new UN investigation found that 134 men and 73 women were slaughtered.

“We cannot pretend that nothing happened,” said Maria Isabel Salvador, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Haiti.

“I call on Haiti’s judicial system to thoroughly investigate these horrific crimes and arrest and punish their perpetrators, as well as those who support them,” she said in a statement.

The Haitian government acknowledged the killing of the elderly in a statement issued earlier this month, and promised to prosecute those responsible for this act, which represents an “unspeakable massacre.”

The UN Security Council issued a statement on Monday condemning recent gang killings, expressing “deep concern” about the crisis in Haiti, and highlighting food insecurity and extreme poverty. Recruitment of children en masse.

Insecurity and isolation

The situation of insecurity has so far deteriorated in Haiti The United Nations recently ordered Some of its members leave the country or move from the capital to safer areas.

The country is witnessing increasing isolation after the closure of Port-au-Prince International Airport due to commercial passenger traffic Planes come under fire.

The United Nations is in discussions on what steps to take in Haiti after an international security mission led by 400 Kenyan police struggled to restore law and order.

One option being considered is to return to a full-scale peacekeeping operation, despite the mixed results achieved by previous deployments, including the “stabilization” mission, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which lasted from 2004 until it left. In 2017.

“King Micanor”

Human rights groups in Haiti said Wharf Jeremy The killings began After the son of Micanor Altis, a local gang leader, died of illness.

Witnesses told the groups that Altis, nicknamed “King Micanor,” accused neighborhood residents of causing his son’s illness by casting an evil spell on him.

In a report on Monday, the United Nations said the Altice gang tracked people down in their homes and places of worship, where they were first interrogated and then taken to a location where they would be killed.

The killings are the latest humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, where gang violence has escalated since the killing of the country’s president, Jovenel Moise, in 2016. 2021 coup attempt.

The Caribbean nation is currently governed by a transitional council that includes representatives of the business community, civil society and political parties, but its government has no control over many areas of the capital, and gangs are constantly fighting over ports, highways and neighbourhoods.

According to the United Nations, more than 5,358 people were killed in guerrilla wars in Haiti this year and 2,155 others were injured. More than 17,000 people have been killed or injured in gang-related violence in Haiti since the beginning of 2022.