Gang Violence

Gang Violence has been a persistent problem in Haiti for large parts of the Twenty-First Century, with 1,247 people being killed by gangs in 2025, and another 710 being injured that same year (2). Furthermore, since 2021 and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, gang violence has dominated the capital Port-au-Prince which is now 85 per cent controlled by gangs. Over 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced because of this violence, representing the largest displacement due to political upheaval in Haitian history. Between October 2024 and June 2025, 4,864 people in Haiti have been killed by gang violence. At least hundreds more have been injured, kidnapped, raped and trafficked. Gangs routinely use sexual violence, including collective rape, as a tool of intimidation and control (8).

Many of these human rights violations – including the denial of the right to life and physical integrity, sexual violence and forced displacement — are being perpetrated by organized gangs. Gangs have begun to expand beyond central Haiti towards the border of the Dominican Republic, with the apparent goal of controlling key roads through which much of the illegal weapons trafficking is happening. (2)