By CECILIA OLOGUNAGBA

The human rights situation in Haiti remains ?extremely worrying,? with no fewer than 1,520 people killed and 609 injured as a result of armed violence between the beginning of April and the end of June.

The UN, In a report released on Friday, stated that these numbers were similar to those from the first quarter of 2025, when 1,617 people were killed and 580 were injured.

?Gang attacks in the Artibonite and Centre departments, and in the capital, continue to cause serious human rights violations and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis,? Ulrika Richardson, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, said.

President Jovenel Mo?se?s assassination in 2021 triggered widespread gang violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Today, the UN estimates that gangs control at least 85 per cent of the city.

In the past few months, many have begun to expand their influence in the Centre and Artibonite departments.

In June alone, 45,000 people were displaced in Centre and Artibonite.

This means that the total number of displaced people across the two departments totals over 240,000, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Between April and June, security forces were able to slow down the gang?s expansion in the capital, but the UN office in Haiti, BINUH noted that the situation still remains exceptionally volatile.

As they expand their territory, gangs have committed human rights violations, including gang rape, extrajudicial killings, child exploitations, trafficking and murder.

?Gang members continued to resort to murders, gang rapes, and kidnappings to maintain their control over populations living in areas under their influence,? BINUH said.

The UN has long warned that gangs are not the only groups committing human rights abuses and violations in Haiti.

It says that government security forces and local self-defence groups have also committed violations.

Of the 1,520 people killed and 609 injured between April and June, most were in the capital or the Centre and Artibonite departments, with 24 per cent of them killed or injured by gangs.

Security operations against gangs accounted for 64 per cent of the deaths and injuries during this period.

73 documented cases of summary executions and one-third of the deaths occurred as a result of explosive drones.

Self-defence groups, which have formed as a reaction against the gangs and security force?s inability to contain them, were responsible for 12 per cent of those killed and injured.

The humanitarian situation in Haiti is increasingly dire, with over 1.3 million people displaced and half of the population facing food insecurity.

With the humanitarian response plan only eight per cent funded, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is calling on the international community to step up financial support.

The report also urged the international community to continue to increase support for Haiti?s fight against gangs.

?The report calls on the Haitian government, with the support of the international community, to strengthen the fight against gangs while strictly respecting human rights and standards on the use of force,? the UN Mission in Haiti said. (NAN)

?People walk past remains of vehicles near the presidential palace, after they were set on fire by gangs, as violence spreads and armed gangs expand their control over the capital, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Update news