More than 1.740 people were killed or wounded by gangs in Haiti from July to September, a jump of almost 30 percent compared to the previous three months, according to data from today's UN report.
Gangs were mostly responsible for the killings in the last three months, and the authorities carried out 106 "extrajudicial killings", including six children under 10 years old who allegedly passed information to gang members.
Sexual violence remains pervasive, with at least 55 victims aged 10 to 70 reporting gang rape, the report says, noting that such cases are underreported.
A police-led UN mission from Kenya is trying to suppress gangs that now control 85 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince, and is struggling with a lack of funding and personnel that has prompted calls to send a UN peacekeeping mission to the Caribbean island.
"Without a state, gangs are increasingly assuming roles normally assigned to the police and judiciary as they impose their own rules," the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) warned.
Most of the violence remains in the capital Port-au-Prince and the central region of Artibonite, where dozens of people were killed in a massacre this month.
Among those killed this quarter were at least 669 people during police anti-gang operations, with three-quarters of the victims suspected to be gang members and one-quarter civilians, the report said.
Of the 106 "extrajudicial killings", 96 were committed by police officers and 10 by Jean Ernest Muscadin, the public prosecutor for the city of Miragoan. Muskadin is accused of murdering at least 36 people since 2022 who were suspected of being gang members or common criminals, BINUH said.
In total, at least 59 children were killed or injured this quarter.
A Haitian police spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, while Muskadin declined.
Gang violence has left more than 700.000 people homeless in recent years and intensified this month: gunmen are trying to seize Solino, one of the last communities in Port-au-Prince not under their control.
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