Haiti Armed Violence Kills Over 3,100 in 6 Months in 2025
Nuray Lydia Oglu, Kanako Mita, and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Haiti continues to grapple with a surge in gang-related violence, which has left thousands dead and deepened a pervasive sense of hopelessness—particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, but also across the nation. Despite the presence of international forces deployed to help stabilize the situation, their efforts have thus far fallen short.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), more than 5,500 people were killed in gang-related violence in Haiti last year. So far this year, over 3,100 additional deaths have been recorded in the first six months of 2025, reflecting a worsening crisis that shows no signs of abating.
UN News reports, “President Jovenel Moïse’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.”
The United Nations (UN) reports a harrowing reality marked by extrajudicial killings, human trafficking, murder, child exploitation, gang rape, and other severe human rights abuses.
Internally, around one million people have been displaced due to the ongoing collapse of law and order—representing nearly one-tenth of the country’s population.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has described the situation in Haiti as being in “free fall.”
UN news reports, “Gang rape is now the predominant form of sexual violence, accounting for 85 per cent of all documented cases. In mid-May, two women in Cité Soleil were brutally gang raped before being shot dead and burned in what appeared to be a perverse act of gang ‘justice’ for entering an off-limits neighbourhood.”
In response to relentless criminal activity and intimidation, self-defense groups have emerged, determined to protect their communities. As a result, mob lynchings have become a grim and increasingly common feature of life in Port-au-Prince.
Approximately five million people in Haiti are facing food insecurity, while the country’s health system remains in a state of crisis. As a result, mortality rates are being driven upward by a range of compounding factors—deepening the sense of desperation among the nation’s most vulnerable.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “Equally troubling for Haitians is their deep mistrust of politicians, the United Nations, and international charities—rooted largely in the country’s troubled recent history. This includes numerous child sex abuse scandals, the devastating cholera outbreak linked to the UN, and a range of other persistent challenges.”
If any nation exemplifies both internal and external failure, it is Haiti.
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi’s website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK