The 1,223 murders reported in the third quarter are largely attributed to gang violence, although law enforcement officials carried out at least 106 extrajudicial executions, victims included six children as young as 10 who were accused of passing information to gang members, BINUH said. .

Of the 106 extrajudicial executions, 96 were carried out by police officers and another 10 by Jean Ernest Muscadin, prosecutor of the southern coastal city of Miragoâne. In total, Muscadin is accused of killing at least 36 people since 2022, suspected of being gang members or having committed “common crimes,” BINUH said.

A spokesperson for the Haitian National Police did not respond to requests for comment, while Muscadin declined to comment and hung up when contacted by phone.

The gangs now have approximately 5,500 members after recruiting primarily children who work as scouts, carry weapons and ammunition and even engage in combat, according to a U.N. Security Council report released Monday. He noted that children can make up up to 50 percent of all gang members.

“The dire situation in Haiti makes children more vulnerable to recruitment by gangs,” the report states. “Lack of access to education, employment and basic needs creates a situation where joining gangs is considered the only viable means of survival.”

Among those killed this quarter are at least 669 people during police operations against gangs, of whom three-quarters are suspected gang members and a quarter of them civilians, according to the BINUH report.

“The information collected…points to a possible disproportionate use of lethal force and a lack of precautionary measures to protect the population during police operations,” BINUH said.

The number of people killed or injured from July to September rose 27 percent compared to the second quarter, although there was a 32 percent drop compared to the first quarter.

Most of the killings and injuries (234) occurred in Port-au-Prince’s poor La Saline neighborhood, most of them inside residents’ makeshift homes as gangs compete for control of Haiti’s main port and its shipping terminal. containers, according to the report.

The gangs also recently occupied the communities of Carrefour and Gressier in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, using “extreme brutality to bring residents under their control,” BINUH said.

At least 122 murders were attributed to self-defense groups that formed last year and have targeted suspected gang members or people accused of crimes, including the theft of animals or cell phones.

“The victims were mutilated with machetes, stoned, decapitated, burned alive or buried alive,” the report says. “The children were not saved.”

In total, at least 59 children were killed or injured in the third quarter.

The UN noted that the number of self-defense groups doubled to around 60 from January to July.

Most of the violence remains focused on the capital, Port-au-Prince, and the central Artibonite region, where dozens of people were killed in a massacre earlier this month.

One bright spot is that the number of kidnappings plummeted to 170 during the third quarter compared to earlier this year, with more than 60 percent of the cases occurring in Artibonite, according to the report.

In the second quarter, at least 428 people were kidnapped.

Sexual violence remains widespread, with at least 55 victims reporting gang rapes, including girls and women between the ages of 10 and 70, according to the report, which notes that these cases are largely unreported.

Women and girls are attacked inside their homes or while walking the streets or using public transport, and some are sexually exploited for months by gang members, BINUH said.

Gang violence has left more than 700,000 people homeless in recent years and increased this month when gunmen tried to take over Solino, one of the last communities in Port-au-Prince not under their control.

“There is a total destruction of people’s lives,” said Jean Renel Volma, a 55-year-old unemployed security guard who recently fled Solino with his wife and two children after living there for more than two decades.

“It was dark, there were tremendous shots, everyone was screaming. “It’s the worst thing I’ve seen in Solino,” he said, remembering how they were only able to flee with the clothes they were wearing.

Originally from the southern coastal city of Les Cayes, Volma said he cannot take refuge there because gangs control the main roads out of Port-au-Prince: “I don’t know what I’m going to do. There is no way out.”

Volma is one of hundreds of people who crowded into a church in nearby Nazon after being left homeless as gunshots rang out nearby on Wednesday. The UN report noted that gangs target Solino and Delmas 24 to gain access to middle-class neighborhoods, including Nazón.

“The goal is to obtain more income through kidnappings and extortion from companies in this rich area,” he said.

Among those temporarily living at the church is Alicia Joseph, a 60-year-old woman and mother of three children. While her children live with a friend who took them in, there was no room for her.

“I think it’s the end of my life. “I lost everything,” he said.

Among their losses is their 85-year-old mother, who was unable to flee with the rest of the family when the gang attacked.

“I thought they would spare his life,” Joseph said, adding that his mother died inside her home when the gangs set it on fire.