The United Nations reported in April 2023 that criminal incidents in Haiti had more than doubled in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2022, with homicides, kidnappings, rape, and lynching cases totaling 1,647 in the first three months alone compared to 692 in the first quarter of the previous year. The statistics confirmed what Haitians living through the crisis already knew: 2023 was on track to be the most violent year in recent memory.
Homicides increased by 21 percent compared to the first quarter of 2022, with gangs responsible for the majority of killings. The expansion of gang territorial control into previously safer neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince and the intensification of inter-gang conflict as criminal networks fought for strategic positions drove much of the increase. Communities in areas of new gang activity experienced sudden surges in violence that shocked residents who had believed they lived beyond the worst of the crisis.
Kidnapping continued at alarming rates, with cases affecting people across the socioeconomic spectrum. The professionalization of kidnapping operations meant that no one with any perceived ability to pay ransom was safe, from garment factory workers earning minimum wage to business owners in Pétion-Ville. Schools that had been targets of kidnappings reported continued enrollment declines as parents kept children at home.
The UN Security Council’s Special Representative for Haiti told the council that the situation on the ground exceeded the design and capacity of BINUH, the UN political mission, and renewed calls for the deployment of a specialized multinational security force. She emphasized that the scale of violence in Haiti in the first quarter of 2023 exceeded that of many active armed conflicts elsewhere in the world — a comparison that illustrated the severity of a crisis that international attention had not matched.