Criminal Violence Extends Beyond Port-au-Prince: The Situation in Lower Artibonite (January 2022 to October 2023)

This November 2023 joint report by BINUH and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) documents how criminal gang violence, long concentrated in Port-au-Prince, spread into the agricultural plain of Lower Artibonite between January 2022 and October 2023. It maps the principal gangs operating in the region, their shifting alliances, and the sponsors who enable them, and details the human rights abuses committed against the civilian population, including killings, kidnappings, sexual violence, and the destruction and looting of homes and farmland. The report describes the near-absence of state protection, the overwhelming of the Haitian National Police, and the emergence of self-defense responses. It assesses the humanitarian consequences, including large-scale displacement, disruption of agricultural production in one of Haiti's main breadbaskets, and loss of access to markets, schools, and health care. It closes with recommendations to the Haitian authorities and international partners on protection, security-sector support, and accountability.