Killing with Impunity: State-Sanctioned Massacres in Haiti
- At La Saline on November 13-14, 2018, at least 71 people were killed, 11 women were raped and 150 homes were looted and destroyed, and the report states that two senior officials of the Moïse administration met gang leader Jimmy Chérizier beforehand.
- At Bel-Air from November 4 to 6, 2019, at least 24 people were killed, and police failed to intervene despite being surrounded by police stations.
- In Cité Soleil from May to July 2020, at least 145 civilians were killed, and police resources were reportedly used at numerous points in the attacks.
- The scale, pattern and context of the three attacks indicate a reasonable basis to conclude that they amount to the crimes defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute.
- The authors state that the government has failed to hold perpetrators accountable, and Chérizier, implicated in repeated attacks, remains free.
The report, dated April 2021, synthesizes publicly available information on three attacks in impoverished, opposition-aligned neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince during the presidency of Jovenel Moïse and applies the definition in Article 7 of the Rome Statute. Human rights observers documented at least ten attacks of this kind over four years, and the report examines La Saline in November 2018, Bel-Air in November 2019 and Cité Soleil from May to July 2020. It finds that state officials took part in planning or supporting the attacks, that police failed to protect residents, and that perpetrators such as Jimmy Chérizier remain free. It concludes that there is a reasonable basis to find that the attacks amount to the crimes defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute. The recommendations call on Haiti to investigate and prosecute, including officials and state agents, and ask the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations to press for accountability.
The authors build on investigations by Haitian human rights organizations, which they credit as the first to document the attacks.
How to cite
Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic; Observatoire haïtien des crimes contre l'humanité, 2021, Killing with Impunity: State-Sanctioned Massacres in Haiti, accessed via HaitiDocs, https://www.haitidocs.org/doc/harvard-2021-04-killing-with-impunity-haiti
- Rights holder
- Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic|Observatoire haïtien des crimes contre l'humanité