More than 5,500 people were killed in Haiti between March 2025 and mid-January as gang violence and security operations against armed groups ravaged the Caribbean nation, the United Nations said on March 24, calling for stronger action against corruption and impunity.

According to verified data from the UN Human Rights Office, at least 5,519 people were killed and 2,608 injured in Haiti between March 2025 and January 2026. Security force operations against gangs accounted for the largest share of fatalities, with at least 3,497 deaths and 1,742 injuries. Gang violence directly killed at least 1,424 people and wounded 790, while attacks by self-defence groups claimed at least 598 lives and injured 76 others.

"While gang violence remains endemic and expanded out of the capital, other sources of violence by self-defence groups and non-organised members of the population are also concerning," UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said in the report.

The latest figures add to a mounting toll in one of the Western Hemisphere's worst ongoing security crises. Armed groups controlled an estimated 90% of Port-au-Prince by early 2026, and gang-related violence killed nearly 6,000 people throughout 2025 alone, according to earlier UN data. Displacement has tracked the violence: as of mid-2025, nearly 1.3mn Haitians had been driven from their homes – the highest level of internal displacement on record, approaching the scale of the country's catastrophic 2010 earthquake – with roughly 1.4mn displaced by early 2026. Nearly half of all Haitians face acute food insecurity.

Gangs have pushed beyond Port-au-Prince over the past 12 months, extending their reach into the city's outskirts and northward into the Artibonite and Centre departments. The report found that armed groups have consolidated control over key maritime and overland supply routes, bolstering both their finances and operational capacity.

The report documented widespread abuses by gangs, including killings, kidnappings, child trafficking, extortion of businesses and sexual violence. Between March and December 2025, at least 1,571 women and girls were victims of sexual violence, predominantly gang rape. Some victims, including children, were coerced into prolonged sexual exploitation by gang members.

The UN rights office also flagged serious concerns over conduct by security forces, documenting 247 instances of actual or attempted summary executions of suspected gang members or their perceived supporters between March 2025 and mid-January, resulting in 196 deaths and 51 injuries.

A private military company reportedly contracted by the Haitian government has participated in security operations since March 2025, including drone strikes and helicopter gunfire. The report said some or most of those aerial operations could constitute targeted killings, given evidence of deliberate, predetermined lethal force against pre-identified individuals.

Human Rights Watch said earlier this month that explosive-laden quadcopter drones operated by security forces and private contractors killed at least 1,243 people and injured 738 others in the ten months to January 2026, with dozens of victims including 17 children, having no apparent connection to gang activity. Among the contractors involved is Vectus Global, the firm of former US Navy SEAL Erik Prince, which deployed nearly 200 personnel to Haiti under a one-year government contract.

No judicial investigation appears to have been opened into those operations, and no accountability mechanism has been established for victims, the UN report said. The UN human rights chief had already warned in October that the drone strikes were disproportionate and likely unlawful.

Self-defence groups and mobs have also carried out lynchings of individuals suspected of gang ties, using stones, machetes and increasingly high-calibre firearms. The report noted that some such killings were allegedly encouraged or facilitated by elements within the police.

The UN Security Council last year authorised the creation of a new Gang Suppression Force (GSF) tasked with neutralising armed groups. Türk said the force could only succeed over the long term if accompanied by robust efforts to identify, detain and prosecute those who finance and organise gang activity, in line with international standards.

"Efforts to further bolster the rule of law, particularly in the justice and detention sectors, must remain a priority to be able to tackle corruption and impunity, as these undermine the trust of the people," Türk said.

The report acknowledged limited progress in the justice system, including steps toward establishing two specialised judicial units to prosecute mass crimes and sexual violence. However, it said judicial advances in cases involving corruption and gang financing remained minimal and that impunity continued to prevail.

Haiti's political landscape has also shifted amid the violence. In February, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé became the country's sole executive authority after the Presidential Transitional Council transferred power to him, ending a nearly two-year tenure that failed to rein in the gangs.

Türk also called for measures to address deep socioeconomic inequalities in Haiti as part of a broader effort to restore social cohesion.