Gang violence is spreading in Haiti as The UN-backed anti-crime mission in the troubled Caribbean country is suffering from a shortage of funding and staff, said William O'Neill, a UN human rights expert, as quoted by the Associated Press and BTA.
The Haitian National Police still lacks the "logistic and technical capacity" to fight the gangs, which, according to him, are taking over new territories because weapons and ammunition are being imported into Haiti despite the international embargo, O'Neill stressed. "The humanitarian consequences are dramatic," he said, pointing to galloping inflation, the lack of essential goods and the existence of "internal displacement, which further increases the vulnerability of the population, especially children and women.
According to UN data, at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in Haiti from April to the end of June, and 428 were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, in recent years, ongoing gang violence in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond has left at least 700,000 people homeless, more than half of them children, according to O'Neill. He said he spoke with Haitian police chief Rameau Normil, who said there were only 5,000 police officers in the country of more than 11 million people.
"It is impossible to guarantee security", the police chief added.
O'Neill noted that the Haitian population "lacks everything" and added that the authorities must be held accountable for "the manner in which the fight against corruption and mismanagement are conducted, which are the reason why the country continues to sink into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
The UN expert also warned that the current mission, led by 400 Kenyan police officers who arrived in Haiti in late June, included less than a quarter of the promised contingent. "The equipment the mission has received is not adequate and its resources are insufficient," reads his assessment.
Washington is considering a UN peacekeeping operation to keep the peace in Haiti as one way to provide funding and personnel for the Kenyan-led mission, but the UN is pushing for more funding for the current mission, AP said.