The UN's independent expert on human rights in Haiti, William O'Neill, said on Friday that he is deeply concerned that the outrageous attacks by gangs on hospitals, clinics and health workers in Haiti in December have further weakened a health system that is already close to collapse. Amid the deteriorating security situation, half of the country's population, some 6 million people, including 3.3 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The health system, on the verge of collapse, faces serious problems, crippled by both the recent violence and years of lack of investment, with only about a third of hospitals and health services in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area (PPMA) fully operational.
“Access to health care and the lives of those who provide it are clearly at great risk in Haiti,” said O’Neill, who was designated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in April 2023.
“Criminal gangs have murdered and kidnapped physicians, nurses and health care workers, including humanitarian workers. The gangs have burned, ransacked, and destroyed many hospitals and clinics, forcing many to close or suspend their operations.”
The attack on the Bernard Mevs Hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on December 17, and the killing of several journalists and a Haitian National Police officer who were at the Université d'État d'Haïti hospital compound for its official reopening on December 24, were the latest in a series of attacks on the country's health sector, which has been increasingly targeted over the past two years.
On December 24, during the preparations for the hospital's reopening, armed individuals entered the premises and fired on those attending the ceremony. According to hospital sources, 4 people were killed and 10 injured, including 4 in serious condition, all of whom were admitted to the Hospital de la Paix.
This attack came just eight days after Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince was attacked, vandalized and set on fire.
“Only 37 percent of health facilities in the capital, Port-au-Prince, are fully functional and are difficult for people to access due to security concerns. The situation is compounded by the high number of medical staff fleeing the country fearing for their lives,” O’Neill said.
Repeated threats by gang members to attack health facilities indicate that these are deliberate attacks on the health system, not random acts of violence. In some cases, police officers have been implicated in assaults on patients and threats against health workers, he said.
“The Haitian people - including hundreds of thousands of children living in very precarious conditions - are once again paying the high price of this violence with their right to health severely hindered,” the expert said.
“The spread of diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis, is an additional source of concern.”
The December 24 attacks also underscore the fact that Haiti remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Many have been killed, while others have fled the country in the face of death threats.
“I urge the international community to do everything it can to help Haitian authorities to combat rampant insecurity and ensure the realization of the right to health, including unhindered access to health facilities, goods and services,” O’Neill said.
“The State must also investigate and arrest those responsible for the attacks and ensure that they are brought to justice.”
O'Neill's statement comes after the Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, last week strongly condemned the new attack on the Université d'État d'Haïti hospital on December 24 and called for an end to attacks targeting medical facilities.
“Attacks on health facilities are unacceptable,” said Richardson.
“Medical facilities and personnel must never be a target. These serious incidents against health facilities further deprive the Haitian population […] of vital healthcare services. All the parties involved must take care not to target health facilities or personnel, and guarantee access to healthcare for people in need.”
In November, the medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) suspended operations in the capital for three weeks following threats and a violent attack on its ambulances and staff, and the alleged killing of two patients by Haitian police officers.
On December 11, MSF resumed some medical activities in the capital.
Attacks by armed groups against the population continue in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area, causing death, injury and new displacement. An estimated two million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas effectively controlled by gangs.
In early December, more than 207 people - at least 134 men and 73 women - were executed in a large-scale attack by members of the Wharf Jeremie gang in Port-au-Prince's Cité Soleil neighborhood. Gang leader Monel Felix, also known as Micanor Altès, reportedly ordered the attacks.
According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), most of those killed were elderly people accused of practicing voodoo and causing the gang leader's child to become ill. Other victims included people who tried to flee the area for fear of reprisals or who were suspected of leaking information about these crimes to local media.
In 2024, the United Nations recorded more than 5,350 people killed and more than 2,150 people injured as a direct result of gang violence. Since 2022, more than 17,000 people have been killed or injured.
Haiti has been gripped by instability since 2021, when President Jovenel MoĂŻse was assassinated. Heavily armed gangs have sought to fill the vacuum, seizing up to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince and extending their violent grip to several areas beyond. The UN estimates that gangs now control 85 percent of the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area.
The violence has created a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 700,000 people - about half of them children. Haiti is now the country with the largest number of people displaced by crime-related violence in the world.
A record 5.4 million Haitians are facing acute hunger, including 2 million people in emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4), who face extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition and high levels of disease. Children are particularly vulnerable, with at least 125,000 estimated to be acutely malnourished.
For the first time since 2022, there are famine-like conditions in some areas where displaced people live. At least 6,000 displaced people in shelters in the capital are facing catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5).