By Laura Gamba
BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Gang violence is still spreading across Haiti, while the UN-backed mission to combat crime in the Caribbean country continues to lack sufficient funds to act, UN human rights expert William O’Neill warned on Friday.
O'Neill, who concluded a visit to Haiti this week, said gangs are invading new territories as weapons and ammunition enter the country despite an international embargo.
“Areas previously not impacted by gang violence are now directly impacted, with galloping inflation, lack of basic goods and flows of internally displaced people,” O'Neill warned at a news conference in Port-au-Prince. “The human rights and humanitarian consequences are dramatic.”
He warned that the UN-backed mission, led by 400 Kenyan police officers who arrived in Haiti at the end of June, has deployed less than one-quarter of the promised contingent and has less than two weeks left in their initial one-year mandate.
“The equipment it has received is inadequate, and its resources are insufficient,” he said.
At least 2,900 troops were promised by countries including Antigua, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Chad, Bahamas and Jamaica to help Haitian police.
More than 1,379 people were killed or injured in Haiti, and 428 kidnapped from April to June, according to the UN.
"The solutions are there, and they already exist. But efforts must be redoubled immediately," said O'Neill.
He pointed out that the population continues to suffer from sexual violence, displacement and children are being forcibly recruited into gangs. The children, he said, are "being used to carry out attacks against public institutions and police operations."
“Youth are losing hope of a better future,” he said.
Less than one-third of Haiti’s health services are functioning normally, and almost 5 million people are suffering from hunger.