(MENAFN) United Nations monitors have unveiled alarming violence statistics from Haiti, revealing that government security personnel were responsible for the majority of deaths during a brutal three-month period.

Between July and September, the Caribbean nation recorded 1,247 killings and 710 people wounded, according to a quarterly assessment released Tuesday by the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).

The findings paint a disturbing picture of state-led violence. Haitian security forces accounted for 61% of all fatalities through ground assaults, aerial drone attacks, and disproportionate force including extrajudicial killings, the BINUH Human Rights Service determined.

Gang warfare comprised 30% of the murders, while vigilante justice groups and mob lynchings were linked to the remaining 9% of deaths.

BINUH's investigators identified multiple perpetrators fueling the bloodshed: criminal gangs, civilian self-defense militias, unorganized residents, and state security agencies executing both terrestrial operations and airborne strikes.

Male victims represented 83% of casualties, with women making up 14% and minors accounting for 3%—proportions matching patterns from earlier UN assessments.

The report spotlighted gang exploitation of children as among Haiti's most severe human rights violations.

Government records show at least 302 minors were conscripted into gang operations throughout 2024, though UN officials believe actual recruitment numbers far exceed official tallies.

Evidence gathered by BINUH's Human Rights Service through interviews with government officials, community service providers, and international relief organizations indicates a dramatic escalation in child conscription.

Yet the UN cautions that vast underreporting persists, driven by victims' fears of retaliation, societal shame, and deep mistrust toward law enforcement and judicial systems. Consequently, only a small percentage of those affected report their ordeals.

The assessment also chronicled widespread sexual assault in gang-dominated territories, particularly coordinated rapes during residential break-ins or street attacks.

One documented September incident involved a 17-year-old girl in Simon Pele—a crowded neighborhood within Cite Soleil, an impoverished zone near capital Port-au-Prince—who was sexually assaulted at gunpoint by four gang members who invaded her residence.

In Haiti's central Artibonite region, BINUH recorded instances of child sexual abuse perpetrated by the Kokorat San Ras gang, victimizing no fewer than 27 adolescents between ages 13 and 17.

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