Overview
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says explosive drone strikes conducted by Haitian security forces against armed gangs have resulted in more than 1,200 deaths, including both adults and children, and hundreds of injuries. The rights group reported that, based on its investigation, drone operations escalated in recent months and were often carried out in densely populated neighborhoods of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Scope and casualty figures
Drawing on interviews with medical personnel, relatives of victims, community leaders and videos of the attacks, HRW concluded that drone strikes killed 1,243 people between last March and January 21 of this year. The report additionally states that the strikes injured 738 people, among them 49 people identified as alleged civilians. HRW also noted initial summary figures describing the toll as over 1,200 people killed, including 43 adult civilians and 17 children.
The group says that from November through January there were nearly double the number of drone operations compared with the prior three months, a rise it links to the recent intensification of these tactics.
Use of drones and operational characteristics
HRW describes the weapons employed as quadcopter drones fitted with explosives and used during anti-gang missions. These drones, the report says, were capable of maneuvering in tight urban spaces - between buildings and alongside moving vehicles - while operators tracked suspected targets on live video feeds. The report records accounts from residents who said they were afraid to leave their homes because of these drones.
Private contractor involvement
The report identifies Vectus Global, a U.S.-based private military company led by Erik Prince, as supporting Haitian security forces in these operations. According to the account, Vectus provided support for anti-gang operations that used explosive-laden quadcopters. The U.S. charge d’affaires in Haiti told a Senate committee last month that the State Department had licensed Vectus to export its services to Haiti.
Requests for comment made to Haiti’s prime minister’s office, the defense minister, the national police, Vectus Global, and the U.S. State Department did not receive immediate responses, the report says. A spokesperson for the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in Haiti declined to comment.
Civilian harm and specific incidents
HRW’s findings include accounts of children among the victims, with more than half of the child fatalities described as 3-to-12-year-olds killed in a September attack on a sports center where a local gang had been distributing gifts. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) has separately recorded dozens of civilian deaths and injuries attributed to drone strikes. Examples cited by the U.N. office include a mother of three killed while selling goods on the street and a woman killed in her home where two gang members were taking refuge from a drone.
BINUH said last month it had no indications that the deaths and injuries were being investigated.
Legal and policy concerns
HRW’s Americas director, Juanita Goebertus, said the group had documented unlawful uses of lethal force and urged Haiti’s partners to suspend collaboration with its security forces until safeguards are enacted to protect civilians. She was quoted as saying: "Haitian authorities should urgently rein in the security forces and private contractors working for them before more children die."
The report also notes that the U.N. human rights chief said last October that the drone strikes were disproportionate and likely unlawful. HRW added that it had found no evidence that drones were being used widely by gangs.
Security landscape and broader impacts
Despite backing from Kenyan, U.S., and U.N. actors, armed gangs have expanded operations beyond Port-au-Prince and security forces have not captured a major gang leader, HRW reports. The group links the violence to a deep humanitarian and economic toll, saying armed gangs have killed thousands, displaced over a million people and crippled the economy.
HRW’s account is based on interviews, video analysis and casualty counts derived from its field investigation. The organization’s findings raise questions about the safeguards in place for the protection of civilians during counter-gang operations that employ explosive drones.