- Thread starter
- Staff
- #1
Dadparvar
Staff member
- Nov 11, 2016
- 10,688
- 0
- 6
Haitian security forces, partnered with American private contractors, conducted a series of drone strikes over the last year in densely populated urban areas to target members of criminal groups, but consequently killing and injuring civilians, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday.
Reports attribute the strikes to a task force controlled by Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The international community has not received any information on the mandate or composition of the task force, but it is believed to be assisted by Vectus Global, an international “problem solving” company owned by businessman Erik Prince. Prince is also the former owner of Blackwater, a similar company that conducted operations in Iraq. HRW has previously accused Prince’s company of serious crimes in Iraq, alleging that Blackwater employees opened fire on Iraqi civilians, killing 17 people.
The US ambassador to Haiti confirmed that the Haitian government signed a contract with Vectus to supply quadcopter drones and “experienced fighters” to combat gang activity in the country. Vectus has been issued a license by the US State Department to conduct these operations.
HRW claimed Haitian forces, along with Vectus, use drone strikes to commit extrajudicial killings, a form of violence banned by several international legal instruments, including customary international law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Using the quadcopter drones armed with explosives, 141 strikes killed at least 1,243 people between March 1, 2025, and January 21. Attacks come amid a worsening political and humanitarian situation in Haiti, with gangs reportedly expanding their control through sexual violence and kidnapping following a siege of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in early 2024. While the forces claim to target gang violence, drone strikes are reportedly responsible for the deaths of civilians, including women and children.
In attempts to address the violence, the UN Security Council approved a “Gang Suppression Force” to assist the Haitian government. The force is mandated to assist the operations of the Haitian National Police and Haitian armed forces “in strict compliance with international law, including international human rights law.”
However, HRW called on the international force to “refrain from providing any operational support to the Haitian security forces until adequate safeguards are put in place to prevent unlawful killings, and should require transparency and accountability from Haitian authorities as a condition of any such cooperation.”
The post Drone strikes put Haiti civilians at risk, rights group says appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.
Reports attribute the strikes to a task force controlled by Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. The international community has not received any information on the mandate or composition of the task force, but it is believed to be assisted by Vectus Global, an international “problem solving” company owned by businessman Erik Prince. Prince is also the former owner of Blackwater, a similar company that conducted operations in Iraq. HRW has previously accused Prince’s company of serious crimes in Iraq, alleging that Blackwater employees opened fire on Iraqi civilians, killing 17 people.
The US ambassador to Haiti confirmed that the Haitian government signed a contract with Vectus to supply quadcopter drones and “experienced fighters” to combat gang activity in the country. Vectus has been issued a license by the US State Department to conduct these operations.
HRW claimed Haitian forces, along with Vectus, use drone strikes to commit extrajudicial killings, a form of violence banned by several international legal instruments, including customary international law and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Using the quadcopter drones armed with explosives, 141 strikes killed at least 1,243 people between March 1, 2025, and January 21. Attacks come amid a worsening political and humanitarian situation in Haiti, with gangs reportedly expanding their control through sexual violence and kidnapping following a siege of the capital, Port-au-Prince, in early 2024. While the forces claim to target gang violence, drone strikes are reportedly responsible for the deaths of civilians, including women and children.
In attempts to address the violence, the UN Security Council approved a “Gang Suppression Force” to assist the Haitian government. The force is mandated to assist the operations of the Haitian National Police and Haitian armed forces “in strict compliance with international law, including international human rights law.”
However, HRW called on the international force to “refrain from providing any operational support to the Haitian security forces until adequate safeguards are put in place to prevent unlawful killings, and should require transparency and accountability from Haitian authorities as a condition of any such cooperation.”
The post Drone strikes put Haiti civilians at risk, rights group says appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.