Haiti - FLASH : The «Bwa Kale» movement lynched more than 200 people but not only bandits...
According to the quarterly report Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH) published on Saturday June 24, a total of 204 alleged bandits were lynched by members of the citizen self-defense movement "Bwa Kale", in several departments of the country between April 24 and June 24, 2023
Since the beginning of this popular justice movement, 8 of the 10 departments have been affected. The Department of the West leads with 158 lynchings (77.45%) followed by the Artibonite dept. (24, 11.76%) and Grand’Anse (12, 5.88%)
In its report, the CARDH states that in some cases the "Bwa Kale" movement was used as a pretext for the purpose of revenge "[...] Allied with the police and other unidentified individuals, people would have used this movement [where impunity reigns] to settle accounts with third parties in relation to previous conflicts of various kinds, unrelated to gangs [...]"
Finally, people other than bandits would have been lynched according to the CARDH report because of "their parental ties with alleged gang members", stressing that "In some cases, the police seem to be accomplices or passive."
