10/22/2026
Out today, IJDH’s latest update on and in covers key developments for March - September 2026 (IJDH’s previous Updates are available on our website under “Publications”).
This reporting period saw a continued deterioration of Haiti’s human rights situation, enabled by a response focused primarily on security that has failed to address the other dimensions of Haiti’s crisis - state capture, corruption, impunity, and human rights abuses. The increasingly militarized security response – now supported by the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), which replaced the MSS a year ago but did not start to deploy until April – has yielded few material gains. Armed groups have thus continued to expand their influence and evolve their tactics, and this period saw intensified attacks in rural areas, several high casualty massacres, and mass kidnappings as political leverage.
The transitional government under Prime Minister Fils-Aimé faces allegations of corruption and collusion with armed groups and has weakened transparency and anti-corruption safeguards. Against this background and evidence that ties between armed groups and government and private actors persist, it has prioritized implementing a widely distrusted electoral process in a security context that makes free and fair elections impossible. The results are unilateral changes to Haiti’s electoral decree that give the executive unconstitutional power over the electoral process, and loosening candidacy restrictions that effectively pave the way for several high-profile politicians accused of having ties to criminal networks to seek office.
The increasingly incoherent and militarized international response feeds and exacerbates these dynamics. Foreign actors have continued to prioritize a security solution in Haiti without being willing to invest the resources for the GSF to actually have a significant impact on security. As a result, a year after its authorization the force is under-staffed and ineffective. Inadequate efforts to prevent the flow of foreign weapons into Haiti, grossly insufficient humanitarian funding, and a sharp increase in inhumane deportations – including as a result of the United States’ cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians – exacerbate Haiti’s crisis and reflect the inconsistency of foreign policies.
This latest IJDH Update covers these ongoing violations of the right to life and security of the person; government misconduct, including institutionalized violence and corruption; chronic impunity caused by a dysfunctional judicial system; further marginalization of vulnerable groups, especially women and girls; the challenging social and economic landscape; and difficulties faced by Haitian migrants. Historic and ongoing failures by the international community to respect the human rights of Haitians and interference in Haitian affairs are core drivers of these challenges.
đź“„ Read the full Update:https://www.ijdh.org/wp-content/uploads/October-2026-Human-Rights-and-the-Rule-of-Law-in-Haiti-Key-Recent-Developments.pdf
(forthcoming in French)
Sasha Filippova Brian Concannon
