Five massacres later, Haiti is still waiting for justice for Kenscoff victims

Op-Ed admin October 22, 2026 0 Comments

Five massacres later, Haiti is still waiting for justice for Kenscoff victims | Opinion

Over the past 18 months, armed gangs have perpetrated five massacres in Kenscoff, a small mountainous rural town and community located only four miles southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and a major agricultural hub and corridor to southern Haiti.

Localities affected included Bongard, Belot, Godet, Robin and Villiers/Centre-ville, places where residents toil off the soil and have long lived in peace. One week before the last attack, gangs posted images on social media of their surveillance drone overlooking the city’s police positions, and, as in past assaults, no effort was made by police to prevent the attack or reinforce their presence in the community.

The massacre in Villiers/Centre-ville occurred six weeks after gunmen attacked the community of Robin. The deadly assault in Villiers/Centre-ville began during the night of Aug. 24 and continued until the early hours of the following morning. At least 47 innocent people, including women and children, were killed and some were raped, including a 12-year-old girl, according to human rights groups. Some of the victims were displaced residents already forced out of their homes by the previous attacks and sheltering inside a church located only a few meters from the town’s police station. More than 50 others, including women and children, were kidnapped.

The atrocities in Kenscoff have unfolded at a moment when Haiti is preparing for its first general elections in over a decade, and the international community is pouring millions into its latest armed mission, the U.S.-backed and United Nations authorized Gang Suppression Force, GSF. Members of the Security Council recently offered condolences to Kenscoff’s residents and the atrocity was highlighted in a recent U.N. Panel of Experts report on Haiti’s worsening security crisis. But the residents of Kenscoff and other concerned citizens need and are demanding justice to be served.

A public petition is available for those who want to join their voice. This is a plea to obtain support for a transparent judicial process to obtain justice for the victims of the Kenscoff massacre.

Despite the intensity of the exchange of gunfire between gang members and Haitian police officers, not a single gang member or police officer was reportedly killed or even injured, raising serious questions. Following international outrage over the massacre, the police inspector leading the Kenscoff police station was replaced, and authorities reportedly opened an investigation. Yet, such investigations have too often produced no results.

A lack of consequences for the perpetrators will confirm to the Haitian population that the Haitian state is indeed powerless to defend them and that going to vote in the upcoming planned elections will be a high-risk endeavor. The deployment of the GSF will be a strategically wasted Band-Aid effort even if it manages to eventually achieve some tactical results.

We call on the United Nations, United States, France, Canada, CARICOM and Human Rights organizations to pressure Haiti’s prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and his minister of justice to ensure that any investigation conducted on the Kenscoff massacres be independent, transparent and leads to the arrest and trial of those responsible. If impunity is tolerated, there will be more massacres in Haiti. Rendering justice to the victims and holding perpetrators to account is the only way to ensure that this massacre will be the last one. In the run-up to elections this judicial process will mark an important watershed for democracy in Haiti.

Haitian security forces supported by foreign mercenaries have rooted out the gangs from the areas in Kenscoff they had occupied. However, they have failed to hold those spaces. It is extremely important that this situation be corrected quickly as this provides opportunities for the gangs to return and may lead to further tragedies.

Jean William ‘”Bill” Pape is a doctor and director at Centres Gheskio in Port-au-Prince. Linda V. Turnier is a former commercial banker. Louis-Henri Mars is a founding member of Lakou Lapè, a Haitian organization dedicated to promoting peace.