©️HNP
Washington, 30 June 2025.-In a report to the United Nations Security Council (UN), a group of experts reveals overwhelming information on the circulation of weapons and ammunition in Haiti. The National Police of Haiti (PNH), the borders, the Dominican Republic and the United States all appear as links to a vast network of traffic. The report describes this phenomenon as a real structural scourge.
This document, analysed by several media, highlights trafficking fuelled by high demand from gangs, wealthy civilians, private security companies and self-defence groups. The lack of effective controls at entry points favours the development of this illegal trade. Haitian gangs have increasingly sophisticated weapons, as the seizure of a gun in Cité-Soleil in December 2024 showed. « ghost » AR-15, crafted and not traceable.
The report also points to internal failures within the HNP. Corruption, lack of control and mismanagement of stocks facilitate diversion. On 31 October 2024, an officer of the Anti-Ambush Unit of the National Palace was intercepted with 2,700 munitions destined for a gang. A week later, another police officer was arrested with 2,400 ammunition, supplied with the complicity of his companion, employed in the central armory of the PNH.
Cross-border complicity is also denounced. The report accuses corrupt Dominican agents of fuelling Haitian gangs with weapons. In July 2024, the seizure of 5,000 cartridges in Mirebalais, department of the Centre, enabled Dominican police to trace stocks. More than 900,000 items, mostly ammunition, were reportedly diverted. Despite an investigation and an inventory announced by the Dominican authorities, much of these munitions — in particular the calibres sought by gangs — It would have already crossed the border.
The UN expert report highlights opaque and alarming practices, such as the importation of weapons by certain diplomatic missions without the authorization of sanctions committees, as well as the laxity surrounding private security companies, sometimes armed without State supervision. Honorary consuls also reportedly abused their status in order to smuggle weapons into the Territory.
This table reveals a weakened system, ravaged by internal complicity, weak institutional management, a permeable border and external interference. In this context, the experts call for in-depth reform, rigorous arms control and effective accountability of the authorities concerned.
W.E.
