File photo: People carry their belongings while fleeing their homes and neighbourhood due to clashes between gangs, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 24 April 2023; Credit: Reuters/Ralph Tedy Erol/File Photo

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - An independent expert to the United Nations (UN) condemned mass deportations of Haitians who had fled the country amid a humanitarian crisis driven by worsening violence from heavily armed gangs who control large swathes of the country.

In a statement following a visit to the Caribbean nation, William O'Neill said some methods used to repatriate about 176,777 migrants in 2022 do not comply with human rights standards and violate bilateral migration pacts. "I urge the authorities of the Dominican Republic to respect their commitments in this regard," he said, singling out Haiti's neighbour but calling on all countries in the region to end mass deportations, particularly for unaccompanied minors.

O'Neill said he was particularly concerned by reports of organ and sex trafficking of migrant women and children. Inside Haiti, he added, "relentless violence and systematic human rights violations" do not allow for the safe and dignified return of migrants.

Incidents of sexual violence in the capital Port-au-Prince doubled in May 2023, he said, citing credible information received. A UN report in 2022 found gangs were weaponising sexual violence to control communities through fear. In one incident in July 2022, the report found that at least 52 women and girls were collectively raped in the capital.

O'Neill also warned of a crumbling judiciary and deadly conditions in cramped jail cells, a nascent vigilante justice movement making summary executions and lack of public services leading to increasing recruitment of children into gangs.

He renewed so far unanswered calls for a "specialised international force" to support Haiti's out-gunned police, which Prime Minister Ariel Henry has requested since October 2022, though countries have been wary of supporting his unelected government.

He also deemed the UN sanctions regime "an important step" alongside prosecutions. Jimmy Cherizier, a former policeman and leader of the G9 gangs alliance who was sanctioned in October 2022, remains the only Haitian sanctioned under the regime.

"It is urgent to take action," O'Neill said. "The survival of an entire nation is at stake."