WASHINGTON, CMC – The US-based international non-governmental organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), on Tuesday said that at least 1,243 people have been killed by drone strikes in Haiti during the period March 1, 2025, to January 21, 2026, when Haitian security forces and private contractors conducted 141 operations.
HRW in its report said that among those killed were at least 43 adults who were reportedly not members of criminal groups, and 17 children. It said the data also showed that the drone strikes injured 738 people, and at least 49 of whom were reportedly not members of criminal groups.
HRW, which operates globally, conducting research and advocacy in over 90 countries, said that the strikes, at least some of which appear to be deliberate extrajudicial killings, have been carried out with quadcopter drones armed with explosives in densely populated urban areas.
“Dozens of ordinary people, including many children, have been killed and injured in these lethal drone operations,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
“Haitian authorities should urgently rein in the security forces and private contractors working for them before more children die.”
HRW said the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti has attributed the drone attacks in Haiti to a specialized “Task Force” established by Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé that is operated with support from the private military company Vectus Global.
It also said that the US ambassador to Haiti has confirmed that the US State Department issued a license to Vectus Global to export defense services to Haiti.
Human Rights Watch said it interviewed five relatives of people killed or injured in a September 20, 2025, attack, as well as six community leaders, doctors, and others who either visited the site or spoke to or treated victims afterward.
It said the researchers also interviewed the relative of a woman killed in a different drone strike on January 1, 2026, and that the Haitian-based National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH) and the Eternal City Child Protection Committee (KPTSL) facilitated the interviews.
It said that in the September 20 attack, a drone armed with an explosive device detonated near the “Nan Pak” sports and cultural complex in the Simon Pelé neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in Port-au-Prince, which is 90 percent controlled by gangs and where children had gathered for a gift distribution by the Simon Pelé criminal group.
HRW said it found that 10 people who were not members of criminal groups, including nine children ages three to 12, were killed.
“The number of armed drone attacks in Port-au-Prince has significantly increased in recent months, with 57 reported between November and January 21, nearly double the 29 from August through October. Over 40 per cent of reported killings took place between December 1 and January 21. The average number of people killed per operation is 8.8, with the most lethal operation killing 57 people,” HRW added.
Some people living in Port-au-Prince told Human Rights Watch that drones are a constant source of terror, leaving some afraid to leave their homes, Human Rights Watch said, noting that neither Prime Minister Fils-Aimé, the Haitian National Police, nor the private military company Vectus Global responded to Human Rights Watch requests for comment.
Human Rights Watch said researchers have received information about two failed tests of armed drones by criminal group members in May 2025. It said the UN Integrated Office in Haiti reported that criminal group leaders have tried to use and acquire drones.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Haiti has ratified, protects the right to life. Under international human rights law standards, states are required to ensure that law enforcement officers, including those employed by private security contractors working on behalf of the government, seek to minimize injury and preserve human life.
“The deliberate, lethal use of firearms and other weaponry is permissible only when strictly unavoidable to protect the life of any person. Any use of force, including nonlethal force, should be both necessary and proportionate.”
Human Rights Watch said Haitian officials have offered no indication that drone strikes were in response to any threat to life that might allow for the deliberate lethal use of force through such attacks.
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