User:Compassionate727/Drafts/Bwa Kale

Bwa Kale is a grassroots vigilante movement that engages in extrajudicial killings of alleged gang members in Haiti.

Background
Haiti's gangs frequently rape women and children. They also routinely kidnap children for ransom and torture kidnapping victims.

According to a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, there were nearly 1,5000 gang-related killings between January and April 2023. The violence has forced school closures, impeeded access to healthcare, and worsened food insecurity. The Haitian National Police is understaffed and lacks resources and funding. Human rights groups have criticized state institutions and authorities for failing to hold gang members or their backers accountable for rising violence.

Haiti has a history of vigilantism. After the fall of the Duvalier dynasty, many members of the Tonton Macoutes and other suspected supporters of the family were lynched in what became known as dechoukaj. Vigilantism enjoys relatively high levels of legitimacy and support in Haiti.

Activity
The first known incident attributable to the movement occurred on 24 April 2023, when police in the Canapé Vert neighborhood in Port-au-Prince stopped a minibus transporting fourteen gang members, who were traveling from Pétion-Ville to rendezvous with an allied gang in another district. Police seized weapons and ammunition, cellphones, and contraband. The gang members were transported to the Canapé Vert police station, which was surrounded by mob. Police surrendered the gang members to the locals, who stoned them and burned them upon tires. The blaze attracted hundreds of spectators and cellphone footage of the incident immediately went viral on social media.

The next day, there were calls on social media for an "Operation Sharpen Machete" (Operasyon File Manchet), spread by some evangelical churches. Vigilantes in many neighborhoods erected barricades to block access. Gangs entering many neighborhoods met with alarms banged on pots and pans and people throwing rocks and taking potshots with handguns; in some cases, this resistance forced the gangs to retreat. Civilians armed themselves with machetes, sticks, and other improvised weapons and hunted gang members. Crowds stormed safehouses and police stations, dragging gang members into the streets and killing them.

Between 24 April and 24 May 2023, at least 160 suspected gang members were killed by vigilantes, according to. This resulted in what CARDH described as a "dramatic decrease" in gang-related violence, including kidnappings and murders. However, killings and kidnappings rebounded in the following months.

Reactions
Haitian Prime Minster Ariel Henry urged people to refrain from violence during his May Day speech, saying, "Don't let bad plans make us play sordid games." He also said, "I ask my compatriots, whatever they may have suffered at the hands of the bandits, to remain calm" and requested that citizens help by providing information about suspicious persons to the police.

Louis Henri-Mars, executive director of the Port-au-Prince peace-building group Lakou Lape, cautioned that vigilantism could ensnare innocent people or be abused for revenge in unrelated matters, and warned that it is not a long-term solution.