More than 1,200 people were killed from July to September in Haiti – an increase of 27 percent from the previous quarter in the Caribbean country, which has been ravaged by gang violence.
According to a UN report released on Wednesday, 1,223 people were killed and 522 injured as a result of gang violence and the fight against gangs.
"This represents a 32 percent drop in killings and injuries compared with the first quarter, but an increase of 27 percent compared with the second quarter," it said.
Almost half of the deaths were attributed to gangs, but some 45 percent were reportedly the result of law enforcement operations.
"At least 106 extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions were carried out by law enforcement officials ... Among the victims were six children aged approximately ten years old," the report said.
The report also highlighted a 40 percent increase in the number of acts of violence committed by self-defence groups or unorganised members of the population, known as the "Bwa Kale" vigilante movement.
They made up some 8 percent of the overall killings.
At "least 122 individuals – either presumed gang members or accused of common crimes, including animal or telephone theft – were killed with extreme brutality by the population," the report stated.
"During these incidents, victims were mutilated with machetes, stoned, decapitated, burned alive or buried alive," it continued.
"Children were not spared. One of the most violent incidents took place in the locality of Les Palmes, in the commune of Petit Goave, where, on 5 September, a 15-year-old boy, accused of stealing a pig, was hit with a machete before being buried alive."
The report also said 170 people were kidnapped during those months and the persistent use of sexual violence against women and girls continues.
