GoKawiilOverview: Human Rights Watch says drone strikes in Haiti over a 10-month period have killed nearly 1,250 people, including 17 children, with no clear links to criminal groups. Carried out between March 2025 and January 2026 by Haitian security forces and private contractors from Erik Prince’s Vectus Global, the attacks with bomb-carrying drones over densely populated areas may represent extrajudicial killings, the organization reported.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday that drone strikes carried out in Haiti over the past year have killed at least 1,243 people, including 17 children, many of whom had no apparent links to the criminal groups the attacks seek to squash.
Launched by Haitian law enforcement forces and private contractors working for Vectus Global between March 1, 2025, and Jan. 21, 2026, the strikes also injured at least 738 people, according to the organization’s report. At least 49 of the injured appeared to have no ties to gangs or other criminal groups.
Vectus is a military contractor firm founded by American businessman and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince. HRW said the forces used explosive-equipped quadcopter drones in densely populated urban areas of Port-au-Prince, raising concerns that some strikes may constitute extrajudicial killings.
Given the potential for gangs to use vulnerable residents as human shields and Prince’s history of civilian abuses in Iraq, many warned Haitian authorities of potential repeats in Haiti when reports of the contract surfaced.
Neither Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, the Haitian National Police nor Vectus Global responded to requests for comment about the details in the HRW report.
“Haitian authorities must urgently take control of the security forces and the private companies working on their behalf before more children die,” said Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas Program at Human Rights Watch.
At least 141 operations took place, HRW’s report states. The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) has said 57 attacks occurred in the capital city between November and January alone, nearly double the 29 strikes recorded between August and October 2025.
One strike that drew attention from the United Nations occurred Sept. 20, 2025, in Simon Pelé, a neighborhood that is part of the Cité Soleil. Of the ten people killed, nine were children ages 3 to 12 who had no apparent connection to criminal groups.
HRW said its data shows an average of about nine deaths per strike, with the deadliest operation killing 57 people. The strikes occurred across nine municipalities in the West Department: Cabaret, Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets, Delmas, Kenscoff, Léogâne, Pétion-Ville, Port-au-Prince and Tabarre.
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