Kidnappings are on the rise across Haiti PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Kidnappings are on the rise in Haiti, with gangs increasingly targeting high-profile people and launching mass abductions as the country pushes to hold long-awaited presidential elections. At least 81 people were reported kidnapped between April and June alone, a 42% increase compared with the first quarter of the year, according to U.N. statistics. Those abducted include James Boyard, police inspector general and cabinet director of Haiti’s Defense Ministry.
He was kidnapped during broad daylight in June from Bourdon, a Port-au-Prince neighborhood considered relatively safe. He has not been released. Also kidnapped are well-known attorney Caleb Jean-Baptiste and Stéphanie Paultre, director general of Haiti’s National Office for Educational Partnerships, according to local media reports.
The kidnappings come as Haiti prepares to hold general elections for the first time in more than a decade. The country hasn’t had a president since President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence in July 2021, and violence has only surged since then. It exposes cracks, failures and the state’s inability to protect even its own.” Most Haitians do not report abductions of loved ones because they fear reprisals, higher ransoms or disrupting ongoing negotiations with kidnappers.
But in a rare move, Haitian attorney Dorime Boulos held a press conference in mid-September to announce a fundraiser to help free Jean-Baptiste. Boulos called for dialogue as he decried Haiti’s spiraling crises. In 2020, the abduction and killing of high school student Évelyne Sincère sparked large protests, with demonstrators demanding that the government take action.
In 2021, 655 kidnappings were reported, a 180% increase compared to the previous year. In 2022, reported kidnappings rose to 1,359 – more than double the previous year. Kidnappings surged to 2,490 in 2023, an 83% increase compared with the previous year, with a U.N. report noting that “gang members are increasingly resorting to wearing fake police uniforms to carry out kidnappings.” In 2024, at least 2,058 people were reported kidnapped.
That year, gangs at war with each other joined forces to target key government infrastructure, marking a new era of upheaval in Haiti’s chaotic history. In 2025, kidnappings fell nearly 40% to 1,268 reported cases, but they’re on the rise again, and the actual number of abductions is believed to be much higher because many go unreported. Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, speaking at a meeting during the recent U.N.
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