Format: 12 minutes - Report by: Maëva Poulet et Chloé Lauvergnier

Coming up on the France 24 Observers : a 12-minute special programme on the criminal gangs that have taken over much of Haiti, with chilling videos posted by the gangs themselves, and first-person accounts from residents caught up in the deadly fighting. For several months, Haiti has been facing an unprecedented wave of violence. More than 150 gangs are active in the country, imposing their law on a powerless state. Most of them are based in Port-au-Prince, controlling large parts of the country's capital. Massacres, kidnappings for ransom, clashes, stray bullets : everyday Haitians are the first victims. To produce this digital investigation, journalists Chloé Lauvergnier and Maëva Poulet reconstructed key events in the gangs' takeover of the city, using open-source investigation techniques (OSINT) to identify and geolocate amateur videos posted on social networks by gangs and residents, as well as images directly sent by their Observers in Haiti.

In collaboration with production company Upian, the France 24 Observers are airing in the 2022-23 season six exclusive digital investigations, available in four languages (French, English, Arabic and Spanish). To produce these investigations, the France 24 Observers team in Paris uses open-source digital investigation methods, known as "OSINT" (geolocation, cartography, etc.), along with human intelligence from a worldwide network of 5,000 amateur contributors. The system offers a different perspective on current events and often provides access to information that is inaccessible to journalists on the ground. In 2020, the investigative documentary Iran’s Hidden Slaughter won France's Diplomatic Press Award.