More than 2,400 people have been killed in Haiti since the start of 2023 amid rampant gang violence, including hundreds killed in lynchings by vigilante mobs.

This was revealed by the United Nations, Rights Office Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani on Friday, stressing that about 951 people have been kidnapped during the same period.

"Between January 1 and August 15 of this year, at least 2,439 people have been killed and a further 902 injured," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.

"Since April 24 up to mid-August, more than 350 people have been lynched by local people and vigilante groups," she said, adding that of those, 310 were alleged gang members and one was a police officer.

Access24 reports that the toll comes as gang violence in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince this week left 30 residents dead and more than a dozen injured.

The Spokeswoman therefore warned that a rise in popular justice movements and self-defence groups was spurring further violence.

In recent days violence in the neighbourhood has caused some 5,000 residents to flee, authorities said.

"Reports from Haiti this week have underscored the extreme brutality of the violence being inflicted on the population and the impact that it is having on their human rights," Shamdasani said.

She added that her boss, UN rights chief Volker Turk, was calling for urgent action to be taken on an appeal for a non-UN multinational force to be sent in "to support the Haitian police in addressing the grave security situation and restoring the rule of law".