More than a million people are displaced in Haiti due to gang violence, about three times more than a year ago, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an agency of the ‘UN.
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“As of December 2023, we have recorded around 315,000 people displaced by violence. A year later, this figure has tripled to more than a million people displaced by gang violence in Haiti,” said IOM spokesperson Kennedy Okoth Omondi during a briefing. press.
The data specifically reveals that 1,041,000 people are displaced, more than half of whom are children.
“This figure is truly worrying,” said the IOM spokesperson, adding that this is the highest number of displacements due to violence in Haiti ever recorded.
Most people have been displaced several times.
“Haiti needs significant humanitarian assistance now to save and protect lives,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement.
“We must work together to address the root causes of the violence and instability that have led to so much death and damage,” she continued.
In the capital alone, displacement has almost doubled, increasing by 87%, “worsened by continued gang violence, the collapse of essential services – particularly health care – and worsening food insecurity”, added the IOM in the press release.
The majority of displaced Haitians rely on already overwhelmed host communities, including acquaintances, friends and families, for shelter, while others struggle in makeshift sites.
This crisis was worsened by the return of 200,000 Haitians to their country last year, most from the Dominican Republic, according to the IOM.
A poor Caribbean country, Haiti faces endemic armed gang violence and political instability.
The violence of these gangs, which according to the UN control 85% of the capital, does not seem to be weakening since the arrival in June of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS), dependent on the UN.
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