![Haiti Map](/sites/default/files/inline-images/haiti.png)
The country
Haiti is a Caribbean country on the island of Hispaniola and shares land borders with the Dominican Republic. After declaring its independence in 1804, Haiti became the first nation in the world to be ruled by former slaves. The country covers an area of 27,750 square kilometers. Its capital is Port-au-Prince. In 2024, the country has an estimated population of about 11.7 million people. Haiti is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the most fragile states in the world.
The humanitarian situation
In Haiti, millions of people need humanitarian aid to fight hunger, amid a deteriorating security situation. Armed gangs control or influence 90 percent of the capital. The country has a long history of natural disasters and remains highly vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes and floods. In January 2010, Haiti was hit by a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0, the epicenter of which was about 25 km west of the capital Port-au-Prince. It is estimated that more than 300,000 people died and about 1.5 million were left homeless. The earthquake was rated as the worst in the region in the last 200 years.
On 14 August 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Haiti, killing more than 2,200 people, affecting over 800,000 people and causing widespread destruction. The 2021 disaster exacerbated an already difficult humanitarian situation marked by ongoing political instability, socio-economic crisis, gang-related insecurity, internal displacement and increasing food insecurity and malnutrition.
The sociopolitical situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, while violence and crime are on the rise, especially in the urban areas of the capital. Kidnappings, killings and gang violence have worsened the economic situation and increased insecurity, particularly in Port-au-Prince, but also spreading to rural ares.
While nearly 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes in the country due to violence, others remain trapped in gang-controlled neighborhoods. The forced repatriation of thousands of Haitian citizens who had emigrated to neighboring countries has further aggravated the already critical situation in the country.
Widespread poverty, rising costs of living, low agricultural production, and expensive food imports have exacerbated existing food insecurity in Haiti, leaving many women, men, and children suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Some 4.97 million people are now facing acute food insecurity, including more than 1.6 million people at the emergency level, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released in March 2024.
In 2024, the United Nations estimates that 5.5 million - nearly half of the population - will be in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, an increase from the previous year. Humanitarian organizations say that $674 million are needed in 2024 to provide life-saving assistance to people targeted. As of June 2024, the UN Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Haiti is only 23 percent funded.
The violence in the Haitian capital has aggravated an already precarious situation for children and their families. 500,000 children have no regular access to schools, limited access to water and alarming malnutrition rates. Armed violence has intensified the number of children in Haiti suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), also known as severe wasting. More than 115,600 children were expected to suffer from severe wasting in 2023, compared to 87,500 in 2022.
Cholera broke out again in Haiti in October 2022. Between October 2022 and April 2024, Haiti reported a total of 82,000 suspected cases of cholera and 1,270 deaths from cholera. Experts fear that the actual number is significantly higher due to underreporting.
More than 5.2 million people required humanitarian aid in 2023, including nearly 3 million children. The United Nations 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti required US$720 million to help more than three million people. As of December, the HRP was only 33 percent funded. In July last year, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced it has been forced to cut the number of people receiving emergency food assistance in Haiti by 25 percent, due to dwindling funding levels.
The security situation
President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated on 7 July 2021, leading Haiti into an extra-constitutional governance structure and contributing to the country’s growing fragility. President Moïse's five-year term would have ended on 7 February 2022; his assassination plunged Haiti deeper into political crisis. As a result, the national parliament and regional elections were postponed indefinitely, and the new presidential election has not yet been scheduled.
On 20 July 2021, the Government of Haiti installed Ariel Henry as prime minister. As of June 2024, Haiti had no president, the parliament did not have any elected member and the Supreme Court did not function due to a lack of judges. On December 21, 2022, a National Consensus Agreement was signed by a broad spectrum of Haitian political figures, civil society members, clergy, trade unions and the private sector on a way forward on elections.
At the same time, kidnappings, killings and gang violence worsened the economic situation and increased insecurity, particularly in the capital. Approximately 150 criminal groups operate in Port-au-Prince, and its metropolitan region, many under two of the main criminal coalitions, the G-Pèp federation and the G9 alliance.
Gangs control or influence 90 percent of the capital, gain increasing control of Port-au-Prince, and have spread to other parts of the country. An estimated two million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas that are effectively controlled by gangs.
According to human rights groups and analysts, many of the gangs are linked to political actors. They also control strategic access routes in the country and have expanded their criminal activities throughout Haiti. Armed gangs commit serious abuses against the population, including large-scale sexual violence, forcing entire communities to flee.
Since June 2021 recurrent territorial clashes between rival gangs inside and around Port-au-Prince forced thousands of people to leave their homes. In 2022, a renewed wave of gang violence killed hundreds of people and further deepened the humanitarian and political crisis in Haiti, forcing ten of thousands more to flee their homes.
In 2023, killings, kidnappings, and sexual violence by criminal groups in and around Port-au-Prince, increased dramatically. According to the UN, at least 4,789 people were killed in Haiti, and 2,490 kidnapped in gang-related violence. The number of reported homicides for 2023 increased by 120 percent compared with 2022, the number of abductions by 83 percent.
Haiti has also seen an alarming increase in mob killings and lynchings of suspected gang members. Last year, hundreds of alleged gang members across all ten departments of Haiti have been lynched by local people and vigilante groups. At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023.
According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office, the number of victims of gang violence skyrocketed in the first three months of 2024. Between January and March 2024, at least 2,505 people were killed or injured as a result of gang-related violence, making the first three months of this year the most violent period since the beginning of 2022. At least 438 people were kidnapped during the same period. The rise is due to the deterioration of the security situation in the metropolitan area of Port-Au-Prince, the country's capital, particularly between the end of February and April.
As of June 2024, nearly 580,000 people, including 300,000 children, are internally displaced throughout Haiti, a 60 percent increase since March, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As of March 2024, more than 362,000 people were internally displaced in Haiti, most of them due to gang-related violence.
Haiti is now the country with the highest number of displacements due to crime-related violence in the world. According to the IOM, the increase in displacement is mainly due to the deterioration of the security situation in the Port-Au-Prince metropolitan area between February and April this year.
Ongoing armed attacks and clashes between armed groups and police in some communities in Port-au-Prince are causing new displacements and forcing previously displaced people to flee again. As violence intensified in the capital, some 95,000 people fled Port-au-Prince between March 8 and April 9.
In addition to displacement in and around Port-au-Prince, the upsurge in violence and the effective siege imposed by armed groups have forced increasing numbers of people to flee to neighboring provinces. Between April and June, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Southern Region has doubled from 116,000 to 270,000.
Tens of thousands have attempted to flee the country. Despite repeated calls from the UN that Haitians should not be forcibly returned to Haiti, other countries have returned more than 216,000 people to Haiti in 2023.
The United Nations warn that humanitarian access is seriously compromised by insecurity. The increase in gang violence has prompted the Haitian government to appeal to the international community for help. The government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry had asked for a rapid reaction force to be sent to Haiti to stop the gang violence. The call was supported by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk also called on the international community to urgently consider the deployment of a time-bound specialized support force.
On October 2, 2023, the United Nations Security Council authorized an international force to support Haiti’s police. Acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, 13 of the 15 council members voted for the non-UN Multinational Security Support Mission, while China and Russia abstained. The Mission's objective is to assist the Haitian police in curbing rising gang violence and restoring security in the Caribbean country.
Resolution 2699 (2023) authorizes the Security Support Mission for an initial period of one year, with a review after nine months. Kenya has volunteered to lead the Multinational Security Support Mission and has pledged approximately one thousand police officers. The Caribbean countries of the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Antigua and Barbuda have also agreed to contribute personnel. In addition, other African countries such as Chad, Senegal, and Burundi have announced that they will strengthen the multinational force.
After months of delays, four hundred Kenyan security officers arrived in Haiti in June 2024 as part of an international police contingent sent to quell rampant gang violence in the Caribbean nation. While it is unclear when the full force will be deployed, the arrival of the initial international police contingent is seen as the first of several milestones in the process of restoring security and prosperity to Haiti.
Earlier this year, Kenya's High Court ruled against the deployment, saying it was unconstitutional. Among the issues cited by the court was the lack of a "reciprocal agreement" between the countries. The Kenyan government eventually secured that agreement, but there is another lawsuit seeking to block the deployment. The High Court has yet to issue its decision. According to Kenyan President William Ruto, the East African country has fulfilled all legal, constitutional and international obligations to facilitate the deployment of the MSS mission.
Since late February 2024, violence has escalated in many neighborhoods of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as gangs launched coordinated attacks against key public institutions, aimed at overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. On March 1, heavy gunfire led to two prison breaks, plunging Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas into further chaos. More than 4,600 inmates escaped from the capital's two main prisons, and at least 22 police stations, sub-police stations, and other police buildings were looted or set on fire. Armed gangs also stepped up attacks on other critical infrastructure, including the international airport and the seaport.
Amid the ongoing violence and isolation, Haiti's health system has been severely impacted, leaving people without essential medical services. An alarming six out of ten hospitals in Haiti are barely functioning. More than 30 medical centers and hospitals have closed their doors, including the largest, L'Hôpital de l'Université d'État d'Haïti, due to vandalism, looting, or because they are located in unsafe areas. Only 20 percent of health facilities in Port-au-Prince are functioning normally.
Waves of displaced families seeking safety are putting additional pressure on local health services, which were barely able to cope with demand before the latest escalation of the crisis. The closure of the airport and ports between February and May has left medical facilities critically undersupplied.
Fighting between gangs around the capital's international airport had forced all commercial airlines to suspend operations. On May 20, the airport reopened and some commercial flights resumed. The UN says it is crucial that the airport is fully operational and the seaport reopened to ensure the entry of medicines and medical supplies into the country.
With regard to the crisis affecting the country's political institutions, there have been some encouraging developments in recent months.
On March 11, unelected Prime Minister Henry announced his resignation. Following his resignation, a transitional council was to take power. The proposal for a transitional council to govern violence-plagued Haiti emerged during a meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The council was tasked with selecting an interim prime minister and preparing for the next presidential election, as well as appointing an inclusive council of ministers. The interim government will serve until new elections are held.
On April 12, a formal decree was published establishing the Transitional Presidential Council. On April 25, the Transitional Presidential Council was inaugurated and former Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert was announced as interim prime minister. Ariel Henry resigned as Prime Minister. On May 28, Garry Conille was named as the Caribbean nation’s new Prime Minister. On June 11, Haiti's Transitional Council appointed a new cabinet.
The United Nations says Haiti needs a combination of a strengthened national police force, the rapid deployment of a multinational support force and credible elections to put the country back on the path to security and stability. The upsurge in violence in the country has exacerbated already dire living conditions for millions of people, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Donations
Your donation for the Haiti emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.
- World Food Programme: Haiti emergency
https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/haiti-emergency - International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC): Haiti earthquake and cholera
https://www.ifrc.org/emergency/haiti-earthquake-and-cholera - World Vision: Haiti Emergency Response
https://donate.worldvision.org/give/haiti-emergency-response-2
Currently, there are only a few active appeals for the Haiti Crisis. You may also consider making an unearmarked donation.
- UN Crisis Relief: Central Emergency Response Fund
https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/cerf - Save the Children US: Haiti Emergency
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/haiti-emergency - UNICEF: Haiti appeal
https://www.unicef.org/appeals/haiti - CARE International: Haiti
https://www.care-international.org/our-work/where-we-work/haiti - Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF): Haiti
https://www.msf.org/haiti
To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.
Further information
- UN Humanitarian (OCHA): Seven things to know about the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, October 26, 2022
https://unocha.exposure.co/seven-things-to-know-about-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-haiti - International Crisis Group: Haiti
https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/haiti - European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations: Haiti
https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/where/latin-america-and-caribbean/haiti_en - ACAPS: Haiti
https://www.acaps.org/country/haiti/crisis/complex-crisis - Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): Backgrounder: Haiti
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/haitis-troubled-path-development - United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH)
https://binuh.unmissions.org/en - Human Rights Watch World Report 2024: Haiti
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2024/country-chapters/haiti - Amnesty International: Report 2023/2024: Human rights in Haiti
https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/americas/central-america-and-the-caribbean/haiti/report-haiti/
Last updated: 03/07/2024