The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to sound the alarm about rising violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Haiti, particularly in the department of Centre and the department of Ouest, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 570 others injured in gang-related violence, according to a new UN human rights report.
Gang violence in Haiti continues to have a devastating impact on the country's population. Since the start of 2025, waves of extreme brutality in the country have resulted in widespread casualties and the displacement of thousands of people. Some 80,000 people, including more than 40,000 children, have been forced from their homes in Haiti so far this year.
The past year has been already marked by a worsening humanitarian situation, with an intensification of violence resulting in deaths, injuries, massive displacement and the collapse of basic social services. In 2024, more than 5,600 people were killed in gang-related violence, while the number of displaced people more than tripled to over one million, more than half of them children.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), armed attacks in recent weeks in the communes of Saut d'Eau and Mirebalais in the Centre department have now displaced more than 30,000 people.
Displaced people in these communes are facing urgent humanitarian needs. Diseases have been reported among the displaced, as well as the presence of pregnant women and people with special needs, both in displacement sites and among host families.
Among the priorities identified by humanitarian agencies are the distribution of hot meals, mosquito nets, hygiene kits, and mattresses and sheets to improve sleeping conditions. Access to safe drinking water remains a major concern. Additional needs have also been reported, including clothing, blankets, kitchen kits, and tarpaulins to reinforce temporary shelters.
In an update on Wednesday, OCHA said the UN and its humanitarian partners are providing assistance, including food, hygiene kits, safe water and psychosocial support, in response to large-scale displacement in Mirebalais and Saut d'Eau.
Meanwhile, a report released Monday by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) and the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) notes that 262 people were killed and 66 others injured between January 27 and March 27 in the commune of Kenscoff in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince alone.
Members of the gangs used extreme brutality to instill fear amongst the population. Those killed included civilians, gang members and members of the security forces.
According to the report, in the especially violent attack, men, women, and children were executed in their homes, and others were shot on streets and paths as they tried to flee the violence, including an infant. Homes were also burned during the assault, and at least seven women and girls were subjected to sexual violence. More than 3,000 people fled the area.
Specialized police units, accompanied by the Haitian Armed Forces (FAd'H) and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, arrived in the area on January 27 - but only about five hours after the attacks began - and were able to push back the gangs at least in part.
The United Nations report noted that the delay in the security forces' response to the gang attacks, as well as government statements indicating that authorities had received information about the preparation of these attacks several days in advance, could indicate a lack of coordination between the leadership of the national police and the government.
OCHA said UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are committed to continuing to provide assistance as security permits, particularly with regard to the cholera outbreak in Haiti. However, the UN humanitarian office warns that response efforts remain severely limited due to insecurity, lack of access and underfunding.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1,300 suspected cases of cholera were reported in the first three months of the year, including 9 confirmed cases and 19 deaths. The overall case fatality rate is 1.65 percent, above the emergency threshold of 1 percent.
"Significant increases in suspected cases have been reported in Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince and in the town of Arcahaie, which included displacement sites where living conditions, as you can imagine, are very precarious," UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told journalists on Wednesday.
"The cholera response task force, working under the leadership of the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP), and supported by humanitarian and international organizations, continues active monitoring and intervention. "
At the same time, about 2.7 million of Haiti's 11.5 million people, including about 1 million children, live in areas where violence is hampering humanitarian efforts.
On Tuesday, the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) announced that it was withdrawing from two medical facilities in Port-au-Prince for at least three months as widespread violence intensifies.
The decision follows a targeted attack on March 15 against an MSF convoy travelling between Turgeau emergency center and the Carrefour trauma hospital. In the incident, four MSF vehicles were fired upon as the humanitarian organization was evacuating its staff from Turgeau.
"Our work elsewhere in the city and in Haiti will continue," MSF said, reiterating its call for the protection of medical staff, facilities, ambulances and patients as the widespread violence in Port-au-Prince continues to worsen.
The Caribbean Island nation has been plagued by gang violence and instability since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The national police force is understaffed and ill-equipped, and has been unable to stop the gangs that terrorize the population, especially in the capital. The UN estimates that gangs now control 85 percent of the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area (PPMA).
The ongoing armed violence has created a dire humanitarian crisis, with half of Haiti's population, some 6 million people, in need of humanitarian assistance, including 3.3 million children.
A record 5.4 million Haitians are facing acute hunger, including 2 million in emergency hunger (IPC Phase 4), suffering from extreme food shortages, acute malnutrition and high levels of disease. Children are particularly vulnerable, with at least 125,000 estimated to be acutely malnourished.
The health system, on the verge of collapse, faces severe challenges, crippled by both the most recent violence and years of underinvestment, with only about one-third of hospitals and health services in the PPMA fully operational.