The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that persistent underfunding of the humanitarian response in Haiti - amid growing needs and rising violence - means millions of Haitians are missing out on vital assistance. OCHA said Thursday that stepped-up and sustained funding is needed to stem the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country.
Since late February this year, the humanitarian situation has rapidly deteriorated as gangs have escalated coordinated attacks in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area and the northern department of Artibonite.
Armed gangs control or influence more than 90 percent of Port-au-Prince and have spread to rural areas of the country. They have committed massacres, kidnappings, human trafficking and sexual violence. Attacks and violence by armed groups that escalated between late February and April have plunged Haiti into a dramatic security crisis, with civilians under fire far beyond the capital.
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 in the same period. The increase was due to the deterioration of the security situation in the metropolitan area of the country's capital, Port-Au-Prince, particularly between the end of February and April.
During the second quarter of 2024, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) recorded 1,379 murder and injury victims as a result of gang-related violence. Although this figure represents a 45 percent decrease from the previous quarter, the situation remains alarming. At least 428 people were kidnapped for ransom between April and June.
The highest number of deaths and injuries in this period were recorded in the capital and in Artibonite, where gangs continued their attacks on rural populations.
The upsurge in violence has pushed even more people into extreme vulnerability, not only in neighborhoods and localities affected by armed groups, but also in areas far from the capital that have become home to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Displacement has nearly tripled in the last 12 months, with more than 578,000 people, including 300,000 children, having fled their homes in search of safety. Between March and June alone, the number of IDPs increased by 60 percent. Half of the newly displaced fled the capital, Port-au-Prince, to southern Haiti.
While nearly 600,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, others remain trapped in gang-controlled neighborhoods. Haiti is now the country with the highest number of people displaced by crime-related violence in the world.
An estimated 2.7 million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas under effective gang control. According to UNICEF, an estimated 1.2 million children are at risk in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. 125,000 children are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition.
In an advocacy note released Wednesday, OCHA said there is growing concern that the epicenter of the humanitarian crisis is gradually expanding into areas previously spared by insecurity.
About 5 million people - half the population - are not getting enough to eat, with 1.64 million women, children and men at risk of starvation. The IPC's updated food security analysis, conducted in March 2024, showed a significant deterioration in the food situation, compared to 4.3 million at crisis levels or worse in the previous IPC projection.
Large numbers of people lack access to the health care they need, with only 24 percent of hospitals operating normally. Nearly 1.5 million children had their education interrupted during the last school year, while hundreds of thousands of out-of-school children are at risk of recruitment by armed groups.
OCHA warns that without additional funding, Haiti's humanitarian crisis will only grow more severe. The United Nations estimates that 5.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2024.
“It is urgent that the entire $674 million as outlined in the Humanitarian Response Plan is secured. Without it, the 3.6 million people targeted by the plan will face severely reduced chances of survival,” the advocacy note said.
Eight months into the year, the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) 2024 is just 33 percent funded with $227 million received.
“This is the same low level of funding that we have seen for the humanitarian response in Haiti over the past five years, in a country where needs have increased substantially,” OCHA said in an update Thursday.
However, the UN humanitarian office stresses that humanitarian aid is only part of the solution. It says the Haitian government, political actors and development partners must work together to find sustainable solutions to Haiti's structural challenges.
“While additional resources are urgently needed to stem the crisis, it is critical to find sustainable solutions to the humanitarian, development, security and other challenges that Haiti is facing.”
Further information
Full text: Haiti - Advocacy note for the immediate mobilization of resources, August 2024, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, published August 21, 2024
https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/haiti/haiti-advocacy-note-immediate-mobilisation-resources-august-2024