The newly appointed United Nations Special Representative for Haiti has said that the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country demands that Haiti remains at the center of international attention and needs action now. In her first briefing to the UN Security Council Wednesday, Maria Isabel Salvador stressed that gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as outside the city.
Salvador, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), was appointed in March and took up her post this month. She painted a bleak picture of the situation in her first council briefing, reporting that kidnappings and killings are skyrocketing, rooftop snipers are targeting civilians, and many children no longer go to school for fear they may be caught in the crossfire or kidnapped.
To illustrate this, the Special Representative cited data collected by the Haitian National Police and the UN Mission. In the first quarter of last year, she said, close to 700 criminal incidents - defined as homicide, rape, kidnappings and lynchings - were reported. In the same period this year, that number had risen to 1,647.
Salvador said that some residents have begun to take matters in their own hands, as two days ago, a group of civilians seized 13 suspected gang members from police custody, beat them to death and burned their bodies.
The Special Representative warned that the Haitian National Police force is severely understaffed and ill-equipped to address the violence and criminality, with deaths, dismissals and resignations cutting it from 14,772 to about 13,200 personnel â requiring urgent international support.
Despite positive steps towards the establishment of a Provisional Electoral Council â a critical milestone for eventual elections â Haitians continue to suffer one of the worst human rights crises in decades, with gangs using sexual violence to terrorize populations, and children among the victims of killings, kidnappings and rape.
She further noted that nearly half the population - 5.2 million people - needs humanitarian assistance, with the internal displacements increasing by 50 per cent in the commune of Port-au-Prince compared to November 2022. Salvador called on the Council to work urgently to break the vicious circle of violence.
The Special Representative said that Haiti requires immediate assistance to counter armed gang violence and to develop its policing capacity. She also reiterated the urgent need for the deployment, authorized by the Security Council, of an international specialized force.
âThe Haitian people cannot wait â we need to act nowâ, she stressed.
In the following debate, Member States agreed that the appalling violence, humanitarian situation and complete instability have reached levels that threaten to turn Haiti into a failed state.
Haiti's foreign minister intensified his government's appeal to the international community to help break the grip of armed gangs that are terrorizing the capital and large areas of the island nation.
"Haiti is in danger, and it urgently needs the assistance of the United Nations family to make it through this turbulence," Jean Victor Geneus told the 15-nation U.N. Security Council.
"The deployment of an international force remains vital if we are to stem the violence we are seeing, the violations of human rights, and restore the rule of law, creating conducive conditions for the holding of credible elections," Geneus said.
"I would like to issue an urgent appeal for international cooperation to assist us to restore security to the country."
Geneus warned that âHaiti cannot wait any longerâ.
In early October, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed a request from the Haitian government to send an international specialized armed force to assist Haiti's National Police in addressing the spiraling insecurity and a deepening humanitarian crisis. But more than six months on, there has been little interest from the international community in getting involved and the situation has further deteriorated.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 80 per cent of Haitiâs capital is under the control or influence of gangs. There are at least seven major gang coalitions and some 200 affiliated groups in Haiti.
The country's police force is undermanned and ill-prepared to take them on. The UN says there is a ratio of 1.2 police offers for every 1,000 Haitians. Since the beginning of the year, gang members have killed at least 22 police officers. There were also more than 800 confirmed homicides, mostly in the capital, between January and the end of March.
According OCHA, between 14 and 19 April, clashes between rival gangs in Cité Soleil led to the death of nearly 70 people, including 18 women and at least 2 children. Another 40 people were injured. Cité Soleil is a densely populated commune located in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area (PAPMA). The UN office says that many schools and health centers in the area are now closed. The clashes have also restricted access to essential goods and services.
In a recent report OCHA warned that access to health care for Haitians is significantly hampered by insecurity, the lack of local health facilities and the cost of care. Approximately 48 percent of hospitals in PAPMA are located in areas under gang influence or control. Several health facilities have been forced to close due to attacks on their patients, staff or facilities.
In a statement Sunday, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, stressed that the security and humanitarian situation in many areas of Cité Soleil, with a population of several hundred thousand, has reached alarming levels.
âFighting is raging in CitĂ© Soleil. The situation in Brooklyn, for example, is dramatic. The population feels under siege. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of gun violence and gang terrorâ, Richardson said.
She reiterated the importance of ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access, as well as the protection and respect of health, education, humanitarian and critical personnel and infrastructure, including for water supply.
Violence, 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. According to the latest IPC food security analysis, 4.9 million people - more than 40 percent of the population â are acutely food insecure. About 1.8 million people are suffering from emergency levels of hunger.
The United Nations estimates that more than 5.2 million people (46% of the population) will require humanitarian aid in 2023, including 2.6 million children. Humanitarian organizations say that $715 million are needed this year to provide life-saving assistance to people affected by the complex crisis.
Further information
Full text: As Haiti Slides into Violence, Its People âCannot Wait Any Longerâ for Assistance, Foreign Minister Tells Security Council; Mission Head Urges International Help to Support Law Enforcement, Tackle Gangs, UN Security Council, press release, SC/15266, April 26, 2023
https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15266.doc.htm
Full text: The Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti alerts on the crisis raging in Cité Soleil, OCHA press release, published April 23, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/humanitarian-coordinator-haiti-alerts-crisis-raging-cite-soleil
Full text: Haiti: Humanitarian note - Series - New paradigm Issue 2: The impact of violence on access to health care, OCHA report, published April 23, 2023
https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/haiti-humanitarian-note-series-new-paradigm-issue-2-impact-violence-access-health-care-23-april-2023