The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that more than 216,000 people were forcibly returned to Haiti in 2023, despite the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis, and despite repeated calls that Haitians should not be forcibly returned to the Caribbean nation. According to an IOM report released Monday, most of the Haitians were returned from the neighboring Dominican Republic - 96 percent - but also from the United States, Cuba, the Bahamas, Turkey, and Jamaica as well as Turks and Caicos.
Human rights groups say the forced repatriation of thousands of Haitian citizens who had emigrated or fled to neighboring countries has exacerbated an already critical situation in the country, where an estimated 5.5 million Haitians, nearly half the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) says no Haitians should be forcibly returned to the country "as long as conditions in the country present a real risk of serious harm and human rights abuses". According to the international rights group, such returns amount to refoulement, a violation of international law.
Refoulement is the forcible return of refugees and asylum seekers to countries or territories in which their lives or freedom may be threatened. The principle of non-refoulement is a cornerstone of international law and is binding on all states.
Haiti has been in turmoil since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse at his home in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petion-Ville on July 7, 2021.
Armed gangs now control or influence more than 90 percent of the capital and have spread to rural areas of the country. They have carried out massacres, kidnappings, human trafficking, and sexual violence. Recent attacks and violence by armed groups have plunged Haiti into a dramatic security crisis, with civilians under fire far beyond the capital.
An estimated 2.7 million people, including 1.6 million women and children, live in areas under effective gang control. 3 million Haitian children caught up in rampant gang violence are in need of humanitarian assistance, including thousands who are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition.
In the midst of a worsening security crisis, hunger in Haiti has reached unprecedented levels. Some 4.97 million people - nearly half the country's population - are now acutely food insecure, including more than 1.64 million people at the emergency level, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.
All areas of the country are classified as either crisis or emergency levels of hunger. Haiti relies on imports for half of its food and is facing the worst food insecurity in its history as gangs block major roads from agricultural areas to the capital, food prices rise, and the country's main airport has been closed since March 3 because of gang violence around it.
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 and 2,490 kidnapped in gang-related violence in Haiti. The number of reported homicides for 2023 increased by 120 percent compared to 2022, and the number of kidnappings increased by 83 percent.
Haiti has also seen an alarming increase in mob killings and lynchings of suspected gang members. Last year, hundreds of suspected gang members were lynched by local people and vigilante groups in all ten departments of Haiti. At least 528 lynchings 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 in the same period.
In early March, armed gangs launched coordinated attacks on key state infrastructure, including several police stations and two of the main prisons in Port-au-Prince, as well as educational and health facilities and religious sites. Fighting between gangs around the capital's international airport forced all commercial airlines to suspend operations, a situation that continues today.
As of March, there were 362,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, including 180,000 children and more than 150,000 women, 160,000 of whom were in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. According to the IOM, some 95,000 people fled the capital between March 8 and April 9, 60 percent of them to the southern departments.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today that people in some neighborhoods of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, are extremely vulnerable as armed groups continue to carry out coordinated attacks.
On Friday, the community of Gressier, south of Port-au-Prince, was attacked, and several homes were set on fire. According to local authorities, an unknown number of residents were forced to flee. On Sunday, a special unit of the Haitian National Police (PNH) regained control of the Gressier police station, which had been attacked by heavily armed gangs early Saturday morning.
Since late February, coordinated attacks by armed groups have targeted police stations, hospitals, schools, homes, churches, banks and commercial establishments, as well as the port and airport. Ongoing armed attacks and clashes between armed gangs and police in some communities in Port-au-Prince are causing new displacements and forcing previously displaced people to flee again.
The international port and airport of Port-au-Prince remain closed. Many health facilities are still closed or have drastically reduced their activities. Armed groups have also looted and occupied several hospitals, which are now unable to function, bringing the health system to the brink of collapse. Pharmacies in the capital have been looted, making it even more difficult for people to have access to medicines.
Aid workers continue to deliver aid when they can, despite insecurity and a massive funding gap. Despite the volatile situation, humanitarian organizations continue to provide emergency assistance to thousands of people in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other areas of the country.
Since March 1, the World Food Programme (WFP) has reached more than 800,000 people across the country through its school feeding, emergency and resilience programs. The UN agency has distributed over 825,000 meals to more than 95,000 displaced people in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area.
In March alone, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and its partners successfully reached 16,201 children under the age of five with appropriate treatment for wasting. More than 29,228 children were screened for malnutrition throughout the country.
Since the coordinated attacks that paralyzed the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, UNICEF and partners have provided approximately 2.66 million liters of safe drinking water to more than 30,000 displaced children and families.
Meanwhile, humanitarian organizations are warning that the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the country has reached alarming levels. According to a joint report released Friday by the Haitian government and aid agencies, the number of survivors of gender-based violence in March was five times higher than in January and February combined.
About three-quarters of the cases involve sexual violence, 94 percent of the survivors are girls and women, and 78 percent of the survivors are internally displaced. Gender-based violence perpetrated by members of armed groups accounts for 72 percent of reported incidents.
Humanitarian organizations continue to support survivors, with 90 percent of survivors receiving psychosocial support and 25 percent of rape victims receiving medical care within 72 hours of the incident. More than 1,300 dignity kits have been distributed to displaced people living in camps.
Despite the rise in gender-based violence, humanitarian organizations have received only 7 percent of the funding needed to prevent these incidents and support survivors.
Overall, the UN Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Haiti is just 17 percent funded. Humanitarian organizations estimate that $674 million will be needed in 2024 to provide life-saving assistance to millions of vulnerable people.
Further information
Full text: Haiti — Haitians forcibly returned to Haiti — Profiles, migration experience and intentions of Haitians returned in 2023, International Organization for Migration (IOM), report, published May 13, 2024
https://dtm.iom.int/reports/haiti-haitians-forcibly-returned-haiti-profiles-migration-experience-and-intentions