“The Abyss of Despair” – A need to act for Haiti and its children – November 7, 2023 – Haiti

A Nation on the Brink

Often far removed from the headlines is a humanitarian crisis worsening by the day: the situation in Haiti. In recent months, a resurgence of armed violence has plagued daily life in Haiti with brutality and insecurity, particularly in the capital of Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas. It is estimated that over 200 gangs currently operate throughout the country, and the largest groups control up to 80 percent of Port-au-Prince. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found that between January 1 and September 30, 2023, 5,599 cases of armed-group-related violence were recorded, including 3,156 killings, 1,159 injuries, and 1,284 kidnappings, noting a sharp increase from the amount reported for the same period in 2022.

In recent years, Haiti has endured two powerful and devastating earthquakes – one striking the capital in 2010, killing an estimated 300,000 people, and another in August 2021 in Petit-Trou-de-Nippes, killing over 2,000 people. The earthquakes not only decimated communities but deepened preexisting security and economic crises. Before the second earthquake, the situation had already severely worsened in the country with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021. The assassination of President Moise exacerbated political and economic fragility that facilitated the ability of gangs to grow their power and control.

Following the President’s assassination, Prime Minister Ariel Henry served (and continues to serve) as Acting President. Prime Minister Henry’s leadership, however, is without a constitutional mandate, as he never officially received parliamentary approval. Due to continued cancellations of elections, today Haiti is without any democratically elected officials, as its remaining Senate seats were vacated in January 2023 following term expirations.

Such political turmoil has facilitated an astonishing level of impunity to thrive in Haiti with ruinous impacts on the civilian population. In a 2023 report, Human Rights Watch detailed the nightmare many Haitians are living, noting, “Killings in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and Artibonite are often accompanied by sexual violence, looting, burning of corpses in the streets, and burning or illegal occupation of houses, all of which have led to the displacement of thousands of people.” In August 2023, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that nearly 200,000 people were internally displaced in Haiti, often in inhumane conditions, with violence as the main driver for displacement. As impunity reigns, sexual violence, including gang rape, is used by gangs and criminal groups as a weapon to insert control and terrorize populations in areas controlled by rival groups.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that in the first five months of 2023, it assisted 1,005 survivors of sexual violence in Port-au-Prince – representing double the number registered during the same period in 2022.

Haitian authorities are outnumbered by gangs and lack adequate capacity to implement security measures. Additionally, allegations of police inaction and complicity in attacks have also been reported. Human Rights Watch wrote, “The Haitian government has failed to protect people from the violence of criminal groups. To those living in affected areas, the police and other authorities scarcely exist.” Following a plea from Prime Minister Henry a year prior, in October 2023 the UN Security Council convened a historic meeting where it authorized the deployment of an international security force, led by Kenya, to assist the Haitian national police in addressing the surging gang violence and restore security and accountability.

Unfortunately, a court in Kenya blocked the deployment of Kenyan police to lead the mission in Haiti and Kenya’s High Court must now rule on the case, said to take place on November 9.

Due to the security situation in Haiti as well as insufficient humanitarian funding, access to essential services and delivery of humanitarian aid have been critically impacted. An estimated 5.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, and 4.3 million people are in a food crisis. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) elevated Haiti to the highest concern level, where acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate from June to November 2023. The agencies recorded that “All the hotspots at the highest level have populations projected to face starvation…or are at risk of deterioration towards catastrophic conditions, given they have already critical food insecurity…and are facing severe aggravating factors.” Haiti is also facing an ongoing and dangerous cholera outbreak. As of September 2023, the country had 64,496 suspected cholera cases and 3,934 confirmed cases. Almost half of the cases are children under the age of 14.

As Haiti and the international community grapple with a worsening nightmare, no one’s survival and safety are more in jeopardy than that of Haiti’s children.