Violent gangs control 60% of Haiti's capital, UN Aid Chief says

Close to 60% of Haiti’s capital is dominated by gangs whose violence and sexual attacks have caused thousands to flee their homes. According to Ulrika Richardson, UN humanitarian chief, gangs violence and sexual attacks have caused thousands to flee their homes. Violent gangs are using “very terrifying levels of sexual violence as a weapon” to instill fear and punishment. She said that nearly 20,000 people have left the capital Port-au-Prince facing “catastrophic famine-like conditions” as a cholera outbreak spreads throughout Haiti. Richardson painted a grim picture of a country in a downward spiral, with half its population in urgent need of food assistance. Haiti has a population of nearly one crore 13 lakhs.On a positive note, she said, schools are being reopened at the level of about 53% throughout the country, mainly in the south. Many of the 4 million children in Haiti haven’t had any proper education since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020, she said.
Richardson said insecurity has led to “massive displacement,” especially in the capital, where 155,000 people have fled their homes. She said that in mid-November, the UN launched an emergency appeal for 145 million US dollars to respond to Haiti’s cholera outbreak and rising hunger, but so far it has received just 23.5 million dollars. Richardson said the UN will be appealing for 719 million US dollars for Haiti for 2023, double the amount this year, because of the dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation. She said gang battles over territory and their criminal actions are tearing society apart and escalating insecurity. Political instability has simmered in Haiti since last year’s still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenal Moïse, who had faced protests calling for his resignation over corruption charges.

Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control in September just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Henry said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double. A gang led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, a former police officer, blocked the Varreux fuel terminal, setting off a fuel crisis. But despite the availability of fuel, Richardson said, the humanitarian, security and political situation is worsening, saying that “everyone is affected by the violence.” Hentry and Haiti’s Council of Ministers sent an urgent appeal Oct. 7 calling for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to dispatch an international military force to tackle Haiti’s violence and alleviate its humanitarian crisis.