02/27/2024
United Nations, United States
On Tuesday, the UN launched an appeal for donations of $674 million to help 3.6 million people in 2024 in Haiti, a country ravaged by gang violence that is experiencing one of the world’s most severe food crises.
“In 2023, the violence perpetrated by armed gangs against the Haitian population continued to spread throughout the country, reaching isolated rural areas as the presence of the state eroded,” comments the UN in this humanitarian plan for 2024, describing the multiplication of gang attacks against hospitals, schools and places of worship.
With “the deterioration of the security situation, the near collapse of basic services, the impact of years of drought and shocks linked to natural disasters”, 5.5 million Haitians, out of a total population of over ten million, will be “in a state of profound vulnerability in 2024”, compared with 5.2 million in 2023.
The plan targets 3.6 million of these people in need, and requires 673.8 million dollars to do so, against a backdrop of chronic underfunding of humanitarian operations.
According to the plan, 45% of the population is now food insecure, including 1.4 million people at level 4 of the IPC classification (which goes up to 5), and 3 million at level 3. Among them, 250,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition.
Haiti is thus “one of the countries in the world where the food crisis is the most serious”.
In early January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled” by the “staggering level” of gang violence ravaging the country, noting that the number of homicides had more than doubled in 2023, with almost 5,000 people killed, including 2,700 civilians.
This “violence has seriously reduced access to basic services, particularly health and education”, he adds, referring to the kidnapping of doctors and the closure of over 700 schools.
And 45% of the population has no access to drinking water, a situation that is “particularly worrying” in the context of a cholera epidemic declared for October 2022.
In an attempt to help the police, overwhelmed by gang violence, the UN Security Council finally gave the go-ahead in October for a multinational mission led by Kenya to be sent to Haiti. Deployment is still pending.
Humaniterre with AFP
