The Un Envoy for Haiti Warns That "Some of the Worst Scenarios Have Come True"

The head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), María Isabel Salvador, warned the UN Security Council on Monday that "some of the worst scenarios" for the Caribbean country "have come true in recent months and weeks” where the spiral of violence has left more than 2,500 victims of incidents linked to armed groups during the first quarter of the year.

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Salvador recalled that since taking office a year ago he has highlighted the "multiple protracted crises" affecting Haiti, urging an "urgent need for action” especially in view of the security conditions for holding elections in a country that currently has no president, no prime minister or parliament.

"I provided a detailed account of the dramatic and endless spiral of unprecedented violence in the country. It is impossible to exaggerate the increase in gang activity in Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation and the worsening humanitarian crisis", he said, before regretting that only eight percent of the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti has been funded.

In this context, the head of BINUH has been "hurt" that her numerous appeals have not avoided the current situation in the country, with violent clashes between the two main gangs, which have left mass murders, assaults and burning of homes.

Systematic attacks on infrastructure, including police stations, human rights activists and journalists, have weakened institutions and deepened existing problems for the restoration of the law.