Haiti: Human Stampede in Capital, IOM
In Haiti the crissis grows as the social conflicts, Nov 2024 Photo: @ONUInfo
November 18, 2024 Hour: 5:57 pm
Criminal groups in the Haitian capital, the IOM warned, continue to expand, taking control of more neighborhoods and further isolating communities.
On Monday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that more than 20,000 people fled Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, in just four days due to increased violence.
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According to the communiqué, the registry contemplates more than 17,000 inhabitants who were already in 15 displacement sites; that is, they have been forced to escape again and again, leaving behind what little they had managed to rebuild.
“Such a scale of displacement has not been observed since August 2023,” warned the UN agency, which also lamented the difficulties for air traffic and access to the main seaport of the Caribbean country.
At the same time, the insecurity on the routes controlled by armed groups has placed the metropolitan area in a state of almost total paralysis; this aggravates the suffering of the population which was already in a situation of vulnerability, the statement added.
Criminal groups in the Haitian capital, the IOM warned, continue to expand, taking control of more neighborhoods and further isolating communities.
Formerly rival factions, which once clashed over territorial disputes, have joined forces and formed alliances to fight the efforts of the National Police, which is under great pressure to contain the growing violence, it said.
Gang-related violence left nearly 4,000 people dead in 2024, according to data from the United Nations Human Rights Office.
In addition, gender-based violence, including sexual violence as a weapon of terror, reached alarming levels: women and minors are disproportionately affected, with 94 percent of displaced women and girls at heightened risk of violence, the analysis indicated.
Port-au-Prince’s isolation “is worsening an already dire humanitarian situation,” said IOM Haiti mission chief Grégoire Goodstein.
With only 20 percent accessibility in Port-au-Prince, humanitarian workers, he said, face immense challenges in reaching the affected populations.
In this regard, IOM called for an immediate increase in funding and support for humanitarian operations in Haiti.
As of November, he revealed, the United Nations response plan, amounting to US$674 million, is still only 42 percent funded.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: HaitiLibre-The Independent
