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UN: Haiti Registers Seventy Violent Deaths in Five Days

  • Gang member. Apr. 24, 2023.

    Gang member. Apr. 24, 2023. | Photo: Twitter/@Salonsocial

Published 24 April 2023
Opinion

"...has reached an alarming level..."

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Haiti (OCHA), from April 14 to 19, an altercation between rival gangs culminated in a distressing escalation of violence that resulted in seventy fatalities and forty casualties, in the high-risk areas of Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince.

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According to available data, the number of casualties includes 18 female individuals and 2 children, along with a report of 12 women having sustained injuries. As per the statement issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the prevailing conditions pertaining to security and humanitarian aspects in numerous regions of Cité Soleil, home to a populace of numerous hundred thousand, "has reached an alarming level."

"Women and children are particularly exposed to gang brutality," the document reads. According to the informant, the ongoing hostilities have gravely impinged upon the populace's liberty in terms of mobility and acquisition of indispensable commodities and amenities. The combat has additionally resulted in the closure of many schools and health centers in the area.

"Clashes are escalating in Cité Soleil. The situation in Brooklyn, for example, is dramatic. People feel under siege. They can no longer leave their homes for fear of armed violence and terror imposed by gangs," said Haiti Humanitarian Coordinator Ulrika Richardson.

Furthermore, apart from the issue of armed conflict, the inhabitants of Cité Soleil are confronted with a grave state of food insecurity, and the location is considered a high-risk zone for the current outbreak of cholera. The exacerbation of the sanitary and living conditions in the locality has been attributed to the incessant downpour witnessed in the preceding weeks.

The suburban locale of Cité Soleil, at the foot of the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, is flooded by waste from the capital. As a result, the garbage completely blocks access to the Brooklyn neighborhood, impeding the ingress of all vehicular traffic, including tanker trucks. The entity stated that the present circumstances are conducive to the resurgence of the cholera epidemic and the dissemination of other similar outbreaks.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti emphasized the criticality of unobstructed conveyance of humanitarian assistance to individuals in distress, as well as safeguarding the safety and security of vital personnel, infrastructural facilities, and basic amenities such as water supply, education, and healthcare. The maintenance of safe accessibility to fundamental services, resources, and humanitarian aid is of paramount importance to ensure the sustained well-being of the populace. The ultimate imperative is for individuals to securely and respectfully exist with assured safety and human worth, as established by the concluding statement.

In recent months, Haiti has experienced an exacerbation of socio-economic and political turmoil.

The country is currently grappling with escalated levels of violence and the reemergence of cholera, thus far constituting a grave public health concern with a death toll of nearly 600 as of October 2022.

The Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, made a formal entreaty for the deployment of foreign military personnel in light of the aforementioned circumstances. However, this call for assistance remains unheeded as of present.

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