More than 1 million displaced in Haiti as gang violence rages, UN says

Some Haitian Canadians are feeling stress and hopelessness after the United Nations migration agency reported more than one million people — a record number — have been displaced within the Caribbean nation.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Tuesday that "relentless gang violence" in the capital, Port-au-Prince, has fuelled a near-doubling of displacement and a collapse of health care and other services, as well as worsening food insecurity. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world.

"The latest data reveals that 1,041,000 people, many displaced multiple times, are struggling amidst an intensifying humanitarian crisis," the Geneva-based agency said in a statement. Children make up more than half of the displaced population.

Marjorie Villefranche, executive director of Maison d'Haiti, a community centre in Montreal, says she's been in touch with people in Haiti who have moved from Port-au-Prince to safer parts of the country, only for those places to also become unsafe. 

She says Canadians with family in Haiti are worried because it's hard to send money and, when they do, it's dangerous for people to go to the bank in Haiti for fear of being attacked. 

"It's very difficult. So there's a lot of stress for everyone in Haiti and in the diaspora too," Villefranche said. "And I think there is not much in the news. No one is talking about this, but this is a very stressful situation."

WATCH | Gang massacre in slum:

Haiti gang massacres at least 110 people, rights group says

1 month ago

Duration 3:17

At least 110 people were killed in Haiti's Cite Soleil slum when a gang leader targeted elderly people he suspected of causing his child's illness through witchcraft, the National Human Rights Defense Network says.

The figure marks a three-fold increase in displacement from the 315,000 displaced in December 2023, the IOM said.

Agency spokesperson Kennedy Okoth told a UN briefing in Geneva that the forced return of about 200,000 people — mostly from neighbouring Dominican Republic — to Haiti over the last year had worsened the crisis. Both countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Okoth said the number of displacement sites in Port-au-Prince has risen from 73 to 108 over the last year.

Disheartening but not surprising

Frantz André, who helps Haitian asylum seekers settle in Montreal, says the numbers are not surprising, and that the causes of the chaos are rooted in years of international involvement and exploitation of Haitians, including by Canada and the U.S.

"We are very saddened to see what's happening, because we feel that they're not giving Haitians the opportunity to deal with the issues," he said. 

André says he'd like to see the Haitian diaspora unite to condemn international interference, but says many Haitian Canadians he talks to have given up and stopped following the news.

"It's only getting worse. That's why they're giving up," he said. "They're saying there's nothing we can do, it's not getting any better."

The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden has strongly supported and expanded a temporary status program, which allows some foreign nationals from countries like El Salvador, Haiti and Venezuela to remain in the United States.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance have suggested that they would scale back the program and policies that grant temporary status as they pursue mass deportations. U.S. regulations would allow the extensions to be terminated early, although that's never been done before.

Asked whether the IOM had any concerns about possible changes to such U.S. protections, Okoth declined to comment about any specific country.

But he said that "deportation or any forced returns to countries that are already facing mounting security and humanitarian challenges is not something that is going to be beneficial to the group."

As Haiti continues to struggle with a surge in gang violence, the government on Tuesday swore in Mario Andresol as the state secretary of public security.

Andresol, who served as director of Haiti's National Police nearly 20 years ago, pledged to crack down on gangs and crime including weapons and drug trafficking.

"We have to think and rethink strategies to fight crime," he said at a news conference where he held a moment of silence for victims of violence. "Everyone needs to collaborate."

Joining Andresol was Haitian Prime Minister Alix Fils-Aime, who said he was taking responsibility for placing "the right people in the right job" to protect Haitians and provide security.

"The Haitian people deserve to live in peace,' he said, adding that the country faced multiple challenges. "If we work nonstop, that can be changed."

Last week, the UN Human Rights Office said more than 5,600 people had been reported killed in Haiti last year due to gang violence, a more than 20 per cent increase compared with the previous year. In addition, more than 2,200 people were reported injured and nearly 1,500 kidnapped.