By Jaya Ramachandran
GENEVA | 30 March 2024 (IDN) — A UN report has called for immediate and bold action to tackle the “cataclysmic” situation in Haiti. The international community has funded only seven per cent of 624 million US dollars in response to the UN humanitarian appeal in February for the Caribbean country.
It covers the period from 25 September 2023 to 29 February 2024. It includes information provided by the Human Rights Service of the UN’s special political mission in Haiti, BINUH, and the High Commissioner’s designated expert on the human rights situation in the country, William O’Neil.
Corruption, impunity and poor governance compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have eroded the rule of law in the Caribbean country and brought state institutions close to collapse. The impact of generalised insecurity on the population is dire and deteriorating, severely affecting human rights.
Gang violence killed 4,451 and injured 1,668 people in 2023. The number of victims has risen steeply in the first three months of 2024:1,554 killed and 826 injured up to 22 March. Gangs continued to use sexual violence to brutalise, punish and control people. Women have been raped during gang attacks on neighbourhoods, in many cases, after seeing their husbands killed in front of them.
According to the report released on 28 March, some women are forced into exploitative sexual relations with gang members. In addition, the rape of hostages continues to be used to coerce families into paying ransoms. Sexual violence remains severely underreported and largely unpunished.
Gangs continue to recruit and abuse children—boys and girls—who are unable to leave gangs’ ranks for fear of retaliation, which, in some instances, has led to young gang members being killed for trying to escape. Daily life is also disrupted by gang restrictions on the movement of people, goods and services.
“All these practices are outrageous and must stop at once,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “Tackling insecurity must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering. It is equally important to protect institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been attacked to their very core,” said Mr Türk.
In parallel to the intensification of gang violence and the inability of the police to counter it, so-called “self-defence brigades” have continued to emerge and take justice into their own hands, the report says. At least 528 cases of lynching were reported in 2023, and a further 59 in 2024.
The report also highlights how, despite an arms embargo, there is a reliable supply of weapons and ammunition for the gangs coming through porous borders, resulting in the gangs often having superior firepower to the Haitian National Police.
Deploy multinational mission
The report calls for tighter national and international controls to stem weapons and ammunition trafficking into Haiti and reiterates the need for the urgent deployment of a multinational security support (MSS) mission to back up the police force.
The UN Security Council authorised the mission’s deployment in October 2023, and Kenya has offered to lead it. “It is essential that the mission effectively integrates human rights into the conduct of its operations and establishes a compliance mechanism to mitigate and minimise harm,” Mr. Türk said.
The report reiterates the urgent need for an urgent deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission to help the National Police stop violence, effectively protect the population, and restore the rule of law in the country. “It is essential that the mission effectively integrates human rights into the conduct of its operations and establishes a compliance mechanism to mitigate and minimise harm,” said the UN Human Rights Chief.
The report emphasises that enhancing security alone will not bring long-lasting solutions, and calls for policies aimed at the restoration of the rule of law and the prevention of violence to be pursued. “Widespread corruption and dysfunction of the justice system greatly contribute to the pervasive impunity for grave human rights violations, and they need to be addressed urgently,” said Türk.
“Accountability is paramount to restore public trust in the rule of law and the state institutions,” he added. The High Commissioner also called on all national stakeholders to engage constructively in dialogue to facilitate a political agreement that allows a democratic transition leading to free and fair legislative and presidential elections.
Additionally, despite an arms embargo, there is a reliable supply of weapons and ammunition for the gangs coming through porous borders, resulting in the groups often having superior firepower to the police.
Children in crisis
Separately, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned this week that the armed violence is deepening the nutrition crisis for Haiti’s youngest citizens.
Recent findings from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis revealed an alarming 19 per cent increase in the number of children estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.
Moreover, 1.64 million people are facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity, which increases the risk of child wasting and malnutrition, especially in eight areas of the country.
Education under fire
UNICEF strongly condemned an arson attack by armed groups on a school in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on 25 March. The school was left burnt, depriving over 1,000 children of their right to education.
The number of schools forced to close due to violence and insecurity has risen in recent months, UNICEF Representative in Haiti Bruno Maes said in a statement the following day.
As of the end of January, a total of 900 schools had temporarily closed, affecting roughly 200,000 children. Threats to school security are particularly acute in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and in the northern part of nearby Artibonite province.
“In a country facing increasingly complex conflicts and instability, education can never be considered merely an option; it must be acknowledged as a necessity, a matter of survival, and a key to social stability,” he said.
UN support continues
Meanwhile, UNICEF and other agencies are continuing their lifesaving operations in Haiti. The UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported that more than two million litres of water have been distributed to displaced people over the past month, and more than 263,000 hot meals have been provided since the end of February.
The UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, continues to offer integrated services through mobile clinics. For example, 230 people, including 130 women, received services at one its mobile clinics held on 26 March. UNFPA has completed a needs assessment in supported health facilities in Ouest and Artibonite provinces.
Plans are underway to deploy medical equipment to 14 health facilities next week, including ultrasound scanners, electrosurgical units, anaesthesia machines and delivery tables. The two provinces will also receive emergency reproductive health kits covering post-rape treatment, midwifery supplies, reusable equipment, and repair of cervical and vaginal tears, among others, in future deployments. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo: Children in Haiti line up for a hot meal and water distributed by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Port-au-Prince. © CAPAC/Jean Vadler Presume.
IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate.
