more than 50,000 people fled the capital Port-au-Prince in the month of March alone

The UN already qualifiedin the situation of “cataclysmic”. Between March 8 and 27, more than 50,000 people fled Port-au-Prince, the vast majority to escape the gang violence ravaging the Haitian capital. “In addition to creating displacement within the ZMPP (Metropolitan Area of ​​Port-au-Prince), attacks and generalized insecurity are pushing more and more people to leave the capital to find refuge in the provinces, by taking the risks of passing through roads controlled by gangs”notes the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in its study released Tuesday April 2.

The first conclusions of this study reveal that 53,125 people left the metropolitan area during the period under review, of which 61% went to the departments of the Great South of the country. A region that already welcomes “more than 116,000 people who had largely fled the ZMPP in recent months”, notes the IOM. Eight in 10 people have left because of gang violence and almost 6 in 10 say they will stay out of the ZMPP “as long as necessary”.

Most Haitians take refuge with their families

More than half of people (53%) indicated that they chose their final destination because they came from there. Furthermore, almost all of the people questioned (97%) mentioned having a family who would welcome them.

Perhaps more surprisingly, when authorities in nearby countries feared a wave of refugees, 96% of those surveyed indicated they wanted to stay in Haiti. Only 3% want to go to the neighboring Dominican Republic and less than 1% to the United States and Brazil.

Haiti has no longer had a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and no longer has a functioning Parliament. The last elections were held in 2016. Since late February, Haiti’s powerful gangs have teamed up to attack police stations, prisons, the airport and the seaport in an effort to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.