These Haitians are leaving the capital to seek shelter from the escalation of gang attacks over the past month.
:quality(50)/2023/07/06/64a68815cd1a7_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Reading time: 2 min
:quality(50)/2024/04/12/068-aa-10042024-1621715-66195ff5cbedb280503061.jpg)
The crisis is not easing in Haiti. Nearly 100,000 people have fled the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince in one month to seek shelter from escalating gang attacks, the International Organization for Migration announced on Friday April 12 ( IOM). Between March 8 and April 9, due to the intensification of violence by the gangs who control the majority of the capital, 94,821 residents left the city. These Haitians mainly joined the departments of the Great South which already welcomed 116,000 displaced people who had fled in recent months, the IOM said in a press release. The previous IOM figure showed 53,000 people having fled in three weeks between March 8 and 27.
While this data collection is carried out at the most used bus stations, the UN agency notes that these figures do not necessarily reflect the entire flow, with some displaced persons not passing through the collection points or passing through when the data cannot be collected. According to the new figures, 63% of people who fled the capital were already internally displaced, often having first taken refuge with relatives in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Some had even already been moved twice, three times, or more.
A majority of displacements due to violence
But the IOM has observed a new phenomenon. While at the beginning of March, those already internally displaced were the first to leave the capital, over time, those who had not previously been displaced also decided to leave. “This further describes the deterioration of the situation in the capital”, commented the agency. In total, 78% of people interviewed by the IOM also declared that they were leaving the capital because of the violence and 66% assured that they would stay outside. “as long as necessary”.
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. Highly contested, the latter announced on March 11 that he would resign to make way for a transition council. But this body has still not been enthroned.
