Surges in Violence in Haiti Push Basic Services to the Brink of Collapse

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 12 2025 – In 2025, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has grown increasingly dire amid the ongoing gang wars. With rates of displacement, child recruitment, food insecurity, physical violence, and sexual violence having skyrocketed in the past year alone, the national police have found it difficult to keep gang activity under control.

According to figures from the United Nations (UN), by the end of 2024, at least 5,600 Haitians were killed as a direct result of gang violence. The UN also estimates that over 85 percent of the nation’s capital, Port-Au-Prince, which contains roughly a third of Haiti’s population, is controlled by gangs. Entrances, exits, and key roads in the city have been compromised, which has significantly reduced mobility and has made civilian safety nearly impossible.

A surge of heightened insecurity in late January 2025 has also led to a rise in civilian displacements. It is estimated that over 6,000 Haitians have been displaced from Port-Au-Prince. Additionally, over one million people have been displaced as of January 2025, marking a threefold increase from the previous year.

On February 24, an armed group attacked the Delmas 33 neighborhood in Port-Au-Prince in which at least 20 people were killed, though true number of casualties is likely much higher. “What happened in Delmas 30 was a massacre. The gangs killed more than twenty people and burned their bodies. Some victims are unrecognizable,” said a member of the Delmas 30 neighborhood vigilante brigade.

Targeted attacks on educational facilities have exacerbated the high levels of child recruitment that have already been seen in Haiti. Geetanjali Narayan, a representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) informed reporters last month that gang coalitions had destroyed 47 schools in Port-Au-Prince, adding to the 284 schools that had been destroyed in 2024.

“The relentless attacks on education are accelerating, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without a place to learn…Videos capture piercing screams of children lying on the floor, motionless with fear, a chilling reminder that these attacks do damage far beyond the classroom walls. A child out of school is a child at risk,” said Narayan.

Narayan adds that approximately half of all gang members in Haiti are children. Eight to ten year-olds are often used as informants, with young girls being used for domestic chores. As these children get older, they take more active roles in perpetuating violence.

According to Ulrika Richardson, the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in the Republic of Haiti, women and children have been disproportionately affected by human rights violations. Since 2020, gang members have used sexual violence as a weapon of terror, which has increased by 1000 percent from 2023 to 2024.

Amnesty International issued a press release on February 12 that focused on the rampant levels of sexual violence in Haiti. They stated that abductions of young girls are common, with girls also being exploited by gang members for commercial sex. Threats of reprisals and the absence of law enforcement in gang-controlled areas make it nearly impossible for victims to seek justice or protection services. Limited healthcare services make the road to recovery difficult for many survivors as well.

“These violent criminal groups continue to extend and consolidate their hold beyond the capital,” said William O’Neill, a UN expert on the human rights situation in Haiti. “They kill, rape, terrorize, set fire to homes, orphanages, schools, hospitals, places of worship, recruit children and infiltrate all spheres of society. All this, with the utmost impunity and sometimes, as many sources point out, with the complicity of powerful actors.”

Heightened insecurity has also greatly exacerbated the widespread hunger crisis. On February 18, Action Aid, a humanitarian organization that strives to maintain social, economic, and environmental justice, released a press statement in which 200 families (roughly 1,499 people) in Jérémie and Roseaux were surveyed to analyze trends in hunger. The survey found that nearly 90 percent of all Haitians are going all day without eating.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), approximately 5.5 million people are acutely food insecure, which is roughly half of the nation’s population. From March to June, 2 million Haitians are projected to face emergency levels of hunger.

Armed gangs continue to disrupt critical routes for food distribution which has spiked up food prices, making it inaccessible for many. Roughly 85 percent of surveyed individuals reported having fallen into debt while 17 percent indicated that they make no income whatsoever.

Additionally, some households have been recorded surviving on only $1 USD per month. Girls have been reported to exchange sex for food, and pregnant or nursing mothers have faced serious complications as a result of malnutrition.

“What we’re witnessing in Haiti isn’t a food shortage – it’s a full-blown hunger crisis driven by violence, inflation and systemic neglect,” Angeline Annesteus, ActionAid’s Country Director in Haiti. “The markets still have food, but millions simply cannot afford it…The levels of hunger, suffering and death in Haiti are beyond disturbing, world powers are looking away or – even worse – actively disrupting humanitarian efforts. People will starve to death in the coming months unless urgent funding is released. There is no chance for peace and stability in Haiti while millions are facing starvation.”

In 2024, the international community launched a $600 million fund to assist in relief efforts for Haiti, receiving only 40 percent of the required total. 2025’s plan requires an additional $300 million, which has been attributed to heightened violence and limited access to basic services.

In January this year, the Trump administration ordered a 90 day pause on the distribution of foreign aid. The freezing of U.S. assets is projected to have a significant impact on relief efforts, particularly at such a dire time for Haiti.

“We continue to assess the impact of those termination notices on our programmes for children. But we already know that the initial pause has impacted programming for millions of children in roughly half the countries that we work…But even the strongest can’t do it alone…Without urgent action, without funding, more children are going to suffer malnutrition, fewer will have access to education, and preventable illnesses will claim more lives,” said UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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