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Although the Ukraine-Russia war and the Gaza war have dominated the news, other countries have been suffering violent conflicts recently. In this ongoing series, I highlight contemporary wars and other conflicts that are too often overlooked.
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Haiti remains under the domination of feuding criminal gangs, while the Haitian government is unable to assert effective control of the country. The Haitian people suffer today from both gang violence, with thousands being killed annually, and severe deprivation caused by the gangs’ disruption of daily life.
The Haitians need humanitarian aid and safe havens. Both are scarce, though, particularly as other countries in the region are increasingly unwilling to offer refuge to Haitians.
Violence and Hunger at Home
Haiti’s current crisis began over three years ago, with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Since then, the country has lacked a legitimate, functioning government. Elections have not been held for eight years, the parliament has been dissolved, and the only governing body is a nine-member transitional council established in April 2024. The transitional council has been marked by in-fighting, though, and recently went through a leadership change.
At the grassroots level, Haiti’s power vacuum has been filled by organized crime, with gangs taking over much of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The gangs routinely kill and kidnap people: 4,789 people were killed in 2023 and more than 5,358 were killed in 2024.
An especially violent incident was a gang attack in October on the central Haitian town of Pont-Sonde that left over 88 people dead, including infants, and forced over 6,000 people to flee. The attack was retaliation against the town’s people allegedly supporting vigilantes who interfered with gang activities. An even larger gang-led mass killing reportedly took place in a Port-au-Prince neighborhood in early December. The United Nations estimates that over 200 people died in this massacre.
To reinforce Haiti’s overwhelmed, ineffective police force, hundreds of UN security personnel, most of them from Kenya, have deployed to Haiti. The security personnel have had some limited success in establishing control of parts of Port-au-Prince. The UN forces are out-numbered, though, and large parts of the capital remain under gang rule. The gangs also control three crucial roads linking Port-au-Prince to the rest of Haiti and have exerted their influence over smaller cities beyond the reach of the UN forces.
Observing the situation in Haiti, Godfrey Otunge, the Kenyan commander of the UN forces, said “What surprised me so much when I came here is how the gangs could dare to attack in broad daylight.” Junior Lorveus, a Port-au-Prince resident forced from his home by gang violence, commented on the UN forces, “They came to help us — and we do hope they will help us — but we see no difference yet.”
One Haitian man being treated for a gunshot wound at a Doctors with Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Port-au-Prince, told reporters about the constant gunfire in his neighborhood: “When [the gangs] come, you might be asleep, but then suddenly there’s shooting everywhere: rata-tata-ta.”
James Gana, a Nigerian doctor in the MSF facility, comments, “We’ve seen very, very big exit wounds; we’ve seen smaller ones; we’ve seen ricochets ... we see it all.” When the violence in the city has been most intense, the hospital has admitted 16 gunshot victims per day. Dr. Gana notes that because of the dangers of leaving home, some injured people have not been able to come to the hospital for 12 hours after being wounded.
Even more serious than the gangs’ overt violence are the disruptions to ordinary life caused by their activities. The International Organization for Migration reported in October that over 700,000 people, more than half of them children, have been displaced in Haiti. Roughly a quarter of these displaced people live in Port-au-Prince and lack access to basic services. The capital’s main public hospital is currently closed, for example.
Hunger is a serious problem. Gang violence has interfered with both farmers bringing their goods to market and people leaving their homes to buy food. The gangs also make delivery of humanitarian aid difficult. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the international organization that tracks food crises, reported in October that almost 6,000 Haitians are starving and another 2 million face severe levels of hunger.
The non-profit Mercy Corps provided two statistics that illustrate the magnitude of Haiti’s current crisis. In 2014, 2% of Haitians lacked adequate access to food. In 2024, almost 50% do.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric commented, “This is one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis around the world.” Joceline St-Louis, a Haitian mother of two boys, 5 and 1, put it more bluntly: “Food doesn’t come around very often… When an organization does provide food, there’s a major fight.”
Judeline Auguste, who depends on remittances to care for herself and her 8-year-old son, says, “It’s very rare that I can get a meal a day.” Jean Yonel, who fled gang violence along with his wife and seven children and currently struggles to make a living, says, “I can’t provide every day for these children…Sometimes we take just a spoonful of food and leave the rest of the food for the kids so they don’t die.”
Doors to Safety Closing Abroad
One possible escape for Haitians from their country’s turmoil is to emigrate abroad. Opportunities to find refuge in other countries are dwindling, though.
Many Haitians have fled to Haiti’s immediate neighbor, the Dominican Republic. However, the Dominican authorities announced in late 2024 that they would begin deporting Haitians who were in their country illegally. By early November, almost 61,000 people had been deported from the Dominican Republic back to Haiti.
Haiti’s Support Group for Returnees and Refugees says that, because of gang activities, some deported Haitians have not been able to return to their homes and are simply staying close to the Haitian-Dominican border. The activist group also says that people being held for deportation in the Dominican Republic are being kept without food or water in overcrowded jails, although Dominican authorities deny this.
Many Haitians in the United States also face an uncertain future. The Biden administration announced last October that it would not extend a program that made it easier for Haitians and other immigrants to come legally to the United States under a status known as “humanitarian parole.” Haitians and others covered by the parole program could stay in the United States for up to two years, while seeking longer-term legal means to stay in the country. In the absence of a humanitarian parole extension, though, Haitians who could not find some other legal means of staying beyond the two-year limit could be forced to leave.
Haitian refugees’ situation in the United States has become even more difficult under the new Trump administration. Among President Trump’s first acts in office was to end altogether the humanitarian parole program for Haitians and others, leaving the legal status of people admitted to the United States under this program unclear.
In the absence of humanitarian parole, Haitians are eligible to apply for residency in the United States under a designation known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS). However, President Trump indicated during the 2024 election that he might end this option for Haitians as well. Asked in October whether he would revoke TPS for Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Illinois, Trump replied “Absolutely I’d revoke it and I’d bring them back to their country.”
Ways to Help
The situation for Haiti’s people is dire and how to resolve it is unclear. Nevertheless, two positive steps are possible: to provide humanitarian aid to people in Haiti and to provide Haitians with a safe refuge in other countries.
To this end, American citizens should contact, by phone or email, their elected representatives in the House (https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative) and the Senate (https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm) and urge them to advocate for the following policies:
Allocate funds to relief efforts in Haiti by the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies; and
Contrary to the Trump administration, extend and expand the TPS program, restore the humanitarian parole program, and otherwise maintain programs that allow Haitians to stay in the United States.
People can also donate money to organizations providing aid to people in Haiti, such as Hope for Haiti (https://hopeforhaiti.com/).
The Haitian people are in great need. Providing aid and a safe refuge is the first step in helping them.