Haiti humanitarian crisis deepens as gang violence spreads, pushing Port-au-Prince to the brink, warns Save the Children.
In just the first three months of 2025, violence and unrest forced more than 78,500 people to flee their homes—over twice the number from the same period last year. Aid workers warn that with nearly every neighborhood under gang control, civilians have no safe path out of the capital.
“Children in Haiti face a living nightmare,” said Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, Haiti director at Save the Children.
Collapse of Security and Government Desperation
Underfunded and overwhelmed, Haitian security forces are losing their grip. The country’s transitional presidential council, once a hopeful symbol of governance, has seen public support collapse amid the violence.
Council leader Fritz Alphonse Jean made a desperate move by aligning with a controversial paramilitary group—the Brigade for the Security of Protected Areas—once linked to rebel leader Guy Philippe, who returned to Haiti in 2023 after serving time in a U.S. prison for drug-related money laundering.
Kenyan-Led Mission Has Difficulties
Kenya is in charge of an international peacekeeping force, although it has lost members in recent gang-related conflicts. Three-quarters of the approximately 1,000 people already on the ground are from Kenya.
Relief Efforts Are Complicated by Foreign Aid Cutbacks
In January, U.S. President Donald Trump first suspended all foreign aid amid the turmoil. Save the Children concerns that overall budget shortages are making the situation worse, even if $64 million was eventually provided to help the Kenyan-led operation and Haitian police.
To mobilize Latin American support, former transitional council president Leslie Voltaire is in Honduras for a CELAC conference.
Haitians continue to endure a relentless cycle of violence, displacement, and instability, with no relief on the horizon.
Source: Reuters