The number of people displaced by gang-related violence in metropolitan Port-au-Prince has tripled in the past five months, according to a report released this week by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The assessment, conducted between June and August 2022, recorded more than 113,000 displaced people in Haiti, of whom 96,000 fled insecurity in the capital, due to inter-gang violence and social unrest.

Gang-related violence in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area has resulted in racketeering, kidnappings historical-consensus-for-an-inclusive-transition.html and broader criminal acts in a context characterized by deep inequalities, high levels of deprivation of basic human needs and a fragmented security environment.

Neighborhoods with the highest levels of violence often report economic hardship, recent food price spikes https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-38415-haiti-flash-inflation-out-of-control-reached-472-over-one-year.html and fuel further destabilizing already precarious livelihoods.

"Thousands of women, children and men have been forced from their homes to seek refuge from violence and destruction," said Ulrika Richardson, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Haiti. hard, hand in hand with humanitarian, government and local partners to help alleviate the hardships faced by many of the most vulnerable families.

The report was produced by IOM's Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), in coordination with Haiti's Directorate General of Civil Defense. DTM assessments provide accurate and regular data on internally displaced populations to inform evidence-based humanitarian action. These assessments mark the growth of displacement activities in Haiti, as IOM remains one of the main providers of data on population mobility, forced displacement and the humanitarian situation in Haiti.

An early warning system on forced displacement set up by the DTM shows that almost a fifth of neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince were affected by widespread violence in July.

HL/ HaitiLibre