Madrid. Nearly half of the people who fled their homes due to gang violence in the Haitian capital are now living in makeshift shelters in “vulnerable conditions,” according to a survey by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). at a time when thousands of inhabitants fled a neighborhood that was attacked by criminal gangs.
Haiti accumulates almost 200,000 internally displaced persons, mostly attributed to the escalation of violence that is shaking the capital. Those who are forced to leave their homes usually end up in temporary accommodation offered by relatives, but almost half of those have already opted for precarious alternatives, a figure that according to the IOM practically doubles that registered at the end of 2022.
A mother of five children explained to the agency that at first they stayed with her sister, but the situation was already becoming “very difficult” for her, since they did not have space and could barely feed their three children. “My kids started arguing over food and sometimes over little things, so my sister couldn’t take it anymore and neither could I,” she recounted.
This is how they ended up in a makeshift village, where they are more at risk of suffering intercommunal violence, sexual attacks and discrimination, among other abuses. IOM works to provide shelter for these people with the essentials to survive.
More than half of these camps do not have latrines and poor hygiene raises fears of the spread of new diseases, in a country that has been especially prone to cholera in recent years.
In this context, at least 3,000 people fled the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood in the south of Port-au-Prince, which was attacked by criminals, a reporter from the Afp news agency found.
The criminals looted and set fire to the houses in the place, which caused several deaths, detailed a displaced person.
