“Haitians and our team tell me that (the situation) has never been as bad as it is now: unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, extreme poverty, a paralyzed economy, a resurgence of cholera and massive insecurity that creates a spiral of lethal violence.” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director.
Russell indicated that in the visit he just made to the country it became clear to him that the police do not have the capacity to protect the country and the population from violent gangs and that “something has to change.”
“As an international community, we have to say that we cannot watch this country completely fall apart,” he added. “And so my job is to try to draw attention to that problem and make sure that people understand how terrible this humanitarian crisis is, the impact it’s having on children.”
During a press conference, Russell repeated some of the stories she had heard at a center for survivors of gender-based violence in a dangerous area of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
An 11-year-old girl who was eight months pregnant told how five men grabbed her in the street and raped her, Russell said, adding that she gave birth days after their conversation.
Also at the center, Russell heard a woman describe how men broke into her home and raped her. And when her 20-year-old sister resisted, they killed her by setting fire to it and then burning down the house.
“They told me that this is part of a new strategy of the armed groups. They rape women and girls and burn their houses to make them more vulnerable and easier to control,” he said.
Russell’s remarks came a day after William O’Neill, who in April was named a UN expert on Haiti by the UN’s human rights chief, said at the end of a 10-day visit to the Caribbean island that a specialized international force is needed to combat gang violence and that an arms embargo should be imposed immediately.
“I found myself in a country hit by violence, misery, fear and suffering,” O’Neill said Wednesday, adding that all kinds of human rights are being violated. “It is urgent to take action. The survival of an entire nation is at stake.”
An understaffed and under-resourced police department struggles to fight rival gangs, which have become increasingly powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. The violence has led to increased famine as people are unable to leave their homes and trucks are unable to deliver goods.
The increase in homicides, rapes and kidnappings has led to reprisals and almost 200 people have died since April in attacks against suspected gang members.
The UN Secretary General, Antínio Guterres, called as early as October for the immediate deployment of an international armed force to stop gang violence and the worst human rights crisis on the island in decades. In April he warned that insecurity in the capital “has reached levels comparable to those of countries in armed conflict.”
Neither the United States, criticized for previous interventions in Haiti, nor Canada have shown interest in leading the operation. Instead, the international community has chosen to impose sanctions and send military materiel and other resources.
FUENTE: Associated Press
