United Nations, June 12 (IANS) UN humanitarians have voiced concern over the alarming rise in internal displacement as a result of violence in Haiti.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday said nearly 1.3 million people are now displaced across the country, citing figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
It represents an increase of 24 per cent since December 2024. It also marks the highest figure ever recorded due to violence in Haiti.
While the capital city of Port-au-Prince remains the epicentre of violence among armed groups, its expansion into other regions, particularly the Centre and Artibonite departments, has triggered large-scale displacement, said OCHA.
In the Centre Department, the number of displaced people has more than doubled in just months, increasing from 68,000 in December 2024 to over 145,000 in June this year, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the OCHA data.
In Artibonite, more than 90,000 people have fled their homes since December, and the Department of the North has seen an increase of nearly 80 per cent in displacement. Displaced families are often forced to settle in informal sites or overcrowded host households with limited access to basic services, said the office.
Since December, the number of spontaneous displacement sites has risen sharply — from 142 to 246 — with the most significant increase observed in the Centre Department, which previously had none. Today, it hosts 85 active sites. Meanwhile, 83 per cent of displaced people are hosted by families, creating additional pressure on already fragile rural communities, it said.
The IOM has scaled up its operations in the metropolitan zone of Port-au-Prince, reaching over 20,000 people with essential household items, delivering 3 million litres of clean water, and providing basic health care to 6,000 people. Mental health and psychosocial support have also been extended to more than 8,500 people, said OCHA.
It noted that this sharp rise in displacement comes at a time when humanitarian access is increasingly restricted, and funding remains critically low. Without urgent support to meet growing needs and address the structural drivers of displacement, the crisis will deepen further, placing even more pressure on already overstretched systems and communities.
–IANS
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