Haiti Emergency Situation Report No. 22 (As of 9 May 2024) | OCHA

Haiti Emergency Situation Report No. 22 (As of 9 May 2024)

This report is produced by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Haiti in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the humanitarian situation in Port-au-Prince following the violence that broke out on 29 February. The report covers the period from 3 to 9 May 2024.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Humanitarian Coordinator, a.i., condemned the acts of violence targeting the population in Port-au-Prince neighbourhoods and reiterated his call for basic humanitarian standards to be respected.

  • Save the Children is sounding the alarm about the presence of children in several armed groups. Food vulnerability is cited as one of the factors behind this situation.

  • More than 8.4 million litres of drinking water have been distributed to nearly 70,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in 22 sites in Port-au-Prince since 1 March 2024.

  • The World Food Programme (WFP) has assisted more than 181,000 people in Port-au-Prince with school feeding, social protection, emergency response and resilience activities since 1 March 2024.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Port-au-Prince’ security situation continues to be characterized by armed groups’ persistent violence across much of the Haitian capital. This situation continues to have humanitarian consequences for people in affected neighbourhoods. National and international humanitarian actors continue to work in partnership and coordination to provide assistance with available resources and means of intervention.

Since 25 April, numerous attacks have occurred in the Delmas commune, with more than 5,100 people displaced to the Cité Numéro 2 and Solino neighbourhoods, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The Humanitarian Coordinator, a.i., condemned these attacks and called for the respect of basic humanitarian norms in a statement released on 6 May. Humanitarian partners continue to provide food, shelter, non-food items (NFIs) and protection assistance to affected people in Damas. This assistance will gradually extend to areas that are currently experiencing some access challenges. Since 29 February 2024, more than 90,000 people have been forced to move within Port-au-Prince, while nearly 95,000 others have left the metropolitan area for other parts of the country.

On 8 May, Save the Children issued a statement sounding the alarm about the presence of children in dozens of armed groups in Haiti. Many of these children were forced to join these groups, while others joined voluntarily as a survival tactic, the statement noted. Between January and March 2024, at least 82 children were killed or injured by violence related to the activities of armed groups, representing a 55 per cent increase compared to the last quarter of 2023.

The deterioration of the security situation in March has made it even more difficult for poor households to access food products, according to a FEWSNET report published on 6 May. Poor households continue to face Emergency-level food insecurity (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, Phase 4) in Cité Soleil, as well as in pockets in other communes in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Area (ZMPAP).

The Varreux Terminal, Haiti's main oil port, reopened on 3rd May. Between 3rd and 6th May, 1.1 million gallons of diesel and 1.9 million gallons of gasoline were shipped from Varreux. However, fuel distribution in the market remains challenging. Fuel supplies fail to reach the provinces, leading to a shortage and an active informal fuel supply market.