Human Rights Watch: Unprecedented displacement in Haiti, due to failed security measures

One year after the deployment of the initial personnel to the United Nations-sanctioned Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in CARICOM Territory Haiti, reports indicate that violence and human rights violations continue to escalate.

This is according to a Human Rights Watch press release.

Persistent deficiencies in staffing, financial resources, and equipment have critically hampered the MSS’s capacity to curb violence, which HRW reports has grown more intense in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas. This ongoing violence has resulted in at least 2,680 deaths and 957 injuries, based on United Nations data.

The latest report from UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlights a disturbing surge in severe violations against children—from 383 cases in 2023 to 2,269 in 2024. Notably, there has been a twelvefold increase in documented instances of children being recruited and utilized by criminal groups, alongside a significant rise in rape and sexual abuse cases involving minors.

The violence has caused hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, with the number of internally displaced persons reaching nearly 1.3 million—the highest figure ever recorded in Haiti, as reported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“Every day, violence compels hundreds of Haitians to abandon their homes with only the clothes on their backs, seeking refuge in makeshift sites or other cities where they remain vulnerable and lack access to food and water,” said Nathalye Cotrino, senior Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Member countries of the UN should immediately reinforce the MSS. The UN Security Council must end its inaction and upgrade the MSS into a fully empowered UN mission equipped with adequate personnel, resources, and a mandate to effectively safeguard the Haitian population.”

In late April and early May 2025, Human Rights Watch conducted visits to Cap-Haïtien, the capital of Haiti’s Northern department. The release said that with assistance from the National Human Rights Defense Network (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains, or RNDDH) and Haiti’s Ombudsperson Office, researchers interviewed 33 internally displaced individuals who had recently fled Port-au-Prince, its metropolitan area, and other municipalities. They also  reportedly engaged with humanitarian workers, diplomats, and representatives from Haitian civil society and UN agencies.

Since the beginning of 2025, violent clashes involving criminal groups have intensified in previously secure zones, including Port-au-Prince, its metropolitan surroundings, as well as in Mirebalais and Saut-d’Eau in the Centre department, and Petite Rivière in Artibonite. This violence—including confrontations with self-defense militias often involving police officers and security forces—has displaced over 245,000 people, according to the IOM.

HRW stated that many interviewees were university students or professionals with stable employment and resources, such as homes or small businesses, who had previously been unaffected by violence until recent developments.

“I was living peacefully in my neighborhood. Then suddenly, security issues erupted,” recounted a 23-year-old civil engineering student displaced from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haïtien in March after an attack that resulted in his brother’s death.

“Men came, a lot of bandits. They started shooting. My family and I ran out of the house. While crossing the street, [my 19-year-old brother] was struck by a bullet. The bullet went through his head. After that, we fled to Cap-Haïtien. In my neighborhood, no one is left—only the bandits,” he shared.

Several interviewees reported that during recent assaults, criminal groups used messaging apps to send audio warnings, informing residents they had only hours to evacuate.

A 38-year-old plumber from Port-au-Prince, father to a six-month-old, stated: “The bandits sent messages to warn us… We knew they were coming, and they came. They stormed the neighborhood, ransacked homes, and the police abandoned their posts. They killed people, set houses on fire. I lost my home. Bodies were everywhere, and the smell was nauseating. We had to run to save ourselves.”

Human rights workers observed that criminal factions often set fire to homes on the outskirts of targeted neighborhoods to force residents—and sometimes police—to flee.

According to UN officials, these tactics seem aimed at depopulating areas to facilitate the expansion of criminal groups and eventually assume control of additional regions.

Many displaced individuals have moved multiple times, fleeing first within Port-au-Prince or nearby cities, then seeking refuge in Cap-Haïtien. Their journeys often involve dangerous bus rides through routes controlled by criminal entities, which operate checkpoints and extort passengers.

A woman from Cabaret—a northern suburb of Port-au-Prince long under criminal influence—shared her experience: “After being displaced several times within my area, I fled to Mirebalais to protect my 14-year-old daughter from sexual violence. But in late March, after criminal groups attacked Mirebalais, burning homes and killing several people, I had to leave again. I took refuge in a church in Hinche. My husband had gone out to work painting a house. I haven’t heard from him since… I just hope he’s alive. We left Hinche due to rumors of an imminent attack… Now we’re here in Cap-Haïtien, but I fear the violence will follow us.”

Currently, according to the HSW release, approximately 11 percent of Haiti’s population is displaced, residing across all ten departments. Over half (55 percent) of these displaced are women and girls. Most are hosted by relatives or living in informal shelters, facing critical shortages of food, water, healthcare, and other basic needs. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reports that over 8,400 individuals in displacement sites are experiencing famine conditions.

It further states that conditions in these informal camps are worsening, with more than 246 sites recorded as of early June 2025, each accommodating around 2,000 people. Many are living in overcrowded schools or public spaces, enduring severe protection vulnerabilities and inhumane conditions, as described recently by Haiti’s Office of the Ombudsperson.

The humanitarian response is severely underfunded, with the UN’s plan to assist 3.9 million Haitians out of the 6 million in need only eight percent financed.

The transitional government’s lack of a comprehensive national strategy for internally displaced persons has further impeded coordinated efforts to provide adequate support, says HRW.

The organization emphasized that the international community is not providing sufficient backing to bolster the MSS’s mission to protect civilians from criminal violence.

While eight countries signaled their intent to contribute personnel in 2024, only Kenya (the mission’s lead), Guatemala, El Salvador, Jamaica, and The Bahamas have deployed a combined total of 991 personnel—well short of the projected 2,500.

The MSS remains in need of additional funding to sustain operations through December and to establish the remaining nine of the twelve planned bases, which are crucial for territorial control and mission consolidation.

Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council to ensure the MSS receives the necessary personnel and resources to carry out its mandate effectively. The organization also called for transforming the mission into a fully-fledged UN operation with a mandate to uphold human rights and prevent further violence escalation.

“Violence in Haiti is worsening each day,” Cotrino stated. “The Security Council needs to stop waiting and make the MSS a UN mission. How many more killings, rapes, kidnappings, and child recruitments will it take for governments to realize what action is needed?”

For more reports from Human Rights Watch on Haiti, visit: https://www.hrw.org/americas/haiti