(Source: CNW)
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned Thursday that escalating gang violence in Haiti’s capital is crippling humanitarian access, worsening hunger, and forcing the agency to slash food rations and suspend life-saving programmes amid a severe funding crisis.
WFP reported that more farmers are now cut off from markets, placing further strain on fragile food systems and driving food prices higher. Due to funding shortfalls, the agency has had to cut rations in half and suspend hot meal services for newly displaced families. For the first time, it has also been unable to preposition food supplies ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Despite extreme insecurity, WFP said it has assisted more than 2 million people in Haiti since January, while also continuing longer-term food security efforts. These include working with the government to provide daily school meals for 600,000 children and launching targeted infrastructure projects — even in gang-controlled areas — to restore irrigation systems and strengthen local food production.
Haiti remains the only country in the Americas, and one of just five globally, with people facing catastrophic (IPC5) levels of hunger, equivalent to famine-like conditions. Overall, 5.7 million Haitians are suffering acute food insecurity. WFP estimates it requires $139 million over the next 12 months to reach the most vulnerable families.
In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council that Haiti’s human rights situation has “reached a boiling point,” citing more than 16,000 people killed and 7,000 injured in gang-related violence since monitoring began in January 2022.
Türk urged the international community to provide sufficient funding and personnel to Haiti’s Gang Suppression Force. “We can and must turn this situation around for the people of Haiti,” he said.
