UN chief Guterres visits Haiti as gang violence soars and 1.5 million displaced

UN Secretary-General António Guterres made a one-day visit to Haiti on Tuesday, witnessing the devastating impact of surging gang violence. According to UN statistics, over 2,300 people have been killed in Haiti so far this year, with another 100 kidnapped, while 1.5 million — more than one in ten residents — have been forced from their homes.

Over the past weekend, more than 30 people were killed, injured, or went missing in the Cité Soleil slum, as reported by the local human rights organization Cooperative for Peace and Development. Guterres’ convoy sped through a neighborhood once fully controlled by gangs, leaving behind shattered car dealerships, abandoned homes, and bullet-riddled concrete buildings. The powerful gang federation Viv Ansanm, designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US, is estimated to control 70% of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Guterres passed dozens of Haitians now living in makeshift shelters under canvas strung with frayed ropes. These are among the over 300,000 people displaced by gang violence across Port-au-Prince. In May alone, more than 18,000 fled the Cité Soleil slum, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Haiti’s displacement crisis is entering an even more alarming phase,” said IOM chief of mission in Haiti, Gregoire Goodstein.

Guterres first visited the headquarters of a new gang-suppression force approved by the UN Security Council in September, replacing a Kenyan-led mission that remained underfunded and understaffed. So far, Jamaica, Chad, El Salvador, and Guatemala have deployed fewer than 1,000 troops, who are to start operations in the coming weeks alongside Haiti’s National Police and Armed Forces.

He then held closed-door talks with Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who faces pressure to hold elections in the country of nearly 12 million, which has lacked a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. “We had a frank conversation about what’s happening in Haiti, the vision the government has for the future,” Fils-Aimé said, stressing that security is a priority for enabling elections and restoring republican rule. He added that Guterres could help ensure that countries backing the suppression force fulfill their commitments.

Guterres also visited a makeshift shelter in a former school housing over 1,200 people, sleeping side by side with only one meal a day guaranteed. Some have lived there for up to four years after gangs attacked their communities. “Solino is not ready,” said 31-year-old Clifford Lala about returning home. A group of women complained about the lack of privacy. Outside, a man banged on the metal siding, shouting, “We want to go back home!” Wendy Cejour, 26, told the Associated Press that he and his family have been at the school for a year and a half. “As long as we’re alive we have hope, but things are difficult,” he said. “We ask to return to our neighbourhood to live better, because we don’t have a life here.”

A day before the visit, Human Rights Watch published a letter urging Guterres to protect the population and address root causes of violence. The group called for a “full-fledged UN mission” in Haiti, stating that security measures alone would not suffice without effective victim protection, pathways to disengage from criminal groups, accountability for abuses, and coordinated humanitarian aid to restore access to basic goods and services.