Geneva (EFE).- The International Organization for Migration (IOM), one of the United Nations agencies, estimated today that the number of internally displaced persons in Haiti due to gang violence rises above 165,000 people.
In a statement, the organization assured that gang attacks, extrajudicial executions, kidnappings and gender-based violence are now part of daily life for Haitians.
In addition, the IOM denounced that the situation has worsened in the first three months of 2023, in which the number of people killed, injured or kidnapped increased by 30% compared to the previous quarter, reaching 1,630 people.
Displaced, exposed to the multiple crises in Haiti
Gang-caused displacement has now been compounded by torrential rains, which have caused severe flooding in the country in the past week, affecting at least 46,000 people and forcing another 13,000 to flee their homes.
In addition, on June 6, an earthquake of magnitude 4.9 on the Richter scale took place in the Caribbean country, which caused at least 51 deaths and 140 injuries.
The IOM affirmed that its efforts in Haiti are now focused on the distribution of basic items to those affected by the various crises that the country is going through.
One of the organization’s main concerns is guaranteeing access to clean and safe water for the displaced, who could also be affected by recurrent outbreaks of cholera.
However, the IOM observed in its latest data that the return of Haitian nationals to the country has intensified so far in 2023, when 61,600 people have already returned to Haiti, most of them from the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Cholera, lurking
At least 45,000 people have been infected with cholera in Haiti and 700 have died since the outbreak began in October last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, recalling that health problems are only part of the serious crisis. suffered by a country with a serious impact of violence.
“In Haiti, where many areas are controlled by armed gangs, levels of violence comparable to those in countries at war have been reached,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.
The organization’s top official stressed that disease and conflict, coupled with natural disasters in a country recently shaken by floods and earthquakes, have caused almost half of the Haitian population, or 4.9 million, to be in danger of suffering critical levels. of lack of food.
Along with cholera, the country is at risk of suffering outbreaks of other diseases such as tuberculosis, measles or polio, while its health services suffer serious deficiencies, said Tedros, who recalled that in 2021 less than half of the children in Haiti received his routine measles vaccinations.