Kazim AlamHaiti’s spiralling humanitarian crisis – triggered by relentless gang wars – has become a silent call for help in a world turned deaf by screaming headlines.
Even a recent US Senate bill targeting the Caribbean nation’s criminal networks seems to have brought little global attention to the escalating gang violence, which has caused hunger, mass displacement, and a breakdown of governance in the country of nearly 12 million people.
The apparent indifference towards the plight of Haitians is in stark contrast to a worldwide surge in Haiti-related Google searches in 2021 when the assassination of President Jovenel Moise plunged the country into a power vacuum.
Diego Da Rin, a Haiti analyst at the International Crisis Group, tells TRT World that gangs are “close to securing full control” of Port-au-Prince, the capital city and home to one-third of the country’s population.
“They control all major roads into and out of the capital and have long dominated areas surrounding key ports, where they impose increasingly steep extortion rackets on goods and fuel shipments,” he says.
After the killing of President Moïse in July 2021, Prime Minister Ariel Henry assumed control of Haiti amid widespread protests and without any parliamentary approval. His inability to hold elections or address rising gang violence led to his resignation in April 2024, following coordinated gang attacks that paralysed the capital.
One in every two Haitians faces acute hunger. Over 60 percent of medical facilities in the capital have shut down due to gang violence. The capital’s airport has been closed after the gangs fired at commercial planes last November.
Gangs have also expanded beyond the capital, recently taking over the towns of Mirebalais and Saut d’Eau, says Rin. In response, residents occupied the country’s main hydroelectric plant located near these towns to demand government action, plunging Port-au-Prince into a blackout that has now lasted over a week.
There are reports that many young men joined the gangs because “high unemployment and lack of opportunities” left them with no other choice.
A country in disarray
The transitional presidential council, formed in April 2024, struggles with internal disputes and logistical challenges.
In May 2024, it appointed Garry Conille as prime minister and replaced him with Alix Didier Fils-Aime six months later. His mandate to organise elections by February 2026 faces steep hurdles due to insecurity and a dysfunctional electoral system.
Both the prime minister and the presidential council have shown commitment to holding general elections, which are supposed to be preceded by a constitutional referendum initially planned for February and then pushed to early May.
But the security situation has continued to deteriorate, making it dangerous for people to vote.
“This could directly influence the results of presidential, legislative, and local elections… it remains unlikely that the authorities will be able to meet the February 2026 deadline for transferring power to a newly elected government,” says Rin.
Links between gangs and members of the police and individuals from the elites have further undermined efforts to contain their growing power, Da Rin says, adding that elections should not take place until at least a minimum level of security is restored.
Meanwhile, all international efforts to stabilise Haiti have faltered.
Led by Kenya and authorised by the UN Security Council, the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission began in 2024, but remains understaffed and underfunded.
Haiti’s request to transform the MSS into a UN peacekeeping operation – supported by the US but opposed by Russia and China – aims to secure stable funding, but faces logistical and political barriers.
“Nearly a year after deployment (of the Kenyan-led security mission) started, only 40 percent of the expected personnel are on the ground,” Da Rin says.
The government is now turning to private security companies in an effort to prevent gangs from taking full control of the capital and overthrowing the transitional government – something gang leaders have openly declared as their goal.
A medical disaster in the making
The political dysfunction has compounded the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. Nearly half of Haiti’s population — 5.5 million — requires urgent aid as gang blockades have disrupted food and fuel supplies.
Claire Waterhouse, the head of operations support unit at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), tells TRT World that six in every 10 health facilities in Port-au-Prince are either closed or non-functional. Those that are still open suffer shortages of staff, equipment and specialised services.
“Our structures are operating at capacity. Every day, our doctors, nurses and drivers take major risks to get to work. Some are trapped in their homes, others caught up in the fighting. Our structures themselves are exposed,” says the representative of MSF, which runs one of the only two trauma centres still operating in the capital.
“Stray bullets regularly fall within the confines of our medical facilities, just metres from our patients and teams,” she says, adding that the situation could turn into a humanitarian catastrophe without rapid intervention from the outside world.
As the country grapples with political instability and widespread poverty, vulnerable minors find themselves trapped in the violent web of gang recruitment with little hope of escape.
Is foreign intervention needed?
Haitian gangs use guns that are trafficked largely from the US and across the land border with the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Making ‘desperate’ calls for international intervention, Haitian Defence Minister Jean-Michel Moise recently said the country was on the brink of being “fully controlled” by criminal gangs.
He called for the easing of restrictions on selling arms to the Haitian government in view of the gangs’ easy access to smuggled weapons.
Wolf Pamphile, founder and executive director of the think tank Haiti Policy House, tells TRT World that foreign intervention missions restore a “manipulated equilibrium” while leaving the country perpetually unstable.
“Focusing solely on dismantling existing gangs is short-sighted. Unless the incentives for corrupt actors to employ gangs are removed, new ones will inevitably emerge,” he says.
Direct interventions involving troop deployments in the past might have provided a “deceptive sense of security” but insecurity returned soon after their withdrawal, he adds.
“Elite networks within Haiti play as big of a role in destabilising the country as international actors. They often have shared interest,” he says, adding that restoring peace requires holding everyone from gang members to politicians and business elites accountable for their crimes.
