The consequences have plunged the Caribbean nation into an ongoing political and humanitarian crisis. Currently, there are “unprecedented levels of lawlessness”, UNODC’s regional representative Sylvie Bertrand told UN News.

From Russian AK-47s and United States-made AR-15s to Israeli Galil assault rifles, a spike in trafficking increasingly sophisticated weaponry has gripped Haiti since 2021, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its latest report on the illegal arms trade in Haiti.

Many of these illegal weapons are behind recent news reports of random sniper attacks, mass lootings, kidnappings and attacks on prisons to free thousands of inmates, which in turn has displaced more than 362,000 Haitians who are fleeing the violence.

More firepower than the police

Some gangs are using arms trafficking to fuel efforts to expand their reach and claiming strategic locations that are stymying efforts to halt the illegal entry of even more weapons, according to independent expert and author of Haiti’s Criminal Markets Robert Muggah.

“We have a very disconcerting and unsettling situation in Haiti, probably the worst I’ve seen in over 20 years of working in the country,” Mr. Muggah said.

Trafficked predominantly from the US, these “deadly arsenals” mean that gangs have “firepower that exceeds that of the Haitian National Police”, according to the UN panel of experts charged with monitoring sanctions the Security Council imposed on Haiti in 2022 amid worsening armed gang violence.

The problem is that as more weapons get in, the more gangs expand their control over such strategic points as ports and roads, making it even more difficult for authorities to prevent arms trafficking, UNODC’s Ms. Bertrand said.

Consequences on the ground

Some of the consequences of rampant gang violence are unfolding across Haiti.

UN-backed analysis found that almost half of Haiti’s 11.7 million citizens needs food assistance, and mass displacement continues as people flee to safety. Hospitals are reporting a sharp rise in gunshot deaths and injuries.

“The increasing number of weapons in circulation as well as the upgrading of arsenals is having an impact on the lethality and severity of the wounds being inflicted,” medical staff in Haiti told the UN panel of experts.

© UNICEF/Roger LeMoyne and U.S. CDC

A fire burns as Haitians protest in 2022 over the government’s inability to provide security in the capital, Port-au-Prince. (file)

Mapping gang controlled areas

An estimated 150 to 200 armed groups now operate across Haiti, a country which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, said Mr. Muggah, who is an independent expert on security and development.

Right now, around 23 gangs operate in the metropolitan area of ​​Port-au-Prince, have divided into two large coalitions: G-Pèp, led by Gabriel Jean Pierre, also called Ti Gabriel, and the G9 Family and Allies, led by Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue.

In recent months, the two rival factions joined forces “in coordinated attacks” targeting the airport, the National Palace, the National Theatre, hospitals, schools, police stations, customs offices and ports, “effectively forcing their will and expanding their territory”, he explained.

“Gangs are in fact controlling very strategic areas of the capital and the main roads connecting Port-au-Prince to the ports and to the land borders as well as coastal towns and areas, where we see a lot of the trafficking happening,” Mr. Muggah said.

A burnt-out car serves as a barricade on a street in Port-au-Prince. With over 150 gangs operating in and around the country, all roads access in and out of Haiti’s capital are now under some gang control.

The demand: Large-calibre and ‘ghost guns’

Arms trafficking is a very lucrative business, even in small quantities, as the demand for weapons is increasing and prices are high, the panel of experts found. 

For example, a 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle costing a few hundred dollars in the US is regularly sold for $5,000 to $8,000 in Haiti.

Findings further documented the presence of “ghost guns”, which are privately manufactured with relative ease by purchasing parts online, thus avoiding the control processes that apply to factory-made firearms. These weapons are not serialized and are therefore untraceable.

Firearms confiscated during border checks.

The supply: US sources and routes

A small number of Haitian gangs are highly specialised in the acquisition, storage and distribution of weapons and ammunition, according to the UNODC report.

Most of the firearms and ammunition trafficked into Haiti, whether directly or via another country, originate in the United States, said UNODC’s Ms. Bertrand, adding that the weapons and bullets are typically purchased from licensed retail outlets, gun shows or pawn shops and shipped by sea.

Suspicions have also emerged of illegal operations involving unregistered flights and small airports along the south Florida coast and the presence of clandestine airstrips in Haiti, she added.

Trafficking crackdowns

UNODC has identified four trafficking routes using Haiti’s porous borders, two from Florida via cargo ships to Port-au-Prince and to the north and west coasts through Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas and others via container ships, fishing vessels, barges or small aircrafts arriving at the northern city of Cap Haitien and by land crossings from the Dominican Republic.

Most seizures made by US authorities have been conducted in Miami, and even though control agencies doubled the number of searches in 2023, authorities sometimes do not find illicit arms and ammunition, often hidden among tightly stacked packages of all shapes and sizes, according to UNODC.

To make “a significant dent in in the flow of arms in the country”, the UN agency is training “control units” in ports and airports comprising police and customs officers and the Coast Guard to identify and inspect high-risk containers and cargo and is working to facilitate their use of radar and other critical tools, Ms. Bertrand said.

People who fled their homes due to violence are now living in a school hosted in a school in Port-au-Prince.

International community must ‘step up’

But, security needs to be stabilised to improve Haiti’s ability to monitor and control all its borders, she said, adding that “law enforcement officers are very busy trying to contain the crisis in the streets of Port-au-Prince.”

Regarding the forthcoming UN Security Council-mandated multinational security support mission, Ms. Bertrand said it will be essential to “support the very courageous work that is already been being done by the police”.

Mr. Muggah agreed, saying that strengthening the Haitian National Police is “an absolute priority”.

“In a geopolitical environment where many of the actors are in some cases paralysed to respond”, he warned, the international community has an “incredibly important responsibility” to support Haiti in this time of critical need “because a bad situation could get dramatically worse if we don’t step up”.

Painting a grim landscape of the world’s war zones, Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, briefed ambassadors, citing grave concerns, from war-torn Gaza to gang-ravaged Haiti, where famine looms amid rampant violence and displacement.

Denying aid access has long-lasting effects on children’s wellbeing and development, she said.

Grave violations of international law

“Let me be very clear,” she said. “The Geneva Conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain key provisions requiring the facilitation of humanitarian relief to children in need. 

“The denial of humanitarian access to children and attacks against humanitarian workers assisting children are also prohibited under international humanitarian law.”

The UN’s engagement with combatants to end and prevent violations against children is critical, she said.

Unfortunately, data gathered for her forthcoming 2024 report shows “we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” she said, adding that “the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law continues to increase.”

“Without compliance by parties to conflict to allow safe, full and unhindered access for the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance, children’s survival, wellbeing and development are in jeopardy, and our calls are mere echoes in this Chamber,” she told the Council. 

“We cannot prevent denial of humanitarian access to children unless we understand it and reinforce our capacity to monitor and prevent its occurrence. We must get on with the job.”

A destroyed UN vehicle in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Gaza: Children facing ‘staggering’ conditions

Also briefing the Council, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, said that as conflicts proliferate around the world, grave violations against children continue, including in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar.

“The denial of humanitarian access is a particularly pervasive, multifaceted and complex grave violation,” he said. “These actions have devastating humanitarian consequences for children.”

Recalling his visit to Gaza in January, he said he witnessed a “staggering decline in conditions of children” amid widespread destruction, a “quasi blockage on the north of Gaza” and repeated denials for or delays in granted access of humanitarian convoys.

Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, briefs the UN Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict.

Killing aid workers ‘trying to feed starving people’

“Attacks on humanitarian workers have also gravely affected humanitarian access with the highest UN staff death toll in our history, our UNRWA colleagues in particular, and new attacks this week with the death of our World Central Kitchen colleagues, killing humanitarian workers trying to feed starving people,” Mr. Chaiban said.

As a result of these constraints, children cannot access age-appropriate nutritious food or medical services and have less than two to three litres of water per day, he said. 

“The consequences have been clear,” he warned. “In March, we reported that one in three children under two years of age in the northern Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, a figure that has more than doubled in the last two months.”

Dozens of children in the northern Gaza Strip have reportedly died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks and half the population is facing catastrophic food insecurity, he stressed.

Every month, thousands of people in Sudan still migrate to nearby countries like South Sudan and Chad.

Sudan: ‘World’s worst child displacement crisis’

In Sudan, the world’s worst child displacement crisis, the violence and blatant disregard for permission to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance essential to protect children from the impact of conflict in Darfur, in Kordofan, in Khartoum and beyond has greatly intensified their suffering, he said.

“We are seeing record levels of admissions for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) – the deadliest form of malnutrition,” the UN deputy chief explained, “but insecurity is preventing patients and health workers from reaching hospitals and other health facilities.”

Assets and staff attacked

Assets and staff are still being attacked, and the health system remains overwhelmed resulting in severe shortage of medicines and supplies, including lifesaving items, due to the severe interruption of the supply management system.

“Our inability to consistently access vulnerable children means protection by presence is simply not possible and that risks of other grave violations may escalate without an attendant rise in our ability to monitor or respond,” he said.

He called on the Security Council to use its influence to prevent and end the denial of humanitarian access to children, protect humanitarian workers and allow aid agencies to safely reach those in most need, across frontlines and across borders.

Watch the Security Council President for April, Vanessa Frazier of Malta, speak to reporters after the briefing on children and armed conflict.

Gangs reportedly control up to 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince, raising concerns that hunger is being used as a weapon to coerce local populations and hold sway over rival armed groups.

They control key routes to farming areas to the north and south and have disrupted the supply of goods, including food. 

This in a country which has a predominantly rural farming population which some believe could be self-sufficient in food. 

So, what’s gone wrong? 

Here are five things you need to know about the current food security situation in Haiti:

Are hunger levels rising?

There are some 11 million people in Haiti and according to the most recent UN-backed analysis of food security in the country around 4.97 million, almost half the population, needs some type of food assistance. 

Some 1.64 million people are facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity.

Children are particularly impacted, with an alarming 19 per cent increase in the number estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2024.

On a more positive note, the 19,000 people who were recorded in February 2023 as facing starvation conditions in one vulnerable neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince have been taken of the critical list.

WFP is working with farmers to supply food for school-feeding programmes.

Why are people going hungry?

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell said the current “malnutrition crisis is entirely human-made”. 

The key drivers of the current food insecurity are increased gang violence, rising prices and low agricultural production as well as political turmoil, civil unrest, crippling poverty and natural disasters.

An estimated 362,000 people are now internally displaced in Haiti and have difficulties feeding themselves. Some 17,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince for safer parts of the country, leaving behind their livelihoods and further reducing their ability to buy food as prices continue to increase.

According to the UN Security Council-mandated Panel of Experts on Haiti, gangs have “directly and indirectly threatened the nation’s food security”. 

Displaced people shelter in a boxing arena in downtown Port-au-Prince after fleeing their homes due to attacks by gangs.

The escalation of violence has resulted in economic crises, increased prices and exacerbated poverty. The gangs have disrupted food supplies by, at times, shutting down the economy by threatening people and mounting widespread roadblocks, known locally as peyi lok, as a deliberate and effective ploy to stifle all economic activity.

They have also blocked key transportation routes and levied extortionate, unofficial taxes on vehicles that attempt to pass between the capital and productive agricultural areas.    

In one case, a gang leader in Artibonite, the country’s main rice growing area and a relatively new focus for gang activity, issued multiple threats on social media, warning that any farmers returning to their fields would be killed. The World Food Programme (WFP) reported in 2022 that there had been a notable decrease in cultivated land in Artibonite.

Meanwhile, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that in 2023, agricultural production plummeted by around 39 per cent for maize, 34 per cent for rice and 22 per cent for sorghum compared to the five-year average.

How did we get to this point?

While the current hunger crisis in Haiti has been exacerbated by the control the gangs exert over the economy and daily life in Haiti, it has its roots in decades of underdevelopment as well as political and economic crises.

Deforestation partly due to poverty and natural disasters like flooding, drought and earthquakes, have also contributed to food insecurity. 

Trade liberalization policies introduced in the 1980s significantly reduced import taxes on agricultural products, including rice, maize and bananas, undercutting the competitiveness and viability of locally produced food.

What is the UN doing?

The UN humanitarian response continues in Haiti in coordination with the national authorities, despite the tense and volatile situation on the ground, especially in Port-au-Prince.

One of the key food-related activities is the distribution of hot meals to displaced people, food and cash to those in need and lunches for school children. In March, WFP said it reached over 460,000 people both in the capital and across the country through these programmes. UNICEF has also provided assistance, including school meals.

FAO has a long tradition of working with farmers and has been delivering essential support for the upcoming planting seasons, including cash transfers, vegetable seeds and tools to support agricultural livelihoods. 

The UN agency also continues to support Haitian-led national agricultural policies and the implementation of development programmes.

What about the long term?

Ultimately, the aim like in any underdeveloped country in crisis is to find the path towards long-term sustainable development which will include building resilient food systems. It’s a complicated situation in a country so dependent on humanitarian support provided by the UN and other organizations. 

The goal is to reduce import dependency on food and link humanitarian responses with long-term action on food security. 

So, for example, WFP’s home-grown school feeding programme, which provides lunches to students, is committed to buying all of its ingredients locally rather than importing them, an initiative which will support and encourage farmers to grow and sell crops that will improve their livelihoods and in turn boost the local economy. 

UN Haiti/Daniel Dickinson

Cacao fruit grow on a tree in Haiti.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has worked with farmers in the southwest of the country to grow highly nutritious breadfruit. Around 15 tonnes of flour have been milled, some of which is supplying WFP programmes.

ILO has also supported cacao farmers who have exported 25 tonnes of the valuable commodity in 2023. 

Both initiatives will boost famers’ incomes and improve their food security and according to the ILO’s country chief, Fabrice Leclercq, will help “to curb the rural exodus”.

Most agree, however, that without peace and a stable, secure society, there is little chance that Haiti will be able to significantly reduce its dependence on external aid while ensuring that Haitians get enough to eat.