Gang violence leaves Haiti facing ‘worst hunger emergency in the western hemisphere’
Half of all Haitians are struggling every day to find food as rampant gang violence and lawlessness are causing “the worst hunger emergency in the western hemisphere”, a report has found. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and its partner organisations estimate that 5.4 million Haitians are now regularly finding it hard to get enough to eat, a record for the Caribbean nation and the largest proportion of acutely food insecure people anywhere in the world, WFP said. The figure suggests another 600,000 people have fallen into “crisis” level hunger since the previous peaks recorded earlier this year and in 2023. A coalition of 12 leading aid agencies has called for immediate action to alleviate the escalating hunger crisis as gang control of major roads blocks food supplies and causes huge price rises. “Without immediate action the hunger crisis in Haiti will continue to deepen, with devastating consequences for millions of vulnerable people,” civil society groups in Port-au-Prince, including Action Against Hunger, Save the Children and Mercy Corps warned in an open letter. Ten years ago only 2% of Haiti’s population was food insecure but the country was plunged into chaos when its president Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021 and gangs have since seized control of more than 80% of the capital. An explosion of gang violence earlier this year – which forced Haiti’s interim leader Ariel Henry to step down – brought shipping and airport operations to a halt, blocking food getting into the import-dependent country. The added cost of gang tolls on major roads combined with inflation and ever deepening poverty means food now accounts for up to 70% of total household expenditure, the 12 NGOs said. Supplies from southern Haiti, a key region for food distribution, have been blocked for months, said Angeline Annesteus, president of Cadre de Liaison Inter-Organisations (Clio), an association of 80 Haitian and foreign NGOs. “While markets may still have food, violence and inflation have driven prices out of reach for millions,” Annesteus said. “What we’re witnessing in Haiti isn’t a food shortage – it’s a full-blown hunger crisis.” Two million Haitians are now at “emergency” hunger levels, WFP said, which is one step away from famine. Follow link for full story...