Haiti is facing multiple crises, including increased gang violence, political instability, forced displacement of more than 700,000 people, and widespread hunger.
UNICEF has reported a surge in the recruitment of minors by armed gangs, with the number of children recruited rising by 70% last year.
Ulrika Richardson, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, said: united nations news Learn about what the United Nations is doing to support the people of Haiti.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
UN News: How would you describe the current situation in the country?
Ulrika Richardson: In some parts of Haiti, there has been a horrific escalation of violence that is tearing at the very fabric of society. In the last three months of the year, horrific massacres took place not only in the capital, Port-au-Prince, but also in nearby Artibonite.
These cruel acts of dehumanization only deepen the collective trauma of the Haitian people.
We cannot ignore this reality. We must place these horrific events at the center of our response, urgently expanding mental health and psychosocial support programs and integrating them into long-term plans for stabilization.
As the United Nations, we are committed to staying in Haiti to help the most vulnerable people during the current crisis.
We must protect people who are currently extremely vulnerable. This is especially true in Port-au-Prince, where security forces do not have the capacity to protect citizens.
This means supporting hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people.
Families have often left their homes multiple times, so you can imagine the scale of the trauma they carry, and we need to make sure they live in decent conditions.
UN News: It seems like for every step you take, you take two steps back. The deployment of the multinational security support team appears to have been halted.
Ulrika Richardson: Of course, I’m hoping things will improve. We will never give up hope and we are working closely with the Government, the Transitional Government, civil society and the private sector to make 2025 a better year than 2024.
©WFP
Workers in Haiti prepare to distribute humanitarian aid.
Despite Kenya’s strong leadership through the non-UN Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), which we wholeheartedly applaud, the mission is still at a pre-deployment stage due to lack of adequate funding from the international community. We have received important contributions, but they are very limited and much more is needed.
Additional support is in the works. I just heard that more uniformed personnel and equipment will be deployed to the National Security Agency (mission). This move highlights our continued commitment to strengthening national security, an important step toward advancing Haiti’s humanitarian and development efforts.
How important is security to political stability?
Haiti’s government is working to advance an ambitious election agenda that includes constitutional reforms that call for economic recovery and investment in social peace.
Security is essential to creating an environment where citizens can and want to vote. But UN member states must redouble their efforts on all fronts today, not tomorrow, when it will be too late.
Haiti’s destiny is as bright as that of any other country. It must regain its place in the world as a symbol of hope, independence and freedom. There have been many mistakes, but we need to learn from yesterday and see how we can improve.
UN News: Can you explain these mistakes in more detail?
Ulrika Richardson: If we look at economic incentives, why has there not been investment in the country’s productive capacity? Now, the insecurity has discouraged foreign investors because they need some sort of stability guarantee.
But after the 2010 earthquake, there was a lot of investment never seen before anywhere in a country of its size. But how much of that money has been invested back into strengthening Haitian institutions?
© UNOCHA/Giles Clark
A police vehicle is passing in front of Port-au-Prince General Hospital.
Equally important is ensuring that Haitians lead this process. I speak not as a Haitian, but as someone who recognizes Haiti’s historic role as a founding member of the United Nations. Therefore, our engagement is based on deep respect for Haiti’s leadership and the vision of the Haitian people.
UN News: When we talk about the future, the first thing that comes to mind is youth.
And Haiti’s youth are at the center of discussions about development and security. What measures do you think will be important in the coming year to empower these people and prevent them from joining armed gangs?
opportunity. We need an alternative. We must continue to research what these alternatives are, and we must continue to do so. We want to enable young people and children to transition into becoming members of their communities.
Some young people are forced to join gangs and there is an explanation for this.
If you can’t leave the capital because finding a job elsewhere means no chance of risking your life on gang-controlled roads, your parents may have been murdered and education may not be an option. Do we expect them to do that?
Many children over the age of eight are now recruited by gangs to run errands and become informants.
Unfortunately, despite the sanctions regime, arms trafficking continues to occur. We need to put processes in place and get much better response rates from peripheral actors.
This is not impossible. There is a lot of human resources and a lot of creativity and desire to make things better for the country than in the past.
