ACTIONAID NEWSLETTER
Haiti’s triple crisis and its impact on women and girls
The ongoing gang violence in Haiti is having a devastating impact on women and girls as food insecurity reaches alarming levels. The UN estimates that over 4 million people are suffering from acute hunger, with 1.4 million facing emergency levels of hunger and requiring urgent assistance to survive.
Angeline Annesteus, Country Director of ActionAid in Haiti, said:
Amid the dire situation, ActionAid Haiti has seen women and girls further pushed to the brink of survival both in rural and peri-urban communities where we work. Women and girls are particularly affected by the increase in food insecurity. We have received reports of people skipping meals, selling their possessions for food, and facing heightened risks of exploitation just to put food on the table.
Everywhere you go, there are desperate mothers who have nothing to feed their children. This cannot be our future. The world needs to act now to stop the violence and provide urgent humanitarian assistance.
Over the past two months, an escalation in violence has disrupted daily economic activity and led to gross violations of basic human rights, resulting in the displacement of thousands of families. Shortages of economic empowerment activities due to the tight control of the gangs on markets is worsening the plight of women, especially those who are heads of households, like Sara, who lives in the Grand’Anse region of Haiti. She shared with us:
Gang violence has left us destitute. Because of the blockade of the roads that cut Port-au-Prince off from the southern regions, I am no longer able to buy products in Grand’Anse to sell in Port-au-Prince. My small business collapsed, and now I must use other coping mechanisms, like harvesting unripe crops, to survive.
Lovena, also a mother of two, shared:
Our lives are miserable. With the increase in food prices and the loss of my gardens due to drought, I often find myself with only a piece of bread and water to eat, and sometimes nothing at all in a day. The lack of access to food has severely affected the condition of my children, who suffer from malnutrition.
The impacts of food insecurity
Of the 4 million people grappling with acute food insecurity, women and girls make up over half of this vulnerable population, underscoring the disproportionate impact of the crisis on their wellbeing and livelihoods.
The food crisis not only deepens existing gender disparities but also amplifies the vulnerability of women and girls, compelling them to resort to detrimental coping strategies while heightening their exposure to various forms of violence, abuse, and exploitation. This dire situation urgently needs comprehensive interventions that address both immediate food insecurity and the underlying socio-economic factors perpetuating gender inequality.
Scaling up to scale out of this crisis
In addition to this ongoing work on the ground, ActionAid is calling for an urgent cessation of all violence to pave the way for a return to the rule of law. We are also pressuring the international community to continue to increase humanitarian assistance to meet the basic needs of food, clean water, sanitation, and women’s hygiene.
Sara Almer, Humanitarian Director at ActionAid International, said:
“Haiti’s people are caught in a web of despair – juggling between trying to survive gang violence and providing food and other basic needs for their families. The country is faced with acute malnutrition that is estimated to affect nearly 277,000 children under the age of 5 between December 2023 and November 2024.
With immediate action and scaling up of desperately needed humanitarian assistance to enable organizations on the ground scaling up their work we can help alleviate this suffering and also support the vital work of women’s and young people’s organizations on the frontline of the crisis in addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality.”
Haiti's Transitional Council Signals Its Creation Is Nearly Complete
Associated PressPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —
Members of a transitional presidential council who will be responsible for selecting a new prime minister issued their first official statement on Wednesday, pledging to restore "public and democratic order" in Haiti.
The statement, although signed by eight members of what is supposed to be a nine-member council, is still considered a sign that a contentious and drawn-out nomination process is ending and that the council might soon assume its official duties.
"We are determined to alleviate the suffering of the Haitian people, trapped for too long between bad governance, multifaceted violence and disregard for their perspectives and needs," they said.
The members noted that as soon as the council is officially installed, it will help "put Haiti back on the path of democratic legitimacy, stability and dignity."
The statement was issued nearly a month after gangs began targeting key government infrastructures across Port-au-Prince. They burned police stations, shot at the main international airport, which remains closed, and stormed Haiti's two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
Scores of people have been killed, and 17,000 have been left homeless.
The violence, which has subsided somewhat, has recently been focused on downtown Port-au-Prince.
The council members pledged to "execute a clear action plan aimed at restoring public and democratic order through the restoration of the security of the lives and property of the population, the relief of poverty and the achievement of free elections as well as the reforms necessary to the progress of the nation."
The members said they have developed the criteria and mechanisms to choose a council president, a new prime minister and a ministerial cabinet.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who remains locked out of Haiti, has said he will resign once the council is formally established.
"We are at a crucial turning point that calls us to unity. It is imperative that the entire nation comes together to overcome this crisis for the well-being of all and a future better for our country," the council members said.
Those who signed the statement were Fritz Alphonse Jean, with the Montana Accord group; Leslie Voltaire with Fanmi Lavalas; Louis Gerald Gilles with the December 21 Agreement political group, which is allied with Henry; Laurent Saint-Cyr with the private sector; Edgard Leblanc Fils with the January 30 political group; Emmanuel Vertilaire with the Pitit Desalin party; Augustin Smith with the EDE/RED political party; and Frinel Joseph as one of two nonvoting observers.
Smith recently replaced former nominee Dominique Dupuy, a UNESCO ambassador, who announced Sunday that she was resigning following political attacks and death threats.
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