As Haiti endures one of its darkest chapters in recent memory, a cascade of violence, displacement, and human rights abuses has left the Caribbean nation teetering on the brink. Gangs have tightened their grip on daily life, forcing more than 1.3 million people from their homes as of August 2025, according to United Nations reports. Yet, as the violence escalates, international aid is dwindling, and the country’s security apparatus faces mounting allegations of lawlessness and brutality.
Women and girls have borne the brunt of this crisis. Gender-based violence (GBV), particularly gang rape, has soared in Port-au-Prince and other hotspots, fueled by the squalid, overcrowded conditions in displacement camps. The situation is so dire that Christian Vovi, the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, warned, “It is important to act now because for me, tomorrow is too late regarding the humanitarian need and the living conditions of the women in the displacement sites.”
Vovi, who has worked in Haiti since 2022, described to UN News the daily obstacles faced by aid workers. “Sometimes there is the possibility of an attack, so we are obliged to work from home. This situation has limited our capacity to go to the field to see the affected people, to meet with women, to observe the situation in the camps and communities, so security is a barrier for us sometimes.” Instead, much of the humanitarian response has shifted online, relying on virtual meetings and hotlines to reach those in need.
But remote work is hardly a solution for the 1.3 million displaced, especially the women and girls at risk. Vovi reported a relentless rise in GBV cases, some involving chilling brutality: “In some of the cases we manage, we hear about how gang members arrive in the community, burn houses and then rape a mother or father in front of the family.” The desperation is palpable. With scant access to financial resources, some women have turned to prostitution just to survive.
Protection services are stretched to the breaking point. There are more than 100 displacement sites across Haiti, yet only 11 or 12 are covered by GBV protection services, according to UNFPA. The risk of violence is compounded by the lack of adequate shelter, as many families are crammed together in small, unsafe spaces. The UN agency distributes dignity kits and provides other forms of aid, but as Vovi put it, “it’s not enough, we need more.”
The funding shortfall is acute. Over one million people are displaced, and with 26% of them women of reproductive age, the needs are staggering. Vovi explained that “we need to mobilise millions of dollars so we can meet their urgent needs.” The United States, once the largest donor, provided around 65% of humanitarian funding for Haiti in 2020. But recent cuts have forced the closure of sexual and reproductive health and GBV service centers, stripping 25,000 women and girls of vital support. The US also funded all post-rape kits since 2023, but stocks are now “very low.”
Despite these limitations, UNFPA and its partners remain on the ground, leading the GBV coordination mechanism and running hotlines to ensure survivors can access psychosocial support and information, even when movement is perilous. Still, the gap between needs and resources is growing, and Vovi’s call to action is clear: “The international community and donors must fill the large funding gap in the Haitian humanitarian response plan.”
While humanitarian agencies struggle to keep pace with the crisis, a new report by the US State Department has cast a harsh spotlight on Haiti’s own security forces. Released in August 2025, the report details a disturbing rise in extrajudicial killings by Haitian police and government agents. Arbitrary killings, including those carried out by public prosecutor Jean-Ernest Muscadin of Miragoane, are singled out. Muscadin, who has openly boasted on social media that his region is a “graveyard for bandits,” claims to have killed at least 27 suspected gang members between April and June of this year, according to a United Nations report.
The numbers are staggering. The Institute for Justice & Democracy, a Boston-based human rights group, has documented at least 165 extrajudicial executions by prosecutors and police since 2024. The US State Department report, which heavily cites United Nations findings, noted, “Impunity remained a significant problem” within the Haiti National Police. Between January and March 2024, the police’s internal affairs office opened 31 cases involving 39 officers accused of human rights violations, but not a single case was closed or referred for sanction.
Credible reports abound of police involvement in vigilante killings—sometimes after victims had already been taken into custody. These acts, part of a broader movement where individuals take the law into their own hands, have seen targets beaten, dismembered, or burned alive. The US government, a leading funder of Haiti’s national police, underscored the lack of accountability and professionalism among officers, echoing concerns from Haitian civil society.
William O’Neill, the United Nations’ human rights expert on Haiti, noted that the State Department’s assessment “pulls no punches,” acknowledging “credible reports of police involvement in vigilante killings.” Yet, as he pointed out, “impunity reigns as the report notes since no cases of human rights violations by police officers were referred for sanction by the Inspector General’s office.”
The violence is not confined to the capital. The State Department report highlights the expansion of armed gangs into previously unaffected regions, including Artibonite and central Haiti. The UN’s Human Rights Chief, Volker Türk, has warned that the country’s human rights crisis has “plummeted to a new low,” with gangs and security forces both implicated in killings, rapes, and kidnappings. Türk called for accountability, stating, “Any use of lethal force by law enforcement officers should always be in accordance with human rights law, and abide by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability.”
Despite these warnings, the US report omitted discussion of forced displacement, government corruption, and the impact of violence on access to food, education, shelter, clean water, and healthcare—issues repeatedly highlighted by human rights advocates. The omission is striking, given the depth of the humanitarian emergency unfolding across Haiti.
In a bid to restore some measure of order, Haiti’s transitional government has appointed a new police chief—the third in two years—and installed a fresh high command. Whether these changes will stem the tide of violence or restore public trust remains to be seen.
For many Haitians, hope is in short supply. The sense that their plight has been forgotten by the international community is widespread. As Vovi observed, “The Haitians think that their situation is neglected because they believe that the humanitarian international community has all the assets and funding to stop the violence and assist the affected people.” The call for urgent action—from both within and outside Haiti—has never been louder. Yet, as the violence continues and resources dwindle, the question remains: will the world respond before it is, as Vovi warns, too late?
