UN allocates $12 million for gang violence victims in Haiti

UN relief chief Martin Griffiths has released $12 million to help Haitians affected by gang violence, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday.

The funds from the world body's Central Emergency Response Fund will help provide food, water, protection, health care, and sanitation and hygiene support to displaced people and host communities in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the neighboring department of Artibonite, which has also been affected by the violence, said OCHA.

The office said the situation in Haiti remains tense and volatile, with attacks on health care facilities aggravating the already dire situation. According to the UN Children's Fund, three out of four women and children lack access to public health and nutrition services in the metropolitan area.

However, the emergency relief response continues.

The International Organization for Migration said it distributed more than 70,000 liters of water in six displacement sites across the Port-au-Prince area.

The World Food Programme reported providing 17,000 hot meals to displaced people in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

Over the years, Haitians faced political, social and economic challenges exacerbated by recurring natural disasters. Now the lawlessness of gangs casts a shadow over all aspects of everyday life, particularly in the capital but also in the Artibonite Department and beyond, said OCHA.

It said that so far this year, approximately 5.5 million Haitians have been in need of humanitarian assistance. Gang violence now extends to remote rural areas as the government's presence continues to erode.

The humanitarians blamed persistent structural weaknesses for exacerbating the lack of essential basic services, with hospitals and doctors becoming targets and the forced displacement of several hundred teachers, many of whom are fleeing the country.