The international development charity, Christian Aid, is working with partners in Haiti to support people fleeing gang violence and is calling on the international community to scale up aid and work with all parties to guarantee humanitarian access.
Armed groups have taken over most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, and are carrying out violent attacks and killings with impunity. Over 350,000 people are estimated to be internally displaced primarily due to gang violence while supplies are becoming scarce.
With funding from START Fund, Christian Aid’s local partner Konbit pou Ranfose Aksyon Lakay (KORAL) is providing support to 1,000 families who recently fled gang violence in the Port-au-Prince area and sought safety in Les Cayes, southern Haiti. KORAL will provide hygiene kits, cash for food and essentials, trauma counselling services and awareness raising sessions on gender-based violence and the prevention of sexual exploitation.
Christian Aid has worked in Haiti since the 1980s to address climate change, economic justice, gender justice and humanitarian issues. However, violent protests and roadblocks have repeatedly led to the damage of communication infrastructure and the scarcity of fuel.
Speaking from Haiti, Wilson Luxen Fevrin who works as Christian Aid’s Global Humanitarian Manager, said: “Even before this escalation of violence, the humanitarian need in Haiti was acute. The situation has now turned into a nightmare. While our partners are helping as many fleeing people as they can, tens of thousands more have little to no place to go.
“For those who haven’t been able to flee, they are living under constant fear of violence and are finding it next to impossible to buy food, clean water and medical supplies. We need international leaders to act by supporting Haitians to deliver the changes they need.
“Christian Aid is therefore calling on the international community to scale up aid, work with all parties to guarantee humanitarian access, and develop a regional solution to end the arms trafficking that is enabling this violence.”
Aldrin Calixte, who works as Executive Secretary at Haiti Survie, added: "Those who have been displaced have lost everything including their homes, which were burnt down and the fruit of years of hard work.
“Internally displaced people are living in very difficult conditions, deprived of basic resources...in some places, we are seeing food prices go up by more than 20%. In the supermarkets, the shelves are practically empty. I believe that everyone must contribute to addressing this.”
ENDS.
Notes to editors:
Christian Aid's policy briefing can be found here.
Emergency support for people fleeing gang violence in Haiti
With funding from START Fund, Christian Aid’s local partner Konbit pou Ranfose Aksyon Lakay (KORAL) is providing support to 1,000 families who recently fled gang violence in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area and sought safety in Les Cayes in southern Haiti.
The 1,000 newly arrived families will receive the equivalent of around $160 in cash in the local currency so they can buy food and other essentials. In addition, 4,000 people will also receive hygiene kits containing basic items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, and sanitary towels for women, as well as diapers for mothers with infants. KORAL will also carry out awareness raising sessions about the steps people can take to prevent catching cholera and other water borne diseases from spreading.
To help those who have fled gang violence to try cope with the trauma they have experienced, KORAL will work closely with local professionals to deliver much-needed psychosocial support and trauma counselling services for 2,500 people, with a focus on women and girls. Our partner will also organise group counselling sessions to provide people who have fled gang violence with a safe space to share their experiences, emotions, and concerns with trained professionals and other people who had no choice but to flee their homes and whom have had similar experiences.
Trained counsellors will work with these displaced people to help them process their experiences, cope with their trauma, manage stress, develop effective coping mechanisms and to gradually restore their overall wellbeing. Additionally, individual counselling sessions will be available for anyone who may require more personalized attention to address specific psychological needs.
KORAL will also carry out awareness raising sessions on gender-based violence and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse where trauma healing messages and psychosocial support information will be shared with the community. These sessions aim to raise awareness about mental health, to reduce stigma for survivors, and to encourage people who have experienced domestic or sexual violence to seek support.
