(2024-03) ACAPS Briefing Note - Haiti: Update on Protection Risks in Port-au-Prince (7 March 2024)
Summary — This ACAPS briefing note updates the protection situation in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone as coordinated gang attacks launched on 29 February 2024 targeted the airport, prisons, and police stations, freeing some 4,000 detainees and displacing at least 15,000 people. Based on a secondary data review, it documents 2023 as a record year of violence, with about 4,800 killings and 2,500 reported kidnappings, and details protection risks including confinement, sexual violence, child recruitment, and a 140 percent rise in GBV-related assistance needs.
Key Findings
- Gang violence made 2023 a record year, with an estimated 4,800 people killed (more than double 2022) and over 8,400 killed, injured, or kidnapped, almost 85 percent of killings and injuries occurring in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone.
- The coordinated gang offensive from 29 February 2024 freed nearly 4,000 detainees from two prisons, closed the airport, and displaced at least 15,000 people, many of them already IDPs with minimal access to assistance.
- An estimated 1.6 million people need protection assistance in 2024, and people needing GBV-related assistance rose almost 140 percent to about 1.2 million, with 70 percent of some 2,700 reported sexual violence cases in 2023 involving children.
- Movement restrictions amount to confinement for many residents, with 52 percent of surveyed ZMPAP households affected by gang blockades and checkpoints, cutting access to services, livelihoods, and escape routes.
- Kidnappings rose 83 percent in 2023 to about 2,500 reported cases, with the true figure possibly up to 50 times higher, while the prospective Kenya-led MSS deployment and the Bwa Kale vigilante movement both carry risks of triggering further cycles of violence.
Full Description
ACAPS updates its protection analysis for the Port-au-Prince metropolitan zone (ZMPAP) at the moment of the late February-early March 2024 gang offensive against Prime Minister Ariel Henry's administration. Gangs killed an estimated 4,800 people in 2023, over twice the 2022 toll, with almost 85 percent of reported killings and injuries occurring in the ZMPAP; more than 8,400 people were reported killed, injured, or kidnapped over the year. January 2024 was the most violent month in two years, with over 800 civilian victims, and from 29 February coordinated attacks on the airport, the National Penitentiary, and a Croix-des-Bouquets prison freed nearly 4,000 detainees and displaced at least 15,000 people, many already IDPs. An estimated 1.6 million people need protection assistance in 2024, primarily in the ZMPAP. The note is based on a secondary data review, drawing heavily on the 2023 REACH MSNA, and acknowledges systematic underreporting of sexual violence and abductions.
The protection analysis covers movement restrictions and confinement (52 percent of surveyed ZMPAP households affected by gang blockades), killings and injuries from direct attacks and stray bullets (over 160 children killed or injured by gunfire in 2023), kidnappings (about 2,500 reported in 2023, up 83 percent, with the true figure possibly up to 50 times higher), and gender-based violence, where reported rape cases rose 50 percent in January-October 2023 and people needing GBV-related assistance increased almost 140 percent, from around 500,000 to 1.2 million; 70 percent of some 2,700 reported sexual violence cases involved children. The outlook section weighs the prospective Kenya-led Multinational Security Support deployment, which may improve short-term security but risks violent resistance and displacement of gang activity to other departments, and warns that the Bwa Kale vigilante movement and the release of gang leaders from prison could fuel a further cycle of violence.
Notes
ACAPS thematic/anticipatory analysis