ACAPS Briefing Note: Haiti - Gang Violence (14 July 2021)

This ACAPS briefing note, published 14 July 2021, analyzes the escalation of gang violence in Port-au-Prince from 1 June 2021, when some 95 gangs began clashing over territory following a reconfiguration of alliances, concentrated in southern neighborhoods including Bas Delmas, Bel Air, Cité Soleil, Fontamara, Laboule 12, Martissant, and Toussaint Brave. An estimated 1.5 million people were affected; 18,100 were displaced as of 30 June (14,700 from Bas Delmas, Cité Soleil, and Martissant) and 11,500 people were missing, either trapped in conflict zones or fled. The note was finalised days after the 7 July assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, which it assesses as likely to further destabilise the political situation, with interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph's authority contested by designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry and a two-week state of emergency declared.

Sectorally, the note documents makeshift IDP sites with acute gaps: 3,000 IDPs in seven sites and 9,000 with host families; reported rape and sexual violence at sites in Carrefour and Delmas; 565 IDPs with disabilities hosted in a school after the La Piste camp was burned; and Delmas 103 with four overflowing latrines for 500 IDPs and no running water. Access constraints were severe: 35 percent of health workers in Carrefour/Martissant could not reach work, MSF suspended activities in Martissant after its center was attacked on 26 June, at least eight police officers were killed and eight stations attacked, and road closures cut assistance to 14,000 households in the south. Aggravating factors include COVID-19 deaths quadrupling since May (19,220 cases and 467 deaths by 12 July, with no vaccination rollout), Tropical Storm Elsa's 3 July damage at the start of hurricane season, and 4.4 million food-insecure people, with school closures cutting take-home rations for 55,000 students.