Advocacy Note - Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in Haiti (May 2024)

This advocacy note, issued in May 2024 by the Protection Cluster with data from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and IOM, addresses the protection of internally displaced persons in Haiti. More than 362,000 people were displaced, 96 percent due to gang violence, with at least 195,764 in the West Department and 90,254 residing in 85 sites across the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Conditions in makeshift sites, often schools, churches, and public buildings, are described as dire, with 34 percent of sites lacking latrines and irregular access to potable water. The note identifies six protection risks: violations of physical integrity, with 75 percent of sites in gang-controlled or high-risk areas; heightened sexual violence, with at least 216 cases reported in the first quarter of 2024; family separation and unaccompanied children; evictions, with at least 23 recorded since January 2024; unaddressed mental health needs; and poor access to services, with the protection sector funded at only 8 percent. It sets out requests to the Haitian government, donors, and humanitarian organizations and a ten-point urgent call to action.