By The Haitian Times
Copyright haitiantimes
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haiti’s transitional presidential council leader, Laurent Saint-Cyr, told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that his country is “at war” with gangs and hunger, urging immediate global intervention to prevent further catastrophe.
“Just a four-hour plane ride from here, a human tragedy is unfolding,” Saint-Cyr said in New York. “Every day, innocent lives are extinguished. Entire neighborhoods are disappearing.”
From January to June, violence between heavily armed gangs, the Haitian National Police and vigilante groups left more than 3,100 people dead and nearly 1,200 injured, according to U.N. figures. More than 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced in recent years, while half of the country’s nearly 12 million people face severe hunger.
“This is a war between criminals who want to impose violence as a social order and an armed population fighting for human dignity and freedom,” Saint-Cyr said.
For families like that of Kettia Jean Charles, 34, the crisis is personal. Once a small business owner in Port-au-Prince’s Solino neighborhood, she fled after gangs forced residents out last November. Now seven months pregnant, she lives with her husband and three children in a makeshift shelter of tarps and plastic sheets in Delmas 31, another impoverished section of the capital.
“I used to sleep in a bed, had my own business, and my children went to school. Now, I am living this catastrophic life,” Charles said, fighting back tears. “Since I have come here, it has been very humiliating because I have no money, so I have to beg.”
Her story reflects the struggles of thousands across Haiti, where displacement camps and informal shelters have become the only refuge. Families rely on relatives and scarce aid for food, while children’s education and futures slip further out of reach.
International support has been slow. A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police began last year, but fewer than 1,000 officers are on the ground, well below the 2,500 envisioned. The mission’s trust fund holds just $112 million, which is only 14% of the estimated annual cost of $800 million.
The United States and Panama have urged the U.N. Security Council to authorize a new 5,550-member multinational force. Saint-Cyr backed the proposal, saying: “It is crucial to mobilize a strong force with a clear mandate and with adequate material, logistical and financial resources.”
In Solino, once a bustling community with businesses, shops and a clinic, gangs looted everything from electrical wiring to toilets before torching homes. The neighborhood now stands as a bullet-scarred reminder of the violence consuming the country.
“All I dream about now is leaving this camp so that my children can go to school and contribute to society,” Charles said.
