Haiti: that gang attack in Pont Sondé which caused 70 deaths, including ten women and three children

ROMA – An attack by a notorious gang in the city of Pont Sondé, Gran Grif, has left at least 70 dead, 357 injured, and more than six thousand displaced in Haiti. “Men armed with automatic rifles opened fire,” he explained the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – destroying homes, vehicles and forcing residents to flee. Among the victims there are ten women and three children.

The constant violence and abuse. The UN has called for a rapid and thorough investigation into the attack, so that those responsible are brought to justice and compensation is guaranteed for the victims and their families. The aggression carried out by the Gran Grif gang is part of the broader context of the indiscriminate violence that terrorizes the inhabitants of Haiti and which in this last year in particular has led to an alarming growth in human rights violations and repeated internal displacements.

700 thousand homeless people: the highest number of displaced people in the world. Over 700 thousand people were forced to abandon their homes. Today, Haiti is the country with the highest number of displaced people in the world due to crime-related violence. Mass displacement has also led to widespread insecurity across the state, with nearly half of the 11.9 million civilians surviving only on humanitarian assistance. Gang attacks against the Haitian population have spread mainly to the capital, Port-au-Prince, and isolated rural areas, and include: sexual violence, kidnappings, looting, checkpoints to intimidate and rob civilians, and forced recruitment by armed gangs.

The Great South of the country. It has become a welcoming land for hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have fled the metropolitan area of ​​Port-au-Prince, although this region of Haiti also has its problems related to exposure to cyclones, tropical storms and drought. The host communities of the four departments that make up the Great South have nevertheless opened their doors to displaced people, among whom there are 110 thousand children who risk not being able to return to school also because many families, having lost everything, cannot afford the fees schools.

More than half of the citizens go without food every day. More than half of the population of the South, or 1.3 million people, struggle to buy food every day. Access to essential services such as healthcare, education and water is compromised. The deterioration of infrastructure and roads, as well as cases of interference in humanitarian activities, constitute the main daily challenges also for NGOs located on site. Access to the Great South by road is currently impossible, so essential goods are transported by sea and humanitarian aid arrives by plane.