As heavily armed gangs expand their control and public institutions are facing intense pressure, delivering humanitarian aid on the ground is becoming harder as funding is dwindling.
“Haiti has not received the level of attention or funding that is so desperately needed,” said Ms. Pope.
Just returned from a high-level visit in Haiti, Ms. Pope urged the international community to increase its support for the crisis in Haiti, pointing out that over a million people are currently internally displaced in the country.
Lives not statistics
Engaging with families who were forced to flee their homes at a Port-au-Prince centre for displaced people, Ms. Pope recalled the plight of a mother living under a tarp with her children, who, in two months, had fled her neighbourhood three times. “These are not just statistics —they are lives caught in crisis over and over,” said Ms. Pope.
Currently contributing to efforts across more than 50 displacement sites even in areas affected by violence, IOM provides support in areas such as shelter, camp management, protection, and emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Violence and instability
Meeting with Haitian government officials, Ms. Pope hoped to identify concrete ways to reinforce migration governance, broaden access to legal documentation, and strengthen the reintegration of Haitian returnees.
Some 85 per cent of the capital is currently under gang control and communities are constantly being uprooted by violence and instability.
Funding cuts
In the last year, nearly 200,000 Haitians were deported back from neighbouring countries, mainly the Dominican Republic, adding pressure to resources already under strain.
As the situation worsens in Haiti, recent funding cuts have forced IOM to halt some of its operations in the Caribbean Island nation Faced with unthinkable hardships, the “Haitian people need support -and they need it now,” said Ms. Pope.
While IOM remains committed to working alongside Haitian people and the Haitian Government to restore safety, dignity, and opportunities for people across the country; “the cost of inaction will not only be measured in lives lost, but also in broader instability that affects us all,” warned Ms. Pope.
