PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, Apr 16, CMC – The Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope, is ending a three day visit here on Wednesday, urging the international community to step up and support communities in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM)country, uprooted by violence and instability.
“This is one of the most complex and urgent crises in the world, with implications for regional and global stability,” said Pope.
“When we invest in humanitarian support, we don’t just save lives – we build resilience and safety to helps stabilize communities and reduce the conditions that cause forced migration,” she said amid the worsening humanitarian emergency in Haiti, where criminal gangs are seeking to overthrow the government.
More than one million people are now displaced inside of Haiti, triple the number from just a year ago. The United Nations say gangs control over vast areas of the capital and have forced families to flee repeatedly, leaving them without access to shelter, water, or medical care.
At the same time, nearly 200,000 Haitians were deported back from neighboring countries last year, adding pressure to already overwhelmed local systems.
Last week, the IOM said armed attacks in the past few weeks in the Centre department’s communes of Saut d’Eau and Mirebalais have displaced more than 30,000 people.
It said the vast majority of them have remained in the department and together with other partners, are providing assistance, including food, hygiene kits, safe water and psychosocial support.
Pope, who met with displaced families at a Port au Prince site, listening to their experiences and assessing their most pressing needs, told reporters “a mother told me she had fled her neighborhood three times in two months.
“She was living under a tarp with her children, with no idea where they could go next. These are not just statistics, they are lives caught in crisis over and over.”
Pope also held discussions with Haitian government officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Religious Affairs, and Haitians Living Abroad, to identify concrete ways to reinforce migration governance, broaden access to legal documentation, and strengthen reintegration.
The IOM is currently leading efforts across more than 50 displacement sites, including shelter, camp management, protection, and emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services – even in areas affected by violence. The organization is also working with communities to rehabilitate infrastructure and expand access to education and livelihoods.
Beyond immediate relief, IOM is also helping people reintegrate into communities, including through the rehabilitation of public infrastructure to expand access to essential services in areas that are hosting displaced people.
“The Haitian people are showing remarkable strength in the face of unthinkable hardship. But relying on resilience alone is not a strategy. The Haitian people need support—and they need it now. The cost of inaction will not only be measured in lives lost, but also in broader instability that affects us all,” Pope said.
The IOM said it remains committed to working alongside the Haitian people and the Haitian Government to restore safety, dignity, and opportunities for people across the country.
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