WASHINGTON, DC — AS gang violence continues to destabilise Haiti and international agencies struggle to find lasting solutions, the United Nations is warning that nearly half of the country’s population is now going hungry every day.
The grim assessment comes as the UN launches a renewed humanitarian appeal aimed at addressing worsening food insecurity and displacement across the French-speaking Caribbean nation.
Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, Nicole Kouassi, has unveiled the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for 2026, which seeks US$880 million to support 4.2 million of the most vulnerable Haitians, out of an estimated 6.4 million people currently in need of assistance. According to the UN, these communities are bearing the brunt of escalating violence by armed groups.
The organisation reports that internal displacement caused by armed violence has doubled over the past year. By September 2025, nearly 1.4 million people had been forced from their homes, accounting for 12 per cent of Haiti’s total population.
Speaking during a press briefing yesterday (Dec. 18), Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said widespread insecurity in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area — and its gradual spread into regional zones — continues to drive displacement, cripple economic activity, and severely limit access to food.
The UN estimates that approximately 5.7 million people — about half of Haiti’s population — are currently going hungry every day. That figure is expected to rise to 5.9 million during the upcoming lean season, which runs from March to June.
The humanitarian crisis has also had a devastating impact on women and girls. UN partners recorded an average of 27 new cases of gender-based violence per day between January and September 2025. More than half of those cases involved sexual violence, with collective rapes accounting for nearly two-thirds of reported sexual assaults.
Despite the scale of the crisis, Ms. Kouassi noted that the US$908 million humanitarian appeal for 2025 is only 23 per cent funded, with just US$206 million secured so far.
She has renewed calls for substantial, sustained international support, warning that without urgent action, the humanitarian situation in Haiti is likely to deteriorate further.
