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Port-au-Prince, 15 April 2025 \u2013 Amid a worsening humanitarian emergency in Haiti, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Director General Amy Pope concluded a high-level visit this week urging the international community to step up and support for communities uprooted by violence and instability.<\/p>\n
More than 1 million people are now displaced inside of Haiti \u2013 triple the number from just a year ago. Gang control over vast areas of Port-au-Prince has 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the most complex and urgent crises in the world, with implications for regional and global stability,\u201d said DG Pope. \u201cWhen we invest in humanitarian support, we don\u2019t just save lives \u2013 we build resilience and safety to helps stabilize communities and reduce the conditions that cause forced migration.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her visit, DG Pope met with displaced families at a Port-au-Prince site, listening to their experiences and assessing their most pressing needs. \u201cA 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,\u201d DG Pope said. \u201cThese are not just statistics\u2014they are lives caught in crisis over and over.\u201d<\/p>\n
DG 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.<\/p>\n
IOM is currently leading efforts across more than 50 displacement sites, including shelter, camp management, protection, and emergency water, sanitation and hygiene services \u2013 even in areas affected by violence. The organization is also working with communities to rehabilitate infrastructure and expand access to education and livelihoods.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Haitian people are showing remarkable strength in the face of unthinkable hardship,\u201d DG Pope said. \u201cBut relying on resilience alone is not a strategy. The Haitian people need support\u2014and 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
IOM remains committed to working alongside the Haitian people and the Haitian Government to restore safety, dignity, and opportunities for people across the country.<\/p>\n