Haiti Crisis Solvable if World Acts, Says UN Official

UN staff move around Haiti on helicopters due to the lack of security on the ground.

During her final briefing as Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Haiti, Ulrika Richardson struggled to describe the realities of life there.

“I often feel that I cannot even find words any longer to describe the situation. Is it alarming, is it acute, is it urgent? It is all of that and even more.”

The phrase she ultimately settled on was “strikingly horrific.”

Haiti is currently facing a protracted and worsening humanitarian crisis – with gang violence expanding beyond the capital, Port-au-Prince, civilians are increasingly bearing the brunt of this terror. Additionally, Haiti is one of five countries worldwide experiencing famine-like conditions.

Amidst this horror, Haiti’s humanitarian plan is only nine per cent funded, making it the least-funded humanitarian response plan in the world, according to Ms Richardson.

But despite these challenging circumstances, she emphasised that political will and funding could ensure the current crisis does not have to be Haiti’s future.

“Haiti’s destiny does not need to be misery and despair,” she said. “As much as Haiti has spiralled down in a negative way, Haiti can quickly spiral up again.”

Over 1.3 million people have been displaced in Haiti as a result of violence – the largest number in Haiti’s history – and almost half the country is suffering from emergency food insecurity.

These numbers have become so large that it can be hard to conceive of the actual human impact behind them.

“All of that is just figures. Beyond every figure, there is a mother, a child, a father, a young person,” she said.

Sometimes these numbers also obscure certain livelihoods. For example, the figure of 1.3 million displaced hides the plight of those left behind – perhaps because they physically could not flee as violence encroached on their neighbourhood.

“These could be people in a wheelchair or an elderly relative that they simply have to leave behind. They cannot move with them.”

Ms Richardson said there is much about Haiti’s current situation that she finds frustrating – most notably the fact that the international community has identified the solutions to mitigate, if not completely stop, the crisis.

“We have tools, but the response from the international community is not on par with the gravity on the ground,” she said.

For example, the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) has half the personnel and very little of the equipment it needs to fulfil its mandate.

Additionally, while sanctions on political leaders with gang ties are slowly taking hold, they are insufficient. Similarly, the international community is not doing enough to stop the flow of guns.

“These tools need proper support and investment in order to carry out their full mandate. There has to be a way of stopping arms coming into Haiti,” she said.

Calling on States to ask themselves what more they can do to end the humanitarian crisis, Ms Richardson said the world must multitask.

Ms Richardson will take up a new post in Libya from 1 September. As she prepares to leave behind her years of work in Haiti, she said she has a divided heart.

On one hand, this is a humanitarian crisis of “striking” proportions that the world seems to have forgotten. But if the international community embraced the solutions before them, the crisis could end.

“We cannot do what we do if we are not optimistic. Of course, we think there are solutions. Of course, we think the future is brighter than the present.”

She said this optimism comes in part from Haiti’s “honourable and brilliant” past and from the resilience she has seen on the ground.

“Every condition is there to turn the page… Haitians are extremely ready for the country to have a more positive echo in the international community.”