The humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues to worsen, with nearly 1.47 million people now internally displaced by escalating gang violence, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Speaking at a briefing in Geneva on Friday, IOM Haiti chief Gregoire Goodstein said the violence has spread beyond traditional hotspots and is increasingly affecting communities that once served as safe havens for displaced families.
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“Nearly 1.47 million people remain displaced in the country,” Goodstein said, warning that “the violence is no longer contained; it is expanding.”
The latest figures mean that approximately 12 percent of Haiti’s population of 12 million people has been forced from their homes. More than half of those displaced are women and girls, highlighting the disproportionate impact of the crisis on vulnerable groups.
The situation has become particularly acute in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where renewed attacks in the Cité Soleil area displaced more than 18,000 people within days during May. As a result, the number of internally displaced persons in the capital has surpassed 300,000 for the first time on record.
Goodstein described the crisis as a convergence of multiple emergencies occurring simultaneously, including armed violence, mass displacement, severe food insecurity, forced returns, climate threats, and weakened institutions.
The UN agency also reported that more than 270,000 Haitians were forcibly returned from abroad during 2025, while an additional 110,000 people have already been returned this year. About one-quarter of those returnees are women, and nearly 10 percent are children, including unaccompanied minors and newborns.
According to the IOM, many of those being returned have spent decades outside Haiti, while some are arriving in the country for the first time in their lives.
Since December, nearly 95,000 people have been newly displaced, while approximately 78,000 have returned to their communities. However, Goodstein cautioned that these returns cannot yet be considered sustainable given the ongoing insecurity.
The agency is also facing a looming funding crisis. Goodstein warned that financial constraints could force the IOM to significantly scale back operations after October unless additional international support is secured.
The warning comes as the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1, threatens to further worsen conditions for displaced Haitians living in temporary shelters and overcrowded camps.
“We can expect displacement sites and cities to flood,” Goodstein said, cautioning that any gaps in humanitarian assistance could be exploited by armed groups, trafficking networks, and criminal organizations.
With gang violence continuing to destabilize large portions of the country and political institutions struggling to restore order, the UN says Haiti’s displacement crisis remains one of the most severe humanitarian emergencies in the Western Hemisphere.
