HAITI

In 2025, Haiti remains mired in an extreme multidimensional crisis, combining institutional collapse, widespread insecurity, and a humanitarian catastrophe. Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, the country has been unable to re-establish a functioning central government. Armed gangs now control the majority of Port-au-Prince and several strategic roadways, preventing any return to normalcy.

The year 2024 was marked by an explosion of violence: mass kidnappings, gang rapes, targeted assassinations, arson attacks on entire neighbourhoods, and massacres committed by rival gangs or against civilians. According to the UN, more than 5,000 people were killed between January 2023 and December 2024. The Haitian state is virtually absent from several regions, leaving criminal groups to exercise de facto control. The risk of physical harm (kidnapping, assault, rape) for Westerners is extremely high, making the work of NGOs and other institutions nearly impossible. These actors and their personnel are often perceived as wealthy or corrupt, targeted for their assets, influence, or attacked in indiscriminate violence.

In March 2024, following the failure of a political transition agreement, a multinational force led by Kenya was deployed under a UN mandate in an attempt to stabilise the country. In 2025, the force continues operations with mixed results: a few neighbourhoods have been recaptured from gangs, but the fighting is intense, civilian casualties are high, and the international force has limited capacity given the number of armed groups and strong local hostility.

Haiti’s economy is in ruins: destroyed infrastructure, rampant inflation, mass unemployment, and severe food insecurity. Most public institutions are paralysed. The health system is near total collapse, and NGOs struggle to operate due to the lack of security. Schools and universities are largely closed or under militia control.

Natural hazards (earthquakes, floods, cyclones) continue to strike the already devastated country. Several storms in 2024 worsened the humanitarian situation, causing dozens of deaths and thousands of displacements.

For foreign nationals, the risk is extremely high: kidnappings for ransom, crossfire, indiscriminate violence, looting, and illegal roadblocks. Port-au-Prince airport operates sporadically, and movement within the country is nearly impossible without an armed escort. Most Western embassies recommend evacuation or strictly advise against all presence in the country.