Attachments
Highlights
- The first of October marked the official start of the 2024-2025 school year in Haiti. While many schools across the country saw a return to learning, at least 1,000 schools reportedly continue to remain closed due to armed attacks, fear of violence/insecurity, or because they have been repurposed as shelters for displaced families. Where possible, UNICEF prioritizes the return to learning for Haitian children through supply provision, cash-transfers for vulnerable families and the rehabilitation of learning spaces.
- Following the attacks in Pont Sonde, UNICEF is providing a multisectoral response to internally displaced populations in Saint-Marc and host communities, including support to a key reference hospital with implementing partners. Similarly, due to attacks in Port-au-Prince (Solino, Delmas), UNICEF is addressing urgent WASH, child protection, and health-nutrition needs with its partners.
- The humanitarian community has continued to express concern over the announcement of increased deportations at the border. UNICEF, through its child- protection programme, operates two transit centres for unaccompanied children and has scaled up health, nutrition and WASH responses to address the influx. However, limited funding restricts the scale and reach of this critical response.
- Across Haiti, UNICEF continues to deliver its multisectoral humanitarian response. To date, over 72,500 children, parents and caregivers have received mental health and psychosocial support; 268,000 people have been provided with safe water and hygiene supplies; and over 353,000 children have been screened for wasting, with more than 34,700 cases of severe wasting treated.
- UNICEF urgently requires all donors to mobilize resources to address the staggering 75 per cent funding gap (US$166.3M) in the 2024 humanitarian appeal. Immediate funding is critical to meet the life-saving humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable women and children in Haiti.
Funding Overview and Partnerships
In 2024, the worsening humanitarian crisis in Haiti has made donor commitments crucial for implementing life-saving activities and restoring essential services for families. According to the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti, the humanitarian community requires US$673.8 million to provide humanitarian assistance across all sectors. Within this framework, as outlined in the 2024 Humanitarian Action for Children, UNICEF requires US$221.7 million to support the urgent needs of children and their caregivers across nutrition, education, child protection, health, gender-based violence (GBV), social behaviour change and humanitarian cash transfers programmes. However, as of 31 October 2024, 75 per cent of this appeal remains unfunded.
As of the end of October, generous contributions to UNICEF’s humanitarian response in Haiti have been provided by the Government of Japan, the Government of Cyprus, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Government of Greece, the Government of Norway, the Government of France, the Bureau of Humanitarian Aid of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Spanish Committee for UNICEF, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Government of Belgium, the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the Government of Canada. Additionally, UNICEF Haiti has benefited from significant contributions through the Global Humanitarian Funds and internal allocations via the Emergency Programme Fund (EPF) loan mechanism, which have sustained critical humanitarian activities. Despite these efforts, critical gaps remain, with Child Protection emerging as one of the most underfunded sectors, facing an alarming 89 per cent funding gap.
UNICEF extends its sincere gratitude to all donors for their contributions. While all funding is vital and greatly appreciated, unearmarked and flexible funding has proven particularly impactful. Unearmarked and flexible funding enables UNICEF Haiti to respond swiftly and effectively, allocating resources where they are needed most and ensuring timely life-saving interventions.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
The first of October marked the official start of the 2024-2025 school year in Haiti. While many schools across the country saw a return to learning, over 900 schools out of nearly 20,000 continued to be reported as closed or suspended due to armed attacks, fear of violence or because they have been repurposed as shelters for displaced families. The number of school closures in June 2024 represented a 20 per cent increase compared to the number of closures at the same time in 2023; data collection with the Ministry of Education (MoE) is ongoing for updated figures. It is estimated that over 400,000 children have missed out on learning in 2024 due to displacement or school closures. Furthermore, the MoE has reported a shortage of teachers, as nearly 30 per cent of the teaching staff have left the country, while others have relocated to the interior due to persistent security concerns. The lack of teachers and the inaccessibility of some areas by road have disrupted the normal start of the school year in the most affected departments. In response, the Government supported parents by providing cash transfers of HTG 20,640 (equivalent to US$160) per family with school-aged children.
The overall humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate during the month of October, with multiple armed violence hotspots, including in Artibonite (Pont Sondé and St. Marc) and the West Department (Solino, Tabarre and Arcahaie). In Artibonite, attacks in Pont Sondé, incited by armed groups, occurred on 3 October and resulted in at least 100 deaths and displaced over 6,700 people. While the Government deployed armed forces to restore peace and security, the needs of displaced populations and damaged infrastructure remains. In the West, clashes in downtown Port-au-Prince displaced over 12,600 people, with close to 60 per cent seeking shelter across 14 sites, half of which were already pre- existing.1 Additionally, in the commune of Arcahie, over 21,700 people were displaced, with 37 per cent finding refuge across 10 sites and the remainder staying in host communities.
In addition to the ongoing violence, October was marked by mass deportations of Haitians abroad. In early October, the Dominican Republic authorities announced plans to deport and/or repatriate up to 11,000 Haitians per week. By 31 October, almost 160,000 people had been forced to return to Haiti, including over 8,200 children. This includes almost 28,000 individuals (992 children) deported in October alone.2
Since the cholera outbreak began in October 2022, over 87,600 suspected cases and 4,861 confirmed cases have been reported, with nearly half consisintg of children. Over 1,300 deaths have occurred, including 314 in communinities and 1,005 in healthcare facilities. During October, two departments – Artibonite (Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye and Dessalines) and Centre (Maissad and Mirebalas) – reported increases in suspected cholera cases. In Artibonite, between 13 October and 3 November 2024, the Departmental Health Directorate reported 147 suspected cases and 22 community deaths in the commune of Dessalines alone. Most suspected cases involve children under five and men aged between 15 and 49.