UN chief tells foreign nations ‘step up’ after confronting worsening Haiti crisis
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Haiti on Tuesday wanting to deliver a message of reassurance to the Haitian people amid surging gang violence, rising displacement and deepening hunger.
Hope was on the way, he said, as he touted the newly established Gang Suppression Force, which was authorized by the U.N. Security Council last fall and has started to deploy.
Soon, operations would begin, the U.N. chief said as he sat with a group of women at one of the many displacement camps scattered throughout this gang-ravaged capital.
“The United Nations remains fully committed,” he would later say as he wrapped up his visit, calling on the international community to do more, and the Haitian government not to squander the opportunity.
If Guterres, however, had hoped to find relief among the displaced, what he instead heard were cries of frustration.
Inside Ecole National Republique de Colombie in the Turgeau neighborhood where 1,246 individuals live in squalor, residents uprooted by gangs described lives defined by deepening hunger and increasingly inhumane conditions. Rats run throughout. Bedbugs bite them at night and stray bullets fly before dawn.
“We are sleeping one on top of another, men next to women,” one of the women said, near tears.
A mother of three said after gangs forced her to flee with nothing but the clothes on her back, she struggles daily to care for her three children, who are unable to go school because there is no money for uniforms, much less school fees.
All were nearing their breaking point, they conveyed, prompting the U.N. chief to at one point ask for forgiveness. Foreign governments, he said, leaning in so that the women could hear him, had only donated 20% of the $880 million to assist 4.2 million people they are seeking this year.
Clifford Lala, who has been homeless for the past two years, said if the U.N. or international community doesn’t have the funds, he would a least like for them to pressure the Haitian government to help them return home.
“Relocation is our top priority,” said Lala, 31, who had stood in a narrow walkway to catch a glimpse of Guterres as he toured the camp in hopes of having his message heard.
“We can’t take it anymore,” he added, as a group of young men surrounded him and kept repeating in Haitian-Creole, “We can’t take it anymore.”
Restoring security is important, the residents acknowledge. But they wanted to go home — any home.
“We are not used to living this life,” said Lala. “People need programs, cash, activities. We want our presence in Haiti to be beneficial.”
First visit since 2023
This was Guterres’ second visit to Haiti, and his first since 2023. Arriving aboard one of two World Food Program-managed helicopters, he described the trip as “a solidarity visit with the people of Haiti.”
Haitians, he said, don’t need the international community’s compassion so much as its action.
“The numbers speak for themselves. But behind each one, there is a life,” he said, highlighting the fast deteriorating humanitarian crisis. He said “6.4 million people — more than one in two Haitians — are in need of assistance today, compared to 5.5 million two years ago. Nearly 1.5 million people are internally displaced by violence.”
Gangs have been terrorizing Haitians and weakening institutions, the secretary-general said, “but the biggest disgrace is indifference — indifference of a world that has looked away.”
“There is a direct connection between the absence of the international community and the absence of security for the Haitian people,” Guterres told journalists in a press conference that was carried live from Port-au-Prince on UN TV. “So my appeal to the world is simple: Step up. Fund the humanitarian response and progressive recovery. Support the Haitian institutions and the Gang Suppression Force.”
The U.N. chief, who had advocated for a new funding mechanism to help Haiti address its worsening crisis, was briefly greeted by Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, his foreign minister Raina Forbin and the head of the new U.N. Support Office, Daniela Kroslak. Then they boarded an armored vehicle to the force’s base, which now houses hundreds of soldiers from Chad.
The Chadians are the latest contingents to be deployed to Haiti, where the gang crisis has forced nearly 1.5 million Haitians from their homes and led to over 2,000 deaths this year. They join soldiers from Guatemala, El Salvador and a small contingent from Jamaica in the U.N.-authorized and U.S.-backed force that has succeeded the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission. Larger and more lethal, the Gang Suppression Force is expected to have a planned contingent of 5,000 mostly military personnel.
It’s not a U.N. mission, but it benefits from the institution’s logistical and operation support through the newly created U.N. Support Office in Haiti.
Last occupied by Brazilian peacekeepers after the 2004 political crisis, the camp has been rebranded as Camp Vertières and sits at the crossroad of at least four armed groups. Still, the secretary believes that the force offers the best chance Haiti has had in years to turn around its crisis.
“Its deployment offers a real opportunity to reduce violence and restore the authority of the State,” he said.
After being introduced to some of the Chadian troops, Guterres praised the contingent.
“I am very happy to see the Chadians,” he said. “They are extremely brave.”
From there, he headed to the grounds of the national palace to go meet Fils-Aimé. The drive was a stark illustration of both progress and crisis.
As the motorcade approached the international airport, which is still off-limits for most international commercials flights, a park known for its gigantic monument featuring three hands is now packed with makeshift homes made of plywood and weathered tarps housing families from the recent gang warfare in nearby Cite Soleil.
In Canape Vert, walls now only protect homeowners from criminals but also send a message against the powerful Viv Ansanm gang coalition with their graffiti scrawling.
Further up, life was slowly starting to return downtown with the grounds of the national palace once more serving as the seat of the government after years of being off-limits due to the violence.
“This is not just a symbol, it is a sign of the gradual return of the State,” Guterres said.
Even as he acknowledged that neighborhoods in downtown Port-au-Prince were being retaken he noted that the progress could be reversed.
Indeed, despite the appearance of calm, gangs were actively battling for territory in parts of the capital during the visit. Shootings were reported west of the airport in Carrefour Drouillard, and a gang-on-gang fight was ongoing in Wharf Jeremie and Cité Militaire. Gangs were also reported to be on the move in the mountains of Kenscoff.
Guterres said his discussions with the prime minister and other sectors of Haitian society, including members of civil society, were “frank.”
“The opportunity before us today may not come again,” he said. “It is up to the Haitian people and them alone to chart the course.”
Fils-Aimé told the Miami Herald that his discussions focused primarily on the deployment of the GSF and the upcoming renewal of its mandate in September.
“We also discussed the establishment and strengthening of the judicial pole and its critical role in combating impunity and reinforcing the rule of law,” he said. “Finally, we exchanged views on the electoral process and the importance of creating the conditions necessary for credible and inclusive elections.”
Inside the camps, however, elections were far from anyone’s mind. Camp residents main concerns were daily survival.
“Life is not sweet. Life is bitter,” said Isilia Charles, a 77-year-old mother of six.
A former resident of Solino until gangs seized the central Port-au-Prince neighborhood, her life had resorted to washing dishes in a plastic barrel inside an unlit room with no certainty of if she would ever see a roof over her head again.
“We are still here,” she said, “because we have nowhere else to go.”
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 3:07 PM.
