US Announces $60 Million Aid Package To Haiti

News Americas, New York, NY, July 23, 2024: The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, announced on Monday a US$60 million humanitarian aid package to support the Haitian people and alleviate the suffering caused by gang war in Haiti.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, during her one-day visit to the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country, stated that the aid would be channeled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

US Ambassador to the United Nation Linda Thomas-Greenfield (C) greets Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille as they gather for a group photo with the Transitional Presidential Council after a meeting at the Villa d’Accueil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on July 22, 2024. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

This funding will enable USAID partners to address critical gaps in nutrition, food security, and shelter; improve water and sanitation services; provide market-based cash assistance to help affected communities purchase essential commodities; and support crucial protection services for Haiti’s most vulnerable populations, including survivors of gender-based violence.

Currently, an estimated 5.5 million people in Haiti require immediate humanitarian assistance amid a complex crisis fueled by civil unrest, disease, economic instability, and organized criminal groups. These factors, combined with recurring natural disasters like droughts, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, have led to shortages of basic supplies and increased food insecurity across the nation.

Ongoing violence has further restricted access to essential healthcare, causing several hospitals and clinics to close, disrupting supply chains, elevating prices for staple foods, and reducing agricultural production.

Washington noted that this new funding builds on previous commitments of more than US$105 million earlier this year, bringing the total USAID humanitarian support for Haiti this fiscal year to over US$165 million.

Last week, UN Women, the agency dedicated to gender equality, highlighted the unprecedented levels of insecurity and sexual violence faced by displaced women in Haiti. The instability in the country has led to a surge in sexual violence against women and girls as armed gangs continue their assaults on the population.

A new report by UN Women reveals the dire living conditions and lack of security faced by approximately 300,000 displaced women and girls amid ongoing political instability, escalating gang violence, and the threat of the current hurricane season.

Women and girls constitute more than half of the 580,000 displaced individuals in Haiti, and the UN Women Rapid Gender Assessment underscores how makeshift camps, which lack basic necessities, are putting them at particular risk of sexual and gender-based violence.

The survey was conducted in April in the six most populated and diverse displacement sites in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

In addition, Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced that the US Department of Defense would provide a “substantial increase” in the number of armored vehicles to the Kenyan-led, UN-backed multinational mission assisting the Haitian National Police (PNH) in combating widespread gang war in Haiti.