Haiti humanitarian appeal receives lowest funding amid gang conflict

The United Nations’ Haiti humanitarian appeal for 2025 has received the lowest funding of any response plan worldwide, according to Al-Monitor via Reuters on August 12^th.

Haiti, the troubled nation situated in the Caribbean, has been plagued by the constant influence of armed gangs, who have paralysed transport routes and incited widespread violence, exacerbating the desperate humanitarian situation.

Since 2020, 80% of Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, has been controlled by armed gangs, which has caused a huge displacement from central Haiti.

Widespread starvation in Haiti has continued to escalate, with a combination of gang violence and economic woes pushing 5.7 million people to be affected by acute food insecurity.

As a response, the U.N. launched an appeal to help alleviate the crisis through a 900-million-dollar response plan, but it is just 9.2% funded, which is dwarfed by the funding commitments for other U.N. appeals.

Ukraine’s $2.3-billion appeal for this year is 38% funded according to U.N. financial tracking data, whilst a $4-billion flash appeal for the Palestinian territories received 22% of its target.

The coordinator, Ulrika Richardson, said that Haiti’s appeal marked “the lowest level of funding for any response plan in the world.”

However, it is not just the U.N. humanitarian response plans that are suffering, but U.N. aid plans more broadly are being reduced as a consequence of Western nations such as the United States drastically reducing their funding for foreign aid programmes.

Reportedly, these austere approaches to aid will exacerbate Haiti’s existing levels of famine, with the U.N. revising its aid budget target to $29 billion, down from the initial $44 billion target.

Other attempts to support the population have also been unsuccessful.

A partially deployed U.N. back force led by Kenya emerged a year ago but has been ineffectual in helping the police to reclaim gang-controlled territories.

Likewise, the control Haiti’s gangs have exerted in the trafficking of arms and control of transport means that the practicalities of providing supplies and relief are challenging, irrespective of the funding issues.

Al-Monitor via Reuters, Maghrebi.org