How is gang violence affecting life in Haiti?

What in the World

• Episode: How is gang violence affecting life in Haiti?
• Website: What in the World
• Feed URL: https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/w13xtvrv.rss
• Duration: 00:14:35
• Published: 2025-01-13 15:30

Haiti has been engulfed in a wave of gang violence since the assassination of the then-president, in 2021. Now an estimated 85% of the capital, Port au Prince is under gang control. The UN says in 2024, 5000 people died in the violence, which has left the country on the verge of collapse.

To combat the violence, the UN Security Council authorised a Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in October 2023. Funded primarily by the US, the Kenyan-led force deployed to Haiti six months ago has been tasked with restoring law and order. But there are questions over its effectiveness.

Nawal Al-Maghafi, a BBC investigations correspondent who has recently been embedded with the Kenyan police in Haiti, explains the situation there and how the country got to this point. Widlore Mérancourt, a reporter for the Washington Post and Editor-in-Chief of the Haitian publication Ayibo, describes how Haitians view outside intervention, after years of UN peacekeeping missions.

And we hear from young Haitian women, who tell us how their lives have been affected and what hopes they have for the future.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Nathalia Jimenez Producers: Julia Ross-Roy and Josh Jenkins Editor: Emily Horler