Internally displaced persons in Haiti: Their voices, their rights, and their dignity matter now!
Pétion-Ville, Haiti – October 6, 2025 — The number of people displaced by armed violence continues to rise. Nearly 1.3 million people—women, children, persons with disabilities, and men—have been forced to flee their homes and leave everything they own behind to escape the terror imposed by armed groups.
Three of the country's 10 geographical departments—Artibonite, West (85% of its territory lost), and Central—are directly affected by this wave of population movement. Meanwhile, the repercussions are numerous for the others.
In the Central Plateau, there is an added complication with the start of the school year. Displaced persons occupying school premises report receiving threats to leave the premises, even though they have nowhere else to go.
Voices that speak out:
"I live in a school. The people in the area want to chase us away now that school is starting again. I have five children whose father was killed by gangs," says Jerda, a displaced person from Saut d'Eau, now a refugee in Hinche.
"To the leaders of my country, I beg you, do something for us. When I was a child, I didn't live like this. How can I live like this as an adult?" says Vesta, another displaced person in the same situation. Both women spoke out in the context of the publication of a report on the situation of displaced persons in temporary shelters in the Centre department.
"I live in a school. The people in the area want to chase us away now that school is starting again. I have five children whose father was killed by gangs," says Jerda
An investigation to break the silence
With the aim of documenting their realities, making their suffering visible, and informing public and humanitarian decisions, an investigation was conducted in ten shelters located in Boucan Carré, Hinche, and Thomonde.
A total of 102 displaced persons agreed to testify: 56 women (including 22 girls) and 46 men (including 18 boys), coming from Mirebalais, Saut d'Eau, and even Port-au-Prince, more than 100 km away.
The results are alarming:
96% of respondents directly attribute their displacement to armed violence;
86.2% have been living in this situation for about six months;
88.24% sleep without beds, often on cardboard boxes on the floor, sometimes in abandoned houses occupied by animals.
These figures and others presented in this report reflect a profound human tragedy. "We want to break the silence that kills," say more than a hundred displaced persons, who have drafted a petition calling on the authorities to take action to restore their fundamental rights and dignity.
Call for civic and national responsibility
Faced with the situation of these children, girls, women, and people with disabilities, "The question that every Haitian should be asking themselves today is simple: how can we get out of this situation—and, above all, how can we ensure that it never happens again?" said Dr. Lesly M. Michaud, country representative for World Vision-Haiti.
"Each of us must take action to change this situation." Dr. Lesly Michaud, Country Program Director for World Vision Haiti
The World Vision-Haiti representative is calling for civic and individual responsibility. For him, "It is not enough to point fingers. Each of us must take action to change this situation. We, as Haitian citizens, must be the first to carry the Haitian dream (..)." He therefore calls for investment in the future of Haitian youth, while offering them better treatment.
"When you don't provide basic conditions for young people, what remains is violence. We must act on behalf of the children in the neighborhood who cannot go to school, on behalf of those who live on the streets or those who live as domestic workers," he adds.
Press contact
Guy F. Vital-Herne, Communications and Church Relations Manager
Email: guy_vital-herne@wvi.org