Haiti on the edge of collapse: The US must respond now or it will be too late

Only 10 percent of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, remains under the control of the Haitian government. And even this last stronghold is now on the verge of collapse, putting the entire population at risk.

A religious worker there told me about corpses in the streets, decomposing in broad daylight; women and girls are raped in plain view and children are digging through trash for food. “The smell of burned bodies is unbearable,” he said. “It’s completely devastating.”

Over the past few months, criminal groups have conducted attacks — including killings and sexual violence — in areas previously considered safe, as they seek full control of the capital.

They have also committed atrocities to tighten their grip on the population in regions already under their control. Thousands have fled with little more than the clothes on their backs.

In my visits to Haiti in recent years, I have documented rape, child recruitment and killings by criminal groups. The violence is growing by the day and is likely to get even worse if criminal groups take full control of Port-au-Prince.

Police officers have told me they lack the capacity to respond. Residents have organized their own “security brigades” and have committed crimes to fend off attacks against their communities. Meanwhile, opposition political leaders and criminal groups have organized massive, often violent protests aimed at ousting the transitional government established in 2024 with support from the U.S. and the Caribbean Community.

The Multinational Security Support Mission backed by the United Nations and sent to help stabilize Haiti in 2024 has been chronically underfunded. It only numbers around 1,000 of the promised 2,500 personnel. It needs $600 million to ensure its operations until June. With limited resources, the mission cannot challenge the territorial control of criminal groups, which killed more than 5,000 people last year, and raped thousands of women and girls.