December 19, 2024

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Fleeing gang violence, burned homes, and murdered relatives, thousands of Haitian women have been forcibly displaced, only to encounter new forms of hardship: extreme poverty, insecurity, and gender-based violence in the very spaces meant to offer refuge.
Since the escalation of urban violence, numerous women have taken shelter in informal and overcrowded displacement sites, often accompanied by children, but more frequently alone. These sites typically lack secure sanitation facilities, access to reproductive health care, or psychosocial support, placing displaced women among the most at-risk groups within the current humanitarian emergency.
I sleep with a knife under my pillow, shares Mireille, 29, displaced from Carrefour-Feuilles and now living in Delmas 33. At night, I’m afraid someone might break into the tent.
Cases of harassment, sexual assault, and exploitation have been documented. However, most go unreported due to fear, stigma, and the absence of effective protection mechanisms. Impunity remains widespread.
In response, local organizations have initiated small-scale interventions. One such initiative, FEMMES PRO, offers displaced women entrepreneurship training and financial support to help them rebuild their economic independence. Yet, these programs remain underfunded and insufficient given the scale of the crisis.
Without a targeted and gender-sensitive humanitarian response, the current displacement crisis may further entrench structural inequalities, leaving women, who already bear a disproportionate share of the burden, invisible and unsupported. Addressing the specific needs of displaced women is not merely a moral imperative; it is essential to any sustainable path toward recovery and social resilience.