The U.N.'s migration agency says nearly 6,300 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of an attack in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members that killed at least 70 people.

Nearly 6,300 people have fled their homes in the aftermath of an attack in central Haiti by heavily armed gang members that killed at least 70 people, according to the U.N.’s migration agency.

Nearly 90% of the displaced are staying with relatives in host families, while 12% have found refuge in other sites including a school, the International Organization for Migration said in a report last week.

  • anon6789@lemmy.worldEnglish
    161·
    30 days ago

    Gang members “came in shooting and breaking into the houses to steal and burn. I just had time to grab my children and run in the dark,” said 60-year-old Sonise Mirano on Sunday, who was camping with hundreds of people in a park in the nearby coastal city of Saint-Marc.

    Similar ones [gang attacks] have taken place in the capital of Port-au-Prince, 80% of which is controlled by gangs, and they typically are linked to turf wars, with gang members targeting civilians in areas controlled by rivals. Many neighborhoods are not safe, and people affected by the violence have not been able to return home, even if their houses have not been destroyed.

    More than 700,000 people — more than half of whom are children — are now internally displaced across Haiti, according to the International Organization for Migration in an Oct. 2 statement. That was an increase of 22% since June.

    Port-au-Prince hosts a quarter of the country’s displaced, often residing in overcrowded sites, with little to no access to basic services, the agency said.

    This is a key difference that certain parties leave out when discussing “illegal immigration.” These people aren’t coming here to take your country or your job or whatever you imagine the case to be. They are asylum seekers, not just from Haiti, but anywhere that this type of situation is daily life. They don’t want to come to America, they want their own homes to be safe, but they are not, nor will they be in the foreseeable future.

    If anyone in America, England, Germany, Greece, etc was in the same situation, they would be doing the same, because no one would want to live in that or to put their families through this. But all those that want to close off the borders to these people are swatting away those hands reaching out for help. All these major countries did things to help create the situations these people are trying to escape from, but they refuse to own up to it. We did these people dirty and then we ignore them as they die for it.

    It’s just so frustrating to see, and to not see any country showing us a good example of humanity or compassion.