Haiti is nearing total state collapse as armed gangs now control nearly 90% of Port-au-Prince and are expanding into previously stable regions, United Nations (U.N.) officials told the Security Council on Wednesday.
“The state’s capacity to govern is rapidly shrinking,” Ghada Fathy Waly, Executive Director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime told ambassadors in the Security Council during a briefing on Wednesday. “Criminal groups are filling the vacuum, establishing parallel governance and seizing key trade routes.”
Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for the Americas at the Department of Political Affairs, described Port-au-Prince as a city paralyzed by gang violence.
“During my visit, I was struck by the profound transformation of Port-au-Prince. The capital city was for all intents and purposes paralyzed by gangs and isolated as a result of the ongoing suspension of international commercial flights into the Toussaint Louverture international airport,” he said.
While Port-au-Prince remains the epicenter of the violence, Jenča warned that gangs are increasingly expanding their operations beyond the capital. “Major attacks in Artibonite and Center departments, particularly in Mirebalais, demonstrate the growing capacity and intent of gangs to expand their reach into northern departments.”.
Jenča reported that the commune of La Chapelle in the Lower Artibonite department is the latest to fall, having been taken over by gangs following a violent assault on June 22, which displaced at least 8,890 residents.
He urged the international community to take swift and decisive action, warning that without intervention, “the total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario.”
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, gangs have expanded their influence in Haiti.
According to the U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti, more than 4,000 people have been killed in the country since January, a 24% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Reports of sexual violence are also rising, with 364 incidents recorded between March and April alone.
In May, the Trump administration officially designated two of Haiti’s most powerful gang networks, Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif, as foreign terrorist organizations.
