At this moment, the people of Haiti are refusing to give up on their country and are standing up to the forces trying to tear it apart. The work of Haiti’s civil society has never been more important and that is why civil society leaders and their organization need financial support.
This week, Haiti named members of a transitional council to replace the discredited government of Ariel Henry, when he steps down as prime minister. Henry announced he would resign last month as gangs rampaged across the capital Port-au-Prince, destroying vital infrastructure and attacking fellow Haitians, while he was in Kenya urging the government there to dispatch a security force to salvage the situation.
Haiti is now in the grips of the worst security and humanitarian crisis anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly half of its more than 11 million people, including 3 million children, are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Gangs have attacked hospitals, schools, state institutions, a port and airport, and low-income neighborhoods. Sexual violence against women and girls, as the United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk warned earlier this month, has reached “levels not seen before.”
About the author
Binaifer Nowrojee
Binaifer Nowrojee is the incoming president of the Open Society Foundations, the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights.
