Doctors Without Borders Halts Services in Port-au-Prince Amid Police Violence
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, announced the suspension of all its medical services in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, citing escalating violence and direct threats from police officers, Al Jazeera reports.
The decision, announced Tuesday, leaves a significant gap in healthcare provision in a city already grappling with a devastating gang crisis.
MSF reported a series of alarming incidents over the past week, including repeated stops of its vehicles and direct threats of death and rape against its staff by police officers. The organization, long a crucial provider of healthcare in Haiti, stated that these threats, coupled with a previous attack on an ambulance, left them with no option but to suspend operations in five medical facilities.
The most serious incident involved an attack last week on an MSF ambulance by a combined group of vigilante and law enforcement officers. The vehicle was surrounded, staff tear-gassed, and at least two patients killed, according to MSF. In another instance, an armed, plainclothes officer explicitly threatened to execute and burn staff, patients, and ambulances starting the following week.
Christophe Garnier, MSF’s Haiti mission chief, emphasized that while the organization is accustomed to working in insecure environments, the direct threats from law enforcement necessitate the suspension of projects.
The suspension comes amidst a deepening crisis in Haiti. Gang violence has escalated dramatically, with gangs controlling an estimated 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, forcing over 20,000 people to flee their homes in recent days, adding to the hundreds of thousands already displaced. The emergence of vigilante groups, often collaborating with police in brutal reprisals, has further destabilized the city.
Haiti’s government requested international assistance in 2022 to combat the gangs, who are accused of widespread atrocities including mass sexual violence, kidnappings, extortion, and child recruitment. While the UN Security Council approved a support mission last October, deployment has been significantly delayed. The UNSC is scheduled to meet Wednesday to address the escalating violence.
