UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — The United Nations (UN) Monday said that armed attacks in the department of Artibonite, Haiti have triggered new displacements and put additional pressure on already very vulnerable communities in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.

UN spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, told the daily news briefing that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the armed attacks, while the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said that more than 1,100 people were displaced following violence on May 26 in the commune of Petite Rivière de Bayonnais.

“Those who fled have sought refuge with host families within the city of Gonaïves, further straining threadbare resources available in these communities,”  said Dujarric.

He said that many of those who fled the violence last week have been displaced repeatedly.

“As we can imagine, or just try to imagine, they need shelter, food and water, but they also need healthcare, they need psychosocial support and protection services, including for survivors of gender-based violence. And we have told you repeatedly the horrific situation regarding that in Haiti,” Dujarric told the reporters.

“While we and our humanitarian partners continue to respond under challenging conditions, the pace and the scale of needs are rising rapidly,”  he added.

Meanwhile, the REZILYANS AYITI consortium has launched a multi-sectoral emergency humanitarian response in the West, Central, and Artibonite departments to assist more than 400,000 people affected by the escalating armed violence and population displacement.

The consortium of five organisations, including Plan International, the Centre for Rural Development and Community Action (CAPAC), Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children, is funded by the Regional Humanitarian Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Approximately 6.4 million people, more than half of Haiti’s population, are in need of humanitarian assistance. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase (IPC) in its April edition, 5.8 million people are at risk of acute food insecurity.

This project, which will run until October 2026, aims to improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations in 10 communities in the West, Central, and Artibonite regions by supporting displaced households and host communities through multifaceted financial assistance, while also strengthening food security, access to water, hygiene, and sanitation, and improving nutrition services by enhancing access to prevention, screening, and treatment of global acute malnutrition in displacement camps and host communities.

The intervention also integrates child protection services, including psychosocial support, case management, and community outreach, to safely identify affected children and refer them to essential services, with particular attention to girls and the most vulnerable groups.