Doctors Without Borders announces in mid-November that it will leave Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. Behind the decision lies a series of events, most recently that Haitian police stopped one of MSF's ambulances and executed two men who received treatment in the vehicle.
On November 11, one of the Doctors Without Borders ambulances was stopped by police in Haiti's capital and two patients were executed. The staff are also said to have been attacked, subjected to threats and held against their will for several hours.
After the incident that took place on November 11, several people employed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF, Médecins Sans Frontières) have reported threats. On November 18, a police officer allegedly threatened staff who were in a car near the hospital in the Carrefour district. Two days later, on November 20, the organization chose to close down its operations in the capital.
- As Médecins Sans Frontières, we accept working in unsafe conditions, but when even the police pose a direct threat, we have no choice but to temporarily stop the care of patients in Port-au-Prince until the conditions are in place for us to resume the work, explains Christophe Garnier, responsible for the work of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti, on the organization's website.
This is not the first time MSF has paused its activities in the city. In December 2023 they closed the Turgeau Emergency Center in Port-au-Prince after patients were shot dead during a medical transport. The center in Turgeau then reopened in the spring of 2024 due to an increasing need for hospital beds following increased violence in the city.
Widespread violence and a difficult political situation
Haiti has been characterized by great challenges for a long time. The biggest and most urgent crisis right now is gang violence, which affects especially Port-au-Prince, but also other parts of the country.
In recent times, the UN refugee agency estimates that 40 people have left their homes in Port-au-Prince as a result of the violence in the city. Several media, including Reuters, reports that the UN is also evacuating staff from Port-au-Prince as a result of the escalation of gang violence.
That gang violence has become as widespread as it is today can be connected to the political anarchy that has been going on in Haiti since the country's democratically elected president Jovenel Moïse was murdered by mercenaries in 2021. Since this June, a UN-sanctioned multinational force, led by Kenya, assist in restoring order in the country.
No new elections have been held since the assassination of Moïse and, pending democratically elected leaders, the country is governed by a transitional council whose activities have been marked by political battles. Currently, there are plans for elections to be held in February 2026.
Haiti's geographic position, together with the effects of climate change, makes the country vulnerable to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and landslides. As one of the world's poorest countries, Haiti also has difficulty preventing and managing the consequences of natural disasters.
When or if Doctors Without Borders opens up its operations in Port-au-Prince remains to be seen. But the needs are great. Haiti is for the third year in a row on the International Rescue Committees Emergency Watchlist.
- Without immediate international support, the suffering will fhurt exponentially, says Grégoire Goodstein, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Haiti.
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