Security in Haiti
Stopping the flow of illegal weapons and breaking the hold of armed gangs so every other cause can succeed.
None of our other causes can take root while armed gangs control roads, ports and neighborhoods. Clean water, power plants, schools and clinics all depend on people being able to move, work and build safely. That is why Save Haiti treats security as the foundation for everything else.
Haiti does not manufacture firearms or ammunition. The weapons that gangs use are brought into the country, mostly smuggled from abroad by traffickers — foreign nationals and Haitians alike — who profit from Haiti's suffering. The United Nations estimates that about 500,000 illegal weapons are in circulation, even though Haiti has been under a UN arms embargo since 2022.
What we recommend
Stop the weapons at the source
Cut off gun and ammunition trafficking where it starts — in the countries the weapons come from — and at Haiti's ports, airstrips and border.
Read more about Stop the weapons at the source →
Break the gangs' power
Support the Haitian police and the international Gang Suppression Force, prosecute gang leaders and their financiers, and give young people a way out.
Read more about Break the gangs' power →
Our principles
- Security operations must follow Haitian law and respect human rights — abuses only strengthen the gangs
- Those who arm and finance the gangs, at home or abroad, must be held responsible, not only the young people recruited to carry the guns
- Haitians must lead: international help should build up Haitian institutions, not replace them
- Every neighborhood freed from gang control needs services right away — water, power, schools and jobs — so the gangs cannot return
Security priorities
Stopping Weapons Trafficking
Cutting off the guns and ammunition smuggled to Haiti's gangs from abroad.
Read more about Stopping Weapons Trafficking →
Ending Gang Violence
Restoring the rule of law, supporting the police and giving young people a way out of the gangs.
Read more about Ending Gang Violence →
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