United Nations, May 17 (IANS): UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths has authorised the release of $nine million for aid to an estimated 5.2 million people in Haiti, UN humanitarians said.
Griffiths took the action after the number of people who need humanitarian assistance in Haiti doubled over the past five years, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) added on Tuesday, which he heads.
The 5.2 million people in need include a 30 per cent jump in the number of children suffering severe acute malnutrition compared to a year ago, Xinhua news agency reported.
OCHA said Haiti suffered a massive deterioration in the humanitarian situation due to exploding violence and insecurity. The money comes out of the world body's Central Emergency Response Fund.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned on Monday to New York from a visit to Jamaica, where he met with Prime Minister Andrew Holness, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN chief. During a press encounter with Holness before his departure, Guterres reiterated the need for an international police force to crack down on gangs in Haiti.
Guterres said such a non-UN force needs to take place in parallel with a political process, as was expressed in Guterres' proposal to the Security Council last year, Dujarric told a regular briefing on Tuesday.
"He acknowledged that this has been a difficult exercise, but once again asked the international community to understand that an effective solidarity with Haiti is not only a matter of generosity, it is essentially a matter of enlightened self-interest, because the present situation in Haiti reflects a threat to the security of the region as a whole and further afield," the spokesman said.
Violence erupted about 10 years ago during clashes between gangs and during gang activity in the capital of Port-au-Prince, where some gangs took control of swaths of neighbourhoods in the city.
OCHA said this year's humanitarian response plan for Haiti is the largest since the devastating 2010 earthquake. But the 720-million-dollar appeal is less than 12 per cent funded.