IDP Camps In Haiti

In January 2010, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude occurred nearby the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As of June 2015, 103,565 internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Haiti continue to live in camps established in the aftermath of the earthquake and, according to the United Nations, some 70,000 of the remaining IDPs have no prospect of a durable solution (Human Rights Watch, World Report 2015: Haiti). Despite considerable IDP relocations since 2010, increasing violence against women and children, a lack of water and sanitation, and overall dire living conditions plague the remaining 107 IDP camps (International Organization for Migration, 2015). Unless Haiti’s IDPs are removed from camps and provided access to health, clean water and proper
Long before the earthquake, Haiti was already wracked with disease, environmental degradation, political corruption, and was the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world. Most of the current IDP sites are located within the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area with the majority within 25 miles of Port-au-Prince (IOM, 2015). In a country whose prior disposition was so impoverished to begin with, these camps and ‘tent cities’ are often indistinguishable from previously existing slums, both of which have poorer access to water, latrines and health care (Bradley,
Political stalemates, resource constraints, and weak government institutions continue to hinder the Haitian government’s efforts to meet the basic needs of its people and address long-standing human rights and public health problems. The cholera epidemic claimed more than 8,500 lives and infected over 700,000 people in four years (HRW, WR 2015: Haiti). Given the poor conditions of the IDP camps, hygiene and health are directly impacted and IDPs are particularly susceptible to health threats. Widespread illness is a key-aggravating factor, along with an increase in incidents of violence within the IDP community as a whole. Such persistent, deplorable conditions and the lack of permanent housing prospects explain the increase in violence, health deterioration, poor access to education, and impediments to other basic needs of IDPs (HRW, WR 2015: