Haiti-Dominican Republic: the Dominican Republic has increased security along the Haitian border to prevent unauthorized migration and smuggling, including constructing a fence and deploying military troops; some disputes over border limits, particularly along the Massacre River
Haiti-US: Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island
IDPs: 362,551 (violence among armed gangs in primarily in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince) (2024)
stateless persons: 2,992 (2018); note - individuals without a nationality who were born in the Dominican Republic prior to January 2010
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List — Haiti does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; officials initiated two prosecutions under the anti-trafficking law and assigned investigative judges in two additional high-profile cases; the government also identified and provided services to 11 adult trafficking victims, and also provided support to an unknown number of child victims and conducted an audit of judicial and child protection cases; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts, compared with the previous year, to expand its anti-trafficking capacity; impunity and complicity, particularly in high-profile cases, remained problems; Haiti lacked sustained law enforcement efforts and did not pursue investigations following victim identification; improvements in law enforcement or victim protection efforts were unclear because the government did not disaggregate information on anti-trafficking law enforcement or victim protection efforts; anti-trafficking agencies did not cooperate effectively, and the government did not make sufficient efforts to combat child domestic servitude; because the government has devoted sufficient resources to a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute significant efforts to meet the minimum standards, Haiti was granted a waiver per the Trafficking Victims Protection Act from an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3; therefore, Haiti remained on Tier 2 Watch List for the third consecutive year (2023)
trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Haiti, as well as Haitians abroad; in 2023, officials estimated three million Haitians were at risk of trafficking; during the reporting period, Haiti suffered multiple crises, including gang violence, fuel shortages, irregular migration outflows, internal population displacements, a cholera epidemic, the breakdown of basic infrastructure, and the government’s inability to provide basic services—all of which increased vulnerability to trafficking and reduced government capacity to address it; most of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children in forced labor and sex trafficking in domestic service; NGOs estimate that between 150,000 and 300,000 children work in domestic servitude, of which about two-thirds are girls and one-third boys—mostly victims of sex trafficking and labor trafficking, respectively; female foreign nationals, especially citizens of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, are particularly at risk for sex and labor trafficking in Haiti; commercial sex typically takes place in upscale neighborhoods and resort areas to cater to foreigners; NGOs report child sex tourism occurs in Haiti, with most sex tourists coming from Canada, the US, and Europe; traffickers target Haitian children in private or NGO-sponsored residential care centers, children working in construction, agriculture, fisheries, domestic work, begging, and street vending, IDPs including those displaced by natural disasters, stateless people, LGBTQI+ youth, and those affected by gang violence; risks to migrants remained high, including from migrant smugglers who exploit migrant women in commercial sex to repay alleged debts; among all Haitian migrant groups, those traversing the Dominican Republic-Haiti border seeking economic opportunities were the largest and most vulnerable to trafficking; cross-border trafficking of Haitians include forced labor in the Dominican construction, service, and agricultural industries and sex trafficking in the Dominican tourism industry; Haitian adults and children also are at risk of fraudulent recruitment and forced labor in other Caribbean countries, South America, and the US; Cuban medical workers in Haiti may have been forced to work by the Cuban government (2023)
a transit point for cocaine from South America and marijuana from Jamaica en route to the United States; not a producer or large consumer of illicit drugs; some cultivation of cannabis for local consumption
NOTE: The information regarding Haiti on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Haiti 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Haiti 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
