Beyond the postcard - Haiti's city of refuge

Once the Paris of the Antilles with picturesque beaches, Cap-Haitien has turned into a refuge city absorbing people who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and any sense of security fleeing the extreme violence and collapse of state authority in Haiti's capital Port‑au‑Prince. The constant influx of displaced people has pushed the largest city in northern Haiti far beyond its capacity, creating a new humanitarian emergency in a region that had previously been relatively stable. While the city was already drowning in waste, its volume has doubled in two years. Many of the displaced families now shelter in overcrowded sites at the coastline with limited access to basic services. These families are forced to start all over again and finding ways to survive, in a city that has neither the means nor the infrastructure to accommodate them. The movement spurs a new wave of street vendors and informal settlements on the seaside. Cap‑Haïtien has become a pressure valve for a country in collapse. With the rise in violence in the capital, where clashes between gangs and law enforcement have intensified, returning to Port-au-Prince has become impossible. This is not migration — it is survival.