Haiti faces protracted crisis.

The top UN envoy for Haiti on Tuesday said the Caribbean nation is facing protracted security and humanitarian crisis while describing the signing of a national consensus agreement and the approvement of the sanctions regime by the Security Council as two positive developments.

Gang-related violence in Haiti has reached levels not seen in decades, with murders and kidnappings increasing for a fourth consecutive year, Helen La Lime, the UN secretary-general's special representative and head of the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, told a Security Council open briefing on Haiti.

A total of 1,359 kidnappings were recorded in 2022 in Haiti, more than doubling in 2021, averaging roughly four per day. And 2,183 murders were reported in 2022, up by a third since the previous year, touching nearly all segments of society, she said.

Close to five million people are facing conditions of acute hunger across the country, and while 90 percent of schools are now operating, thousands of children, especially those living in gang-affected areas, are yet to start the school year, she added.

On Dec. 21, 2022, a broad spectrum of political figures, civil society organizations, religious authorities, trade unions and the private sector in Haiti signed the National Consensus Agreement for an Inclusive Transition and Transparent Elections.

"The agreement, whose adherents are growing every...