Violence against children in Haiti: Rape, recruitment, hunger and shuttered schools

More than one million internally displaced people, over 5,600 killed, an increase in gang violence and unprecedented political instability — all on top of an economic and humanitarian crisis that has dragged on for years — have left Haiti on the brink of collapse. And, amid this total crisis, children are the most vulnerable.

According to UNICEF, some 1.2 million Haitian children live under the threat of armed violence, while three million will need urgent humanitarian aid in 2025. Children risk either being recruited by gangs, or falling victim to their attacks. They also risk suffering from sexual violence when they go to the market, seeing their schools close, not having food on their plates, or having to leave their homes from one day to the next.

These are some of the key details about how violence and instability in the country impact its youngest residents.

Gang recruitment has increased by 70%

One of the main threats is recruitment by armed groups, whose violence increased in the last quarter of 2024. Gangs now control 85% of Port-au-Prince and, according to UNICEF estimates, the number of boys and girls recruited by gangs in Haiti increased by 70% over the past year. At the moment, the UN agency estimates that half of all members of armed groups are minors, some as young as eight. Many of these children are captured by force.

“The gangs force them to come in. They tell them, ‘if you don’t join, we’ll kill your sister or your mother,’” explains Emmline Toussaint, coordinator of Mary’s Meals, an international NGO that has been operating in Haiti since 2006.

Other times, children “voluntarily” join the gangs after being manipulated, or when pushed by extreme poverty. “It’s not really that they volunteer, but rather that they’re attracted by what they’re offered, in terms of money, power, food, belonging, or some kind of opportunity,” explains Geeta Narayan, UNICEF’s representative in Haiti. “Let’s remember that lack of money or hunger play an important role,” Toussaint emphasizes

“Recruitment is widespread, so children of all backgrounds are at risk. There is, of course, the [heightened] risk faced by children living on the streets. They have no family, so gangs can easily take advantage of them, because they see that they need food and shelter,” says Rawya Rageh, a senior crisis advisor at Amnesty International. The organization recently published a report in which — through interviews with 51 Haitian children between the ages of 10 and 17 — it was able to document how gangs exploit children and how they pay the highest price for the ongoing violence in the country.

Rageh, co-author of the report, explains that “the reality is that even children who are living in their own homes with their families are being recruited and used. We spoke to more than one child who said: ‘I was playing soccer on my street and a gang member asked me to go and do something for them.’”

The child recruits’ tasks range from delivering food, cleaning houses, or spying on rival gangs and the police, to criminal activities, such as carrying weapons and taking part in attacks. “All the children we spoke to told us that they had no choice, that they did it out of pure fear or hunger,” Rageh adds.

Another threat to children is the one posed by the “self-defense groups” — known collectively as the Bwa Kale movement — which are involved in lynchings of suspected gang members. “These attacks are recorded and the videos are posted on social media as a warning,” Rageh explains.

53% of internally displaced people in Haiti are children

According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than one million people have been internally displaced by violence in Haiti and 53% of them are children. “They’re deprived of school, they [are traumatized] because they hear gunshots every day. They see how gangs kill their parents, their neighbors, or relatives. They end up in camps that aren’t properly equipped, with poor hygiene conditions, or without access to water or sanitation,” says Angeline Annesteus, the director of ActionAid in Haiti. She’s also vice-president of CLIO Haiti, a local NGO. She recalls how, on a visit to a camp in Port-au-Prince in October of 2024, she was able to see firsthand the conditions in which these children live. “A girl told me: ‘Let me show you where we shower and how, every time we do it, men come, shout at us and try to touch us.’ It was an exposed and dirty place.”

Children with disabilities doubly vulnerable

Amnesty International stresses the disproportionate impact of this crisis on children with disabilities. Many have limited mobility and they’re forced to abandon their assistive devices while fleeing gang violence. “And, when they end up displaced, these sites aren’t accessible. They then face additional difficulties in accessing, for example, latrines and toilets — a caregiver has to take them to the facilities,” Rageh laments. “In crisis situations, we often see that humanitarian actors don’t take the needs of people living with disabilities into account from the start of [the planning process]. Rather, they think of this as an afterthought and a luxury… something to be added on later.” The organization has also documented attacks on a school and a clinic for children with disabilities in Port-au-Prince.

Hunger and closed schools

More than 1.5 million Haitian children and teachers have been affected by school closures, according to UNICEF. “We estimate that, over the past two years, around 1,000 schools have closed in Haiti. This has a significant impact on children. When they go to school, it becomes a place of normality. They can be children, learn, play with their friends and have fun,” Narayan explains.

Forty-eight percent of the local population faces high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the tool that measures food insecurity worldwide. Additionally, 18% of the population suffers from extreme food insecurity. “Almost one in four children in Haiti suffers from chronic malnutrition,” Annesteus says. And, according to UNICEF, more than 125,000 children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

Organizations such as Mary’s Meals, which feeds 175,000 children in 500 schools across Haiti every day, face logistical and security risks when carrying out their work. “Many of the main roads from west to south are controlled by gangs. If we have to send food out of Port-au-Prince, we do it by boat,” Toussaint explains.

Sexual violence up 1,000%

Sexual violence against children has increased by 1,000% in Haiti, according to UNICEF. James Elder, the spokesperson for the UN agency, said that “the 10-fold increase recorded from 2023 to last year” has turned the bodies of children into “battlefields.”

“Rape and sexual violence is a daily risk faced by girls in and around Port-au-Prince whenever they leave home to go to school or the market. Sometimes, public transportation vehicles are stopped at checkpoints and girls are taken out to be sexually assaulted. It’s an absolutely daily risk,” Rageh stresses.

Amnesty interviewed a 16-year-old girl in Port-au-Prince who was taken off a bus in 2023 by gang members in the Cité Soleil neighborhood, one of the hardest hit by violence. She was taken to a house, beaten and raped by three men. She became pregnant and was unable to have an abortion — the medical procedure is illegal in Haiti — so she was forced to become a mother. “I tried to commit suicide, but they had time to take me to the hospital. I used to have many dreams. One of them was to be a nurse. But since I had the baby, they’ve all vanished.”

For Narayan, from UNICEF, this sexual violence is also an important part of the “campaign of terror inflicted by armed groups on the population.” Sometimes, Annesteus notes, these violations are recorded and shared in videos circulating on social media. Humanitarian organizations denounce that, after having this violence inflicted on them, girls don’t receive adequate medical or psychological assistance. They also face barriers when accessing justice.

Humanitarian aid: insufficient and threatened

According to UNICEF estimates, in 2025, around three million Haitian children will need urgent humanitarian aid. However, the UN agency’s 2024 request for emergency funds — $221.4 million — still remains 72% unfunded. “This year, we’ve calculated that we need $272 million to protect and help some 1.2 million children and their families,” Narayan warns.

Humanitarian organizations insist on the need for funding to meet current challenges. Annesteus stresses the importance of local NGOs, which are the first to respond when the crisis worsens, as they’re closer to the communities. The vice-president of CLIO stresses the need for more flexible mechanisms so that these organizations can access funds.

Regarding how the dismantling of USAID by the Donald Trump administration may affect the situation, Annesteus predicts that it will have a “deep and lasting impact, hindering the humanitarian response.”

“What we’ve seen,” she continues, “is that there are millions of people already affected because, of course, [the U.S. government is talking about exempting certain programs from cuts], but it takes time to process this. In the meantime, nothing can be done.” She adds that certain organizations cannot access funding because banks have put a hold on the monies in their accounts.

The representative of UNICEF adds that the impact of the freezing of funds and the stop-work orders is currently being determined. “We know that Haiti is one of the countries that has benefited from significant funding from the U.S. government. Therefore, the current freeze is severely affecting it. The U.S. has also been UNICEF’s main supporter globally and [these cuts have] had a significant impact on us. We’ve been able to obtain exemptions for some of our work in Haiti,” Narayan adds.

Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani

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