GENEVA, Switzerland — Sexual violence against children in Haiti surged tenfold last year, according to the United Nations (UN) children’s agency, UNICEF. This alarming rise coincides with an increase in gang activity, as criminal groups controlling much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, intensify their recruitment of children.
Haiti has long struggled with political instability, a situation exacerbated by the growing influence of powerful criminal gangs. These gangs now control 85 percent of Port-au-Prince, with children, some as young as eight, making up nearly half of all members in armed groups. UNICEF spokesman James Elder highlighted these shocking statistics during a briefing in Geneva, emphasizing the escalating dangers facing Haiti’s children.
“A staggering 1,000 per cent increase in sexual violence against children in Haiti has turned their bodies into battlegrounds,” Elder said.
“The tenfold rise, recorded from 2023 to last year, comes as armed groups inflict unimaginable horrors on children.”
Haiti is currently without a president or a functioning Parliament, governed instead by a transitional body that is struggling to address the extreme violence linked to criminal gangs, poverty, and other severe challenges. According to the UN, gang violence claimed the lives of more than 5,600 people in Haiti last year—about a thousand more than in 2023.
The crisis has displaced over a million Haitians, three times the number from the previous year. Elder described the situation as dire, saying, “The suffering is immense.” He also highlighted that 1.2 million children in Haiti live under the constant threat of armed violence, adding to the already overwhelming challenges facing the country.
James Elder described the gangs’ dominance over much of Port-au-Prince as “an astounding case of insecurity in a capital city.” He pointed out that last year alone, child recruitment into armed groups surged by 70 percent.
Elder explained that many children are forcibly recruited, while others are “manipulated or driven by extreme poverty” to join the gangs. He emphasized the tragic cycle, stating, “It’s a lethal cycle: Children are recruited into the groups that fuel their own suffering,” highlighting the devastating impact of this violence on Haiti’s youngest and most vulnerable.
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