Haiti's rampant criminal gangs are luring more children into lives of crime and sexual abuse, as hunger and poverty in the tiny Caribbean nation drive young people to desperation, according to a report published Wednesday by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. Hundreds, possibly thousands more children have joined the violent gangs in recent months, HRW says, with members forcing youngsters to commit crimes and subjecting them to sexual abuse and violence.
The bloodshed and political chaos that has beleaguered Haiti has shown no signs of abating, with a single gang attack last week in the town of Pont-Sondé, about 40 miles from the capital Port-au-Prince, leaving 115 people dead and at least 16 others seriously wounded, according to local officials.
Myriam Fièvre, the mayor of the nearby city of Saint-Marc, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the toll from the Oct. 3 attack would likely rise further, as authorities still hadn't managed to access certain parts of Pont-Sondé. At least three infants were among those killed, according to a previous statement from the United Nations human rights commissioner.
The HRW report published Wednesday says the gangs likely started drawing more children into their ranks in response to law enforcement operations against their members by the Haiti Police and the United Nations-backed Multinational Security Support Mission. The MSS mission was recently approved by the United Nations. Led by Kenya, the force has only been partially deployed.
Criminal groups control almost 80% of Port-au-Prince, and HRW says joining the gangs is often the only option children have to obtain food and shelter. Around 125,000 children suffer from acute hunger in Haiti, according to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. Some 2.7 million people live in gang-controlled territory, including 500,000 children.
HRW says almost a third of gang members now are believed to be children. A humanitarian worker in the country told HRW the gangs are using social media platforms including TikTok to attract young recruits.
HRW said girls are sexually abused by gang members and exploited for domestic labor once lured in.
"The [gang] leaders force them to perform sexual acts with them or their members while others watch," HRW quoted one humanitarian worker as saying. "They tell them that they are their girlfriends and that they must obey them, but in reality, they exploit them for their pleasure and consumption."
Boys are often used by the gangs to run errands, act as informants to get information on police activity and to transport weapons, HRW says, though they're sometimes commissioned to assist in carrying out more serious, violent crimes, including kidnapping and murder. For this, they are fed and often paid — money which the young recruits often use to support family members facing poverty.
Gang members often use violence to control child soldiers once they've been recruited, beating and threatening them if they refuse to follow orders. One boy interviewed by HRW told the organization he originally joined a gang as an 8-year-old orphan, living on the street. He said he was given a gun and told to wear it on his back.
"Girls are not usually offered incentives for loyalty," the HRW report says in the report, citing aid workers on the ground. "Instead, they are usually let go after some time, typically when they become pregnant as a result of rape."
Despite the spiraling violence, the U.S. government resumed deporting some migrants back to Haiti's capital after a pause in the flights. The Biden administration has, however, extended temporary protected status to Haitians in the U.S. until 2025.
Former President Donald Trump has vowed, if reelected in November, to enact large-scale deportations of migrants, including Haitians.
HRW says more international aid is desperately needed in Haiti and in its new report, it calls on the country's transitional government to prioritize initiatives to protect children. The transitional council took power in April with a mandate to start rebuilding Haiti's crippled civilian government after years of turmoil amplified by the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.
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