By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
Haiti’s children are increasingly caught in the crossfire of gang violence, forced to carry weapons, spy on police and rival gangs and run errands for gunmen, according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International.
One of 51 children interviewed by the human rights group said he was constantly pressured by a gang to fight alongside it.
“They killed people in front of me and asked me to burn their bodies. But I don’t have the heart for that,” the unidentified boy was quoted as saying.
An estimated 30% to 50% of gang members are now children, according to UNICEF. Amnesty International said the children “had no choice, and that their involvement was predominantly out of hunger or fear.
“Nearly two million people are on the verge of starvation in Haiti, and more than one million children are estimated to be living in gang-controlled areas, with 85% of the capital of Port-au-Prince under their rule.
One unidentified boy, 16, said he’s paid to run errands for a gang.
“(The gangs) are in control. And there is nothing you can do about it,” he was quoted as saying.If children refuse to follow a gang’s orders, they or their family would be killed, according to the report, which relied on a total of 112 interviews and research done from May to October last year.
Children are not only in danger of gangs, but of vigilantes and police officers who believe they’re working for them, according to Amnesty International.Girls and young women also have been collectively raped by gang members and infected with sexually transmitted diseases, often ending up pregnant in a country where health care is extremely limited.
One teen was raped by six men, and her sister by five others. “There was so much blood,” the unidentified younger sister said in an interview.Another teen recounted how she drank bleach to try and kill herself after having a baby after being raped by three men who then left her naked in public. “People found me on the street and put a dress on me,” she said.
Amnesty International said many of those interviewed “scoffed at the idea of reporting their attacks to authorities.
”A 16-year-old girl who was abducted and raped by several gang members said: “Are you kidding me? It’s not possible…There is no police…The only chief in town are the gang members.”The violence also has led to injury and death.
One girl, 14, recounted how a ricocheting bullet pierced her lip in September 2024. Three months before that, her 17-year-old brother died from a stray bullet. “I lost a huge presence in my life. Since then, I don’t know how to be happy,” the girl said.
The violence is especially punishing on children with disabilities, with some recounting how they had to leave behind crutches and wheelchairs during sudden gang attacks in their neighborhoods.
Amnesty International called on the Haitian government to better support children, restore education, provide mental health services, and resume court proceedings against children suspected of ties to gangs who are being held without charge.
It also said more resources including training and security are needed to help reintegrate children into society.
“The international community cannot continue to make empty promises,” the report said.“The country needs immediate and sustained technical and financial assistance to rescue a generation of boys and girls from being lost to repeated cycles of gang violence.”
In 2023, 128 children were reported killed, according to the U.N. While the figure wasn’t available for last year, more than 5,600 people were reported killed in 2024, the organization found.Haiti’s National Police, which is severely underfunded and understaffed, is working alongside a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to help quell gang violence.
However, the mission lacks funding and personnel, and the U.S. and other countries have been pushing to transform it into a U.N.-peacekeeping mission.
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