Five children per week are killed or injured in gang wars in Haiti | Global Development

In the first six months of 2024, five children were killed or injured every week in Haiti because they were caught in the crossfire of rival gangs.

According to an analysis of UN data by Save the Children, at least 131 children have been killed or injured so far this year – 47% more than in the last six months of 2023, when 89 cases were documented.

Most were hit by stray bullets when armed gangs attacked their neighborhoods with machine guns or engaged in street battles with other armed groups and the police.

A small but growing number of these children have been targeted because they were suspected of supporting a local self-defense group, a rival gang or the police. Others have been lynched by the public after being accused of minor offenses, according to the aid group Save the Children.

“We are at a loss for words when we talk about the unimaginable suffering that children in Haiti have to endure. Entire neighborhoods have been burned down, kidnappings and sexual assaults are commonplace, and children are being directly attacked or caught in the crossfire,” said Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, the organization's country director for Haiti.

Armed gangs control about 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. In March, they joined forces to overthrow incumbent Prime Minister Ariel Henry, besiege the international airport and set fire to police stations and hospitals.

Haiti's new acting president, Garry Conille, took office in June after being appointed by a transitional council. Since then, he has been trying to regain control. 400 Kenyan police have been deployed to the Caribbean nation to help restore order.

But analysts say the task force needs reinforcements to take on the gangs, and local groups have expressed concern that their ranks are swelled by children being recruited for kidnapping, looting and murder.

Haiti's deep and rampant poverty makes it easy to persuade children to take up arms or work as informants, civil society groups say. With one in two children suffering from hunger on a regular basis and schools often closed, the provision of regular food may be sufficient.

“Many boys, but also many girls, join gangs for their safety, but also because they have no opportunities,” says Emmline Toussaint from the Bureau de Nutrition et Développement (BND).

The BND provides school meals to keep children in school and off the streets, where they are more likely to be recruited as gunmen.

Save the Children released a statement in June warning that sending international security forces to Haiti would put even more children at risk of being killed or seriously injured.

Observers have expressed concern that Kenyan police, who have a checkered human rights record in their home country, may take a heavy-handed approach as they try to wrest control of the country back from the gangs. Save the Children said it had seen no evidence that security forces had taken any action to protect children living in gang-controlled slums.

“We remain deeply concerned about the integration of child protection measures into the Multinational Security Assistance Mission. Given that armed groups in Haiti are actively recruiting children, their safety cannot be neglected,” said Imbeault.

The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad have offered to send troops to Haiti to reinforce the initial Kenyan deployment, but the security mission lacks the necessary international funding.