Human Rights & Public Liberties

Human Rights & Public Liberties

Newsletter
Published on: 13 Jan, 2021

Children as Soldiers: Haiti’s Deepening Crisis of Gang Recruitment

Published on: 15 December, 2024
Archive/Al Jazeera.

Archive/Al Jazeera.

An alarming surge in the recruitment of children by gangs in Haiti has been reported by UNICEF, highlighting an escalating protection crisis on the violence-stricken Caribbean island. The crisis deepens as gang violence continues unabated, fueled by rising poverty and political instability.

Gangs, now controlling 85 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, are working to establish total dominance over the city. Haiti has long suffered from instability, but the situation worsened in February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks on the capital in an attempt to overthrow then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Just last weekend, over 180 people were killed under the orders of a gang leader, marking a tragic new chapter in the country’s ongoing descent into chaos.

Agencies.