The lost generation: How gangs are exploiting children amid Haiti’s chaos

A 16-year-old from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, recently told Human Rights Watch that he joined the Village de Dieu criminal group at 14.

“Before [joining], I lived with my mother… It was really hard to get food and clothes,” he said. “At home, there wasn’t any food. But when I was with [the group], I could eat.”

This is not an isolated story.

Since 2021, the Caribbean nation has plunged into chaos, with gangs taking control of the capital and other places and sparking catastrophic shortages in food and medical supplies.

Across Haiti, a large number of children are being recruited by violent gangs that have taken control of the capital, exploiting the most vulnerable as the state collapses.

“Poverty, breakdown of order and lawlessness are the key contributing factors behind the recruitment of children by Haiti’s gangs,” says Amalendu Misra, Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University.

Many children who have been orphaned by the conflict are often drawn into gangs, seeing it as their only way to escape hunger, according to Misra.

“Since there is no legitimate authority to stop the recruitment of children in gangs, the latter go about their business with impunity,” he tells TRT World.

Criminal gangs often approach children with promises of food, protection, and a sense of belonging. With limited options, many children fall into their trap.

These criminal groups rule through fear, engaging in kidnappings, extortion, and violent turf wars. With no functioning government to intervene, they now control nearly 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

A lawless state

Haiti’s descent into lawlessness has been rapid and devastating, especially following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The power vacuum left by his death has enabled gangs to take control of vast sections of the capital.

In these territories, life is dictated by violence—kidnappings, extortion, and gunfire are everyday occurrences.

For children, the dangers are constant, and the state has proven too weak to protect them from escalating violence.

Aid groups report that hunger and extreme poverty are driving many families to desperation, making them vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.

According to the World Food Programme, more than half of Haiti’s population is now acutely food insecure, with children suffering the most.

In the most gang-ravaged neighbourhoods, families struggle to put food on the table, leaving children desperate for survival.

“Finally, in a scramble for survival even parents turn a blind eye to their children being recruited by gangs,” says Misra.

Experts note that this trend has worsened significantly over the past two years, as Haiti’s economic crisis deepens.

Children as young as 10 are being coerced into acting as lookouts, carrying weapons, and participating in violent acts. For many of them, saying “no” isn’t an option—hunger and violence leave them with no other choice.

Once involved, they become trapped in a vicious cycle of exploitation.

Alarming sexual violence

Sexual violence, too, has reached alarming levels, intensified by the pervasive influence of gangs against a backdrop of political instability and social unrest.

A harrowing report released in March by the UN human rights office described sexual violence in the country as “severely underreported and largely unpunished,” documenting numerous cases of rape and forced sexual relations involving gang members.

Women and girls face horrific acts of violence, as gangs exploit these tactics to assert control and instil terror within communities.

“While girls are forced into sexual slavery and relegated to menial tasks like cleaning and cooking in their ‘camps’, the boys are trained to serve as lookouts and spies, as well as frontline ‘warriors’ against the police, as they are less likely to be targeted by the law enforcement officers,” Misra says.

“The girls after having been raped by multiple gang members either end up pregnant or carry sexually transmitted diseases. Once they are found pregnant, the girls are dumped and forced to take up a life of prostitution,” he explains.

The consequences of this violence extend far beyond immediate physical harm, inflicting deep psychological scars on survivors and further destabilising an already vulnerable population.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has documented severe mental health issues among children who are subjected to violence, or coerced into committing them, with many suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety.

However, mental health services remain extremely limited, making it nearly impossible to provide adequate care for children living under the constant threat of violence.

Collapsed education system

Schools, long seen as a refuge, have not been spared from the chaos. Haiti’s already fragile education system is now on the brink of collapse.

In gang-controlled areas, many schools have been forced to close, while teachers live in constant fear of violence and extortion.

The Haitian Ministry of Education reports that some schools have shut down indefinitely, leaving thousands of children without access to education.

Without schools, children lose one of the few opportunities they have to escape poverty.

While the absence of education is deepening the crisis, children are further trapped in the conditions that make them vulnerable to gang recruitment.

“Many boys in these violent environments often grow up to become hardened criminals,” Misra says.

Many of them end up losing their lives caught in the crossfire between rival gangs and police, he says.

Despite the worsening crisis, the international community has been slow to respond.

Experts warn that if the world continues to turn a blind eye, the damage done to Haiti’s children will be irreversible.