'Staggering' rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti, says UN

Gang rule in Haiti has led to a staggering rise in sexual violence against children, the UN children's organisation Unicef has warned.

The Caribbean island has been in the grip of violent gangs for several years have been treating the population with unrelenting brutality, the UN has said.

According to Unicef, sexual violence against children has increased 1,000% since 2023, turning their bodies "into battlegrounds", spokesperson James Elder said.

The organisation estimates 85% of the capital Port-au-Prince is under the control of gangs, and more than one million children are living with the constant threat of violence.

Mr Elder gave an example of a 16-year-old girl who left home to go shopping, and was seized by armed men, beaten, drugged, and repeatedly raped.

She was held for around one month, he said, until the gang let her go when they realised her family had no money to pay a ransom (kidnappings for extortion are common in Haiti).

She is now in a UN shelter with dozens of other girls receiving care.

Gang control in Port-au-Prince has led to an almost complete breakdown of law and order, the collapse of health services and emergence of a food security crisis.

More than 5,600 people were killed in gang violence in Haiti last year alone.

Haiti's transitional presidential council (TPC) - the body created to organise elections and re-establish democratic order - appears to be in turmoil.

The TPC replaced the interim prime minister in November and seems to have made little progress towards organising long-delayed elections.

Children are also being recruited by the gangs, sometimes forcibly, Unicef said.

The organisation has come across child gang members who are as young as eight years old.

The basics that Haitian children need for a normal childhood, even if they are still at home with their families, are virtually non-existent. Schools and hospitals are barely functioning and tens of thousands of children are not in school.

Unicef has created mobile safe spaces in Haiti to try to support children, and to prevent sexual violence.

But last year, when it appealed for $221.4m (£177.8m) to fund its work in Haiti, it received just a quarter of that.

Now, with the US freeze on foreign aid affecting humanitarian projects worldwide, Haiti's needs are likely to be neglected again.