Haitian gangs are recruiting starving children to fight security forces, rights group finds | Global development

Haitian armed gangs are recruiting starving children to expand their ranks ahead of an expected long and bloody battle with international security forces, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has found.

Armed groups — who control most of Haiti — are enticing hundreds, if not thousands, of impoverished children to take up arms with offers of food and shelter, the rights groups said.

HRW says that up to 30% of Haitian gang members are now children, forced into illegal activities as armed soldiers or spies, or exploited for sex.

“All sources we consulted, including children associated with criminal groups, told us that more and more children are joining the gangs and that preparations have been made to have more personnel available to fight against the international security forces and the Haitian police,” said the author of the report. , Nathalye Cotrino told the Guardian. “Ultimately, they plan to use children as ‘human shields’ when operations against criminal groups begin in their controlled areas.”

Haiti has been plunged into increasing chaos and despair since its president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in July 2021. Across the country, 5.4 million people regularly go hungry and 2.7 million – including half a million children – are under the rule of violent armed groups.

Kenya deployed the first contingent of a U.N.-backed security force in June aimed at restoring order in the Caribbean country, but momentum has stalled due to a lack of funding, allowing armed groups to strengthen their forces in anticipation of prolonged firefights. territory.

Last week, the Gran Grif gang massacred 70 people, including some children, in the western town of Pont-Sondé as they went unchecked from house to house, executing civilians and setting buildings on fire. According to the gang’s leader, Luckson Elan, this was retaliation. that civilians do not prevent police and vigilante groups from killing his fighters. Six thousand people were forced to flee the agricultural town, where rival factions battle for control of the country’s breadbasket.

Gang leaders posted videos on TikTok in which they lived glamorous lives full of money, women and flashy jewelry to lure impressionable teens, Cotrino said.

“This draws the attention of children who live in poverty and are often homeless and go without food for days. They see it as their only way out of misery,” she said.

Children are often exploited as informants because they are less noticeable, but are also forced to commit extortion and violent crimes such as kidnapping and murder.

Girls are often forced to cook, clean and offer their bodies to gang leaders.

Children interviewed by HRW said they joined the gangs when they were desperate and hungry, but once they picked up a machine gun there was no way out.

A 14-year-old member of the Tibwa gang – one of more than 200 criminal groups vying for control of Haiti – told HRW: “One time they told me to blindfold someone we were going to kidnap. When I refused to do it, they hit me on the head with a baseball bat and said if I didn’t do it, they would kill me.”

HRW has called on the government to launch programs to protect children and help them demobilize and reintegrate into society.

Aid groups on the ground say it is a challenge to prevent minors from being lured into gangs as Haiti’s state services have virtually collapsed, hunger continues to grow and schools are often closed.

A humanitarian worker from an educational center on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince said it was easy to identify the children once they were in the orbit of criminal groups, but much harder to get them out again .

“Generally speaking, the children come in with new clothes, such as shoes or jackets, or with small amounts of money,” said the care provider. “They also start to withdraw from activities and start missing days – first one or two days, and then a week – if they come back at all. When we notice this, we immediately talk to the child to find out what is going on. The answer is almost always the same. They say, ‘I have to make a living, and they, the gangs, are the only option.’”