The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that gender-based violence affected thousands of people across Haiti last year, Farhan Haq, the Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General said on Friday.
“Our partners reported nearly 6,500 incidents, with actual figures likely much higher. Nearly two thirds of cases are related to cases of rape and sexual assault,” he told the daily briefing at the United Nations.
Haq said in December alone, more than 630 incidents were recorded, a 38 per cent increase compared to the combined total recorded in October and November.
He said almost two thirds of cases are reported to have been perpetrated by members of armed groups.
Children have not been spared and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today a staggering 1,000 per cent rise in sexual violence against children between 2023 and last year.
Armed groups in Haiti are inflicting “unimaginable horrors” on children, turning their “bodies into battlegrounds”, according to UNICEF.
The agency’s spokesperson James Elder, who has just visited Port-au-Prince, said “there has been a staggering 1,000 per cent rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti, which has turned their bodies into battlegrounds.
“The 10-fold rise, recorded from 2023 to last year, comes as armed groups inflict unimaginable horrors on children. Almost equally staggering is how little coverage this gruesome statistic has received. And so, if numbers have lost meaning, perhaps the children living this horror will count.”
Roseline, which is not her real name, is 16. Late last year, she left her friend’s house to go to the shop and was abducted by armed men.
She was placed in a van with other young girls and taken to a warehouse. There she was extensively beaten. She was then drugged and over the course of what she believes to be a month, she was relentlessly raped.
When the armed group realised Roseline had no one to pay her kidnapping ransom, she was released. She is currently in a UNICEF-supported safe house with more than a dozen other girls, all receiving care.
Elder said armed groups now control 85 per cent of Port-au-Prince.
“Let me repeat that. 85 per cent of the capital of Haiti is under the control of armed groups, an astounding case of insecurity in a capital city. Last year alone, child recruitment into armed groups surged by 70 per cent. Right now, up to half of all armed group members are children, some as young as eight years old.
“Many are taken by force. Others are manipulated or driven by extreme poverty. It’s a lethal cycle. Children are recruited into the groups that fuel their own suffering. And in Haiti, the Elder said essential services have collapsed. Hospitals are overwhelmed. More than half of Haiti’s health facilities lack the equipment and medication to treat children in emergencies.
Playgrounds, schools and homes have turned into battlegrounds, forcing many families to flee. More than 500,000 children have been displaced. An estimated three million will require urgent humanitarian assistance this year.
Elder said more than 300,000 children have seen their education disrupted due to recurrent population displacement and school closures.
“And as noted, sexual violence is rampant. The abhorrence of an attack on a child is obvious. A 10-fold increase is ruinous. The pain of course does not stop with the survivor – it ripples through families, shatters communities and scars society as a whole.”
Elder said and yet, Haitians refuse to give up in the face of crisis and that Haiti’s progress starts with its children.
“With incredible partners, UNICEF has created 32 mobile safe spaces to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, deployed more than 380 health professionals across 105 institutions, distributed cash to almost 30,000 families and treated more than 80,000 children for moderate and severe wasting.”
Elder said programmes that meet children’s needs can disrupt cycles of violence and reduce the risk of them becoming perpetrators or victims.
Despite this, UNICEF Haiti’s 2024 emergency funding appeal of US$221.4 million was 72 per cent underfunded.
“This starkly contrasts with the urgent need for education, protection and development opportunities to prevent children from being drawn into violence. Without these efforts, violence will continue to consume future generations,” Elder said.
Haq said the the UN colleagues in Haiti are drawing attention to a funding shortfall threatening the continuation of the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in the country.
“As you know, UNHAS, which is managed by the World Food Programme, is a lifeline for the humanitarian community, providing safe and reliable access to remote, hard-to-reach areas across Haiti,” Haq said, addng that US$3.9 million is urgently needed to sustain operations over the next three months.
