Haiti Report, October 1, 2025
A compilation of news about Haiti from the past week.
UN Security Council approves new ‘Gang Suppression Force’ for Haiti
See Resolution 2793 here: https://www.un.org/en/media/accreditation/pdf/SCRes3.pdf
The United Nations Security Council agreed on September 30th to transition the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti into a much more lethal and beefed up force, supported by both a newly created U.N. Support Office and the Organization of American States. The newly authorized Gang Suppression Force was unanimously approved for a period of 12 months, with 12 member countries voting in favor and three abstaining. The representatives of Russia and China, which hold veto power, and Pakistan said they recognize the dire situation in Haiti and the plight of its 12 million residents. But during their interventions, they criticized the resolution’s “ambiguity on several critical issues” and what they termed as the United States’ failure to provide answers to questions. Underscoring the concerns, even among those who voted in favor of the measure, country after country expressed hope that with the larger and more robust footprint, they hope other partners will join in Haiti’s fight against armed gangs by deploying personnel and donating to a U.N. Trust Fund to pay their stipends.
“The council’s decision today marks a true turning point. By granting the mission strength and a more offensive, more operational mandate, the Council is giving the international community the means to respond to the gravity of the situation in Haiti,” Haiti’s representative Ericq Pierre said, expressing his government’s gratitude to Washington, Panama and the Caribbean community for their mobilization. “This force to suppress armed gangs will have the primary objective of neutralizing these terrorist organizations, disarming their militias, dismantling their networks, securing the country’s vital infrastructure and creating the conditions for the effective return of state authority across the entire territory,” he said.
But Tuesday’s vote marked a major victory for the Trump administration. The U.S. has come under fire at the U.N. for its clawback of billions of dollars in aid that had been previously authorized by Congress to U.N. agencies — including for the very peacekeeping fund that is supposed to partly fund the newly created U.N. Support Office intended to help provide logistics and operational backing for the gang suppression force, alongside the OAS.
The plan, proposed by the United States and Panama, would deploy to Haiti a gang-suppression force of up to 5,500 soldiers and officers with the power to engage in combat against the outlaws who have terrorized the country for years. But it was unclear what countries were prepared to contribute personnel to the force or help pay for it. The new deployment, which will include the Kenyans, would increase the force’s size fivefold and be allowed to undertake independent offensive operations against gangs, officials said. The Kenyans have been assisting the Haitian police but were limited in terms of conducting their own operations, said Bill O’Neill, the U.N.’s expert on human rights for Haiti. “This new force would be able to operate independently on its own initiative,” he said in August. “Of course, it would still try to help the police and be there to support, but it wouldn’t be tied to the Haitian National Police and its own operations.” The approval of the new force comes eight years after the departure of a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Haiti known as MINUSTAH. From 2004 to 2017, the U.N. had up to 10,000 military personnel in Haiti. The soldiers came under scrutiny for fathering children with sexually exploited women, abusing children and introducing cholera into the country. The disease killed more than 10,000 people.
The mechanics of the new force would differ because the United Nations would manage its operations but would not command it. The force would not be considered an official U.N. peacekeeping operation. It would be led by a force commander and be overseen by a “standing group of partners” made up of several countries, including the United States, according to the new proposal. The new force’s mandate will be “more muscular,” said Henry Wooster, the United States’ chargé d’affaires in Haiti. “That allows greater freedom of maneuver, freedom of action,” he said. Its name — the Gang Suppression Force — “should speak volumes,” he said. Estimates of the number of gang members operating in the country vary from 2,000 to 30,000, Mr. Wooster said. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/world/americas/un-haiti-security-gangs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.qE8.bpKU.0VWcalnjO1pd&smid=url-share
The president of the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT), Laurent Saint-Cyr, welcomed the vote on this resolution by the UN Security Council establishing a Gang Suppression Force. Mr. Saint-Cyr expressed “his deep gratitude to the member countries of the Council that supported this resolution,” particularly to the United States and Panama, the penholders of the Haiti file at the UN. For Laurent Saint-Cyr, this vote is “a decisive turning point in the fight against armed criminal groups,” stressing that the Council’s vote is the result of advocacy carried out during the 80th UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé also welcomed the adoption of this resolution. “This decision constitutes a major step forward in the partnership between the Republic of Haiti and the international community, and confirms the constant solidarity of our partners with the Haitian people,” stated the Primature in a press release, continuing: “This initiative represents a strategic lever to curb gang violence and protect the Haitian population.”
The U.S. Embassy in Haiti also reacted through a post on its official pages. “The United States will work with the standing group of partners to ensure the deployment of the anti-gang force, and we look forward to the UN quickly setting up the UN support office in Haiti to ensure that the mission has the necessary means to fight gangs,” wrote the embassy, which sees this resolution as a “positive step toward the restoration of basic security in Haiti. The message from the UN Security Council is clear: the era of impunity for those seeking to destabilize Haiti is over,” concluded the embassy.
“France welcomes the vote on Resolution 2793 by the Security Council in favor of deploying the Gang Suppression Force in Haiti,” noted the French Embassy in Haiti, calling the adoption of this resolution “a necessary step to defeat criminal gangs and ensure the return of the rule of law. France will support the new Force, just as it supported the MSS, and will continue to assist the Haitian security forces—the Haitian National Police (PNH) and the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd’H)—in their efforts to restore security,” pledged the French diplomatic mission in Port-au-Prince.
Press Statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: The United States welcomes the adoption of the United Nations Security Council resolution transitioning the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to a Gang Suppression Force (GSF) and authorizing the establishment of a UN Support Office in Haiti (UNSOH). We will work closely with others in the Standing Group of Partners to ensure the swift deployment of the GSF. This force will address Haiti’s immediate security challenges and lay the groundwork for long-term stability. We commend the efforts of Kenya, and all countries deployed under the MSS mission to address rampant insecurity in Haiti. Moving forward, the GSF, with support from the UNSOH, will transition to an international burden-sharing model with the sufficient resources needed to fight the gangs. The message from the Security Council is clear: the era of impunity for those who seek to destabilize Haiti is over. The United States remains committed to working with international stakeholders to support Haiti’s path toward peace, stability, and democratic governance. We call on all nations to join us in this critical effort. https://ht.usembassy.gov/on-the-next-steps-to-restoring-security-in-haiti-press-statement-marco-rubio-secretary-of-state/
Gang attacks are ongoing in L’Estere
In Estère, in the Artibonite department, the population is sending an SOS to the PNH to counter the abuses of the Kokorat San Ras gang, accused of rapes and murders in the commune. Left to fend for themselves, the residents are denouncing the invasion of the town by the bandits. An armored PNH vehicle, which had been deployed in the area, was withdrawn on orders from the departmental police authorities to be redirected to Gonaïves, where armed men are organizing daily demonstrations. The people of Estère believe that reinforcement from the PNH in the commune is urgent and essential, according to statements gathered by Métronome. It should be recalled that the communes of Lachapelle and Liancourt, also in Artibonite, are now considered lost territories under the governance of the CPT, which, to date, has taken no concrete measures to combat the gangs, even though each member of the Council receives approximately 7 million gourdes per month for intelligence. https://x.com/Radio_Metronome/status/1973445953987264615
ICE arrests Haitian businessman Dimitri Vorbe in Miami
U.S immigration agents have arrested another prominent Haitian businessman, the latest member of Haiti’s private sector to either be detained on U.S. soil or have their entry to the United States denied. Dimitri Vorbe, a former independent power provider in Haiti who ran afoul of slain President Jovenel Moïse when the leader targeted the businessman’s company as part of a campaign against the country’s so-called oligarchs, was arrested outside his Miami home on Tuesday afternoon. Department of Homeland Security records show him being held at the Krome North Detention Center. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to an inquiry from the Miami Herald asking on what grounds Vorbe, who has an ongoing immigration case and had an upcoming hearing, was detained. Vorbe has been in the U.S. since January 2020 and has Temporary Protected Status. He has a legal case pending before an immigration judge, who has repeatedly rescheduled his hearing without explanation. “The Department of State determined that Vorbe’s presence or activities in the United States would have potential serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, providing a basis for the charge of removability,” the post said. “Specifically, officials determined that he engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti’s destabilization.” U.S. authorities did not offer any proof to back up their claim. The arrest of Vorbe, a member of one of Haiti’s politically and economically powerful families, comes two months after that of businessman and one-time Haiti presidential hopeful Pierre Réginald Boulos, who was detained by federal agents in Palm Beach County on an immigration violation and accusations of supporting Haiti’s terrorists gangs. It also comes on the heels of a growing list of visa cancellations of members of Haiti’s economic elite by the Trump administration. In recent weeks, businessmen have either been denied boarding on U.S.-bound flights or entry into the U.S. after arriving at Miami International Airport. The U.S. doesn’t comment on visa cancellations, but members of Haiti’s private sector are frequently accused of being complicit in the country’s surging gang violence and fueling corruption. Businessmen who have been targeted have said they were not told why they were being denied entry into the U.S., only that their visas had been canceled. In some cases, they were held for as long as 20 hours in a room at MIA, where they were interrogated by customs agents about their business dealings and wealth, and asked about other prominent members of Haiti’s economic elite.
Rights advocates denounce Haiti drone strike that killed several children
United Nations human-rights and children’s advocates are denouncing a recent Haitian government drone strike that took the lives of several children and a pregnant woman in a gang-controlled Port-au-Prince neighborhood. The head of the U.N.’s child welfare agency, UNICEF, in Haiti and the world organization’s independent human-rights expert said children need to be protected. The human rights expert demanded that Haiti’s transitional government carry out an “independent, prompt and thorough investigations into these attacks and guarantee reparations for the victims and their families. “Any use of lethal force by law enforcement officers should always be in accordance with human rights law and abide by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability,” William O’Neill said.
The target of the drone strike was allegedly a local gang leader named Djouma who was celebrating his birthday with the neighborhood and other gang leaders. Gangs have vowed retaliation after sharing photos of some of those killed on social media. Djouma, also known as Jouma, survived the deadly attack, but a deejay was reportedly killed. UNICEF said four children were killed, although the local National Human Rights Defense Network in Port-au-Prince said at least eight children died. “International law clearly states that children, as well as the essential services they rely on, must be protected,” Geeta Narayan, the Haiti representative for the U.N.’s leading child welfare agency, said. “Every effort must be made to prevent and avoid harm to the population, especially children.” Narayan said that days prior to the strike, four children were killed on Sept. 11 “in an attack by armed groups while they were inside their home, a place that should have been safe and protective. “For far too long, children in Haiti have been caught in relentless cycles of violence,” she added. “These incidents have once again torn families apart and shattered any sense of safety for children who should simply be able to learn, play and grow in peace.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article312245943.html#storylink=cpy
U.S. Pulls Plug on Haiti’s Last Big Industry
The HOPE/HELP trade program, which allowed duty-free textile imports from Haiti, expired at the end of September, hitting Haiti’s largest industry. For nearly two decades, the U.S. provided a lifeline to Haiti: duty-free textile imports that drew American apparel manufacturers and created tens of thousands of jobs in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. As of Wednesday, that lifeline is no more. The expiration of the so-called HOPE/HELP trade program is expected to crush what is left of Haiti’s biggest industry, which accounted for 90% of exports in a country mired in a gang war that has stoked hunger, generated a refugee crisis and left the government teetering on the brink of collapse.
U.S. lawmakers and Haitian businesses said the end of the program will deepen poverty and bolster gang recruitment while costing jobs in factories that produce clothing for well-known brands—including Hanes, Calvin Klein, Gap and Victoria’s Secret—as the industry relocates to Asia. The development could force desperate Haitians to flee to other nations. “Without those jobs, we are going to see more people left on the streets, more people drawn to crime and gangs,” said Fernando Capellán, president of the Codevi industrial park along Haiti’s border with the Dominican Republic, where some 18,000 of Haiti’s 26,000 textile jobs are concentrated. Haitian business leaders have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for months for an extension of the legislation, which had enjoyed bipartisan support. But policies that stimulate jobs outside the U.S. have become a harder sell in the midst of the Trump administration’s protectionist agenda. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D., Fla.) said ending the program in Haiti would “push the country deeper into crisis. The future of Haiti and the security of the United States depend on it,” she added in a statement.
The expiration of the preferential program means U.S. importers of Haitian-made clothing will be subject to import duties between 20% and 30%, in addition to the 10% “reciprocal tariff” leveled by the Trump administration against many trade partners. The legislation had provided duty-free entry into the U.S. and generated economic benefits to both sides, according to business advocates. Cotton and other fabrics from the U.S. were used in Haiti to make the finished products shipped to the U.S. Much of the revenue generated by Haitian labor was then spent buying goods from the U.S., including some $260 million in rice from Louisiana and nearly $500 million in fuel in 2024. The U.S. ran a trade surplus of nearly $600 million with Haiti last year. “It would take months or years to bring back those supply lines,” said Maulik Radia, head of the Association of Industries of Haiti. He said the closing of clothing plants in the nation’s northeast would worsen economic desperation because each garment job supports several family members. “What keeps the security is the jobs,” Radia said. https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/u-s-pulls-plug-on-haitis-last-big-industry-eef9d26f?mod=americas_news_article_pos1
For 36th year, US renews Haiti’s designation as major drug transit route
The Trump administration has kept Haiti on its list of 23 countries considered major drug transit or production hubs, according to a recent annual presidential determination submitted to Congress. The country has appeared on the list for 36 consecutive years. The White House emphasized that designation does not necessarily reflect a government’s enforcement efforts or cooperation with the U.S. to undercut traffickers. Instead, it is based on geography and economic factors that make the country a hub for trafficking. In 1989, former President George H. W. Bush — along with Congress through a joint resolution — had classified Haiti as a “major drug-transit country” under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, due to its role in facilitating the trafficking of narcotics into the United States. Countries on the 2025 list include Haiti, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico, along with several in Asia and Central America. The determination came just days before U.S. federal prosecutors announced a nine-year prison sentence for Jean Eliobert “Eddy One” Jasme, a trafficker who moved cocaine from Venezuela and Colombia through Haiti and the Dominican Republic before routing it to the Bahamas and the U.S. https://haitiantimes.com/2025/09/26/haiti-trump-drug-transit-designation/
Haitian & Venezuelan TPS Holders File with Supreme Court
Attorneys for Venezuelan and Haitian Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders today filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the Trump administration’s request for an emergency stay of a federal court ruling protecting the Venezuelan community. That ruling by Judge Edward M. Chen held that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s attempt to strip Venezuelans and Haitians of TPS was illegal because it failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act (or APA). The government’s request to the Supreme Court would put more than 600,000 Venezuelans at risk of detention and deportation. The government has not asked the Supreme Court to strip protections from Haitians in this proceeding, but is appealing the district court’s order. The brief argues that the government has failed to show any “emergency” warranting a stay, that the public interest favors allowing TPS holders to maintain their status, that a stay would be devastating for TPS holders and their families, and that the district court and court of appeals correctly ruled the Secretary’s actions were unlawful. Amicus briefs were also filed in the Supreme Court in support of TPS holders by 137 legislators, as well as law scholars and economists.
Seeking the Truth, in the Midst of a Country in Crisis: Haiti’s AyiboPost
Most mornings, when 26-year-old journalist Wethzer Piercin walks to work in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, he says he “sees corpses in the street.” Being a journalist in Haiti, he explained, means not only witnessing daily violence but also being one of its potential targets. “It is very difficult to live this,” Piercin says. “Anything can happen at any moment… you can get hit by stray bullets, you can be kidnapped,” he adds. But, “no matter what, you do your work.” Piercin works at AyiboPost, one of Haiti’s most respected media platforms and one of its last remaining investigative journalism newsrooms. There, he says, they believe in a common mission: “Seeking the truth.”
Since last fall, armed gangs have torched TV and radio stations, kidnapped at least one journalist, nearly lynched others, and killed or injured several more. In 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked Haiti first in its Global Impunity Index — above Israel — for failing to hold killers of journalists accountable. “A weak-to-nonexistent judiciary, gang violence, poverty, and political instability have contributed to the failure to hold killers to account,” the report stated. The crisis escalated in 2021 after the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse, when gangs seized large swaths of the country. At the time, CPJ warned that Haiti’s press faced an “existential crisis,” forcing many outlets to shut down. Yet AyiboPost has endured — remaining unbowed and committed to investigative journalism despite grave threats. “The streets are deadly, and international interest in Haiti’s stories is far lower than during past crises,” attests editor-in-chief Widlore Mérancourt. “As both an editor and a reporter, my concerns go far beyond the craft itself — I constantly have to think about the safety of my team, relocate staff who are in danger, and run a newsroom that adapts to fast-changing conditions.” https://gijn.org/stories/haiti-ayibopost-journalism/
Police arrest prominent pastor after lawyer’s killing rattles northeast Haiti
The brutal murder of Albert Joseph, a well-known lawyer in Ouanaminthe and member of the Fort-Liberté Bar Association, has deeply shocked the northeast, sparking widespread sorrow and anger. Residents have taken to the streets to demand justice. Authorities questioned at least seven people on Sept. 25, including Moïse Joseph, a prominent pastor and local rice mill owner, and Michelle Adrien, the wife of the regional Bar president — both detained as key suspects. The case unfolds against the backdrop of tensions and ongoing disputes over claims from a fatal accident on Aug. 21, when a pickup truck belonging to the pastor’s business hit a motorcycle, killing three young men.
https://haitiantimes.com/2025/09/29/ouanaminthe-lawyer-assassination-pastor-arrest/
$54 million: monthly revenue from coastal shipping between the West and the far South
National Road #2 leading to the Great South has been controlled since June 1, 2021 , by armed gangs at the southern entrance to the Haitian capital. In 2022, the situation worsened and in 2023, this road was permanently blocked at the level of the commune of Gressier, isolating four departments from the rest of the country: Grand'Anse, Nippes, South-East and South. National Highway 3, connecting Mirebalais to Port-au-Prince and extending to the Northeast department, is closed. National Highway 6, connecting Port-au-Prince to the town of Malpasse on the Haitian-Dominican border, is now completely controlled by armed gangs. As a result, the transportation sector, which is vital to the Haitian economy, has been severely paralyzed.
The road transport sector is looking very grim today. A carrier providing transport between Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince is paying armed groups 170,000 gourdes (about $1300 US) in tolls, Mr. Jacques Anderson Desroches reports, noting in passing that there are two other roads still operational in the country for which exorbitant tolls are demanded: the Malpasse/Port-au-Prince road and the South-East road leading to Thiotte. Desroches referred to a study conducted on this traffic. The study in question reveals that this freight transport brings its organizers a monthly income of $54 million US. With such a monthly fee, the chances of the Great Southern Route being permanently opened to traffic are dwindling, he said https://lenouvelliste.com/article/260406/54-millions-revenus-mensuels-du-cabotage-entre-louest-et-le-grand-sud-selon-jacques-anderson-desroches
ANALYSIS
Ending Haiti’s Criminal Governance Crisis
Romain Le Cour Grandmaison in Americas Quarterly
The words used to describe Haiti—collapse, hell, disaster—have lost their power. Yet the facts remain devastating. Between January and May 2025 alone, Haiti recorded more than 4,000 homicides, a 24% rise from the year before, and over 1.3 million people—more than one in ten Haitians—are now displaced within their own country, half of them children. Haiti’s crisis, the most acute one linked to criminal groups worldwide, resists easy categorization, and that ambiguity has proved deadly. This is not a conventional armed conflict, nor an insurgency. But the scale of violence, dislocation and forced displacement rivals that of civil wars elsewhere. Haiti has become something more elusive: a state where criminal groups usurp sovereignty, while national and international authorities hesitate, unable to design mandates that confront the political economy of organized crime head-on.
What Haiti is experiencing cannot be reduced to “gang violence” anymore. Criminal groups have built a system of governance that fragments the country and erodes the authority of the state. In Port-au-Prince, where 90% of the city is under gang control, and in a growing number of provinces, their expansion follows a cycle of coordination, assault and consolidation. Each stage is accompanied by massacres, looting and systematic sexual violence. Once entrenched, gangs influence daily life. Their power mainly comes from enforcing rules and running a mafia-style protection racket. For tens of thousands of Haitians, paying fees to move goods, run businesses, or just cross provinces is now a common expense. This routinization reflects the consolidation of a parallel administrative and political order. Gangs are not just predators; they act as de facto sovereigns that grant—and deny—permission to live and work. By mid-year, gangs were earning between $60 million and $75 million annually from extorting container transports alone, according to the Haitian Ministry of Economy. Criminal control has thus become multidimensional: economic, territorial and social, tightening like a tourniquet and cutting off state influence.
Despite the harsh and overwhelming reality, the country and its institutions have the capacity to break free from this cycle and turn a new page toward a more civilized society and a functional, state-led democracy. Although recent events indicate that the window of opportunity is narrow, an integral strategy anchored on a pact among the country’s political, social and economic forces can be put into action. A gathering of national leaders and international organizations may also offer the necessary conditions to find a consensus-based way out.
Read more: https://americasquarterly.org/article/ending-haitis-criminal-governance-crisis/
Haiti Gangs Create One of the World’s First Displacement Economies
Réginald Surin in Le Nouvelliste
Decoding an unprecedented territorial strategy
In June 2025, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 1.3 million internally displaced persons in Haiti, an increase of 24% in six months. But this humanitarian crisis masks a more complex economic reality: Haitian gangs have developed a sophisticated model that transforms forced displacement into an instrument for capturing national wealth. The analysis reveals a troubling paradox. While some gang-controlled areas such as Croix-des-Bouquets or Cité Soleil continue to function economically with their populations, others such as Solino, Delmas 30, or Nazon were systematically emptied before being “liberated” in August 2025. This territorial differentiation follows an economic logic that modern analytical tools can decode.
A two-speed economic geography
The territorial control map of August 2025 shows that the Viv Ansanm coalition controls or influences between 80 and 85% of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, with peaks of up to 90% according to some analyses. This hold aggregates various forms of domination (checkpoints, extortion, de facto governance) and includes contested areas. But this control follows a sophisticated differential logic that distinguishes two types of territories according to their economic function. Economic rent zones such as Cité Soleil, Croix-des-Bouquets, and Tabarre retain their populations under systematic taxation. In Croix-des-Bouquets, the 400 Mawozo gang seeks to control National Road 8 toward Malpasse and levies extortion tolls on vehicles and flows, according to several UN reports. Extortion checkpoints impose routine taxation through blockades, illustrating a capture of flows rather than a traditional administration of cross-border trade. Cité Soleil functions as an economic zone under total control, generating revenues through port activities and informal trade. These territories form the stable economic foundation of the criminal system.
Strategic buffer zones appear on the map as “contested” or recently abandoned spaces. Delmas, Nazon, and the outskirts of Pétion-Ville were systematically emptied to create protective glacis between criminal strongholds and government power centers. This strategy reproduces the “franjas de seguridad” imposed by the FARC in Colombia or the depopulated zones created by the Islamic State around its positions in Iraq. Viv Ansanm also maintains the ability to repeatedly block critical economic infrastructure: the Varreux terminal (70% of fuel storage capacity according to the International Crisis Group), and repeated disruptions at the international port. This control creates a strategic encirclement of government centers, turning Port-au-Prince into a pincer system that can tighten according to tactical objectives.
The Weaponization of Sexual Violence in Haiti: Impunity, Gangs, and Resistance
Dr. Lovesun Parent published by Haiti Policy House
Sexual violence in Haiti is not new, but its scale and brutality have reached devastating new levels. Once employed by paramilitary regimes as a method of political repression, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has now become a systematic tool of control used by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) operating in a context of near-total state collapse. Today, rape is not only a weapon of terror but also a means of enforcing territorial dominance, silencing dissent, and restricting access to humanitarian assistance. The rise in conflict-related sexual violence reflects a crisis shaped by both historical legacies and contemporary political failures. From the colonial exploitation of enslaved women to the Tonton Macoutes under the Duvalier regime, women’s bodies have long been sites of domination and punishment. These patterns of violence were further entrenched by a justice system plagued by impunity and the chronic underfunding of public health and legal services. In 2024, more than 6,500 cases of gender-based violence were reported, with women and girls comprising the majority of the victims. These figures likely understate the full scale of the crisis, as survivors often remain silent due to fear, stigma, and lack of police presence in gang-controlled zones.
This article asks, “how has sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Haiti evolved from a tool of state repression to a strategy of territorial control by armed groups, and what are the implications for survivor-centered justice and international accountability?” In exploring this question, the article traces the historical trajectory of SGBV in Haiti, analyzes the structural and political conditions that fuel its escalation, and highlights the work of Haitian grassroots movements that are on the front lines of response and resistance.
https://www.haitipolicyhouse.org/publications/haiti-sgbv-2025