‘Staggering’ rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti – UN

Mr Elder gave an example of a 16-year-old girl who had left home to go shopping, and then was seized by armed men. She was 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, the body created to organise elections and re-establish democratic order, appears to be in turmoil.

The council replaced the interim prime minister in November but has 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.

The basics that Haitian children need for a normal childhood, even if they are still at home with their families, are virtually non-existent said Unicef. 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.

It’s feared now that with the US freeze on foreign aid affecting humanitarian projects worldwide, Haiti’s needs will be neglected again.