As Haiti reels from a devastating crisis, gangs in the country are perpetrating “brutal and widespread” child trafficking, the United Nations said Friday, denouncing the international response as insufficient and fragmented.
“Most of the 26 gangs currently operating in Haiti are involved in child trafficking,” the UN rights office said.
In a report issued jointly with the UN Integrated Office in Haiti, it detailed various forms of child exploitation, from running errands, monitoring security forces and collecting extortion payments, to more violent acts such as destroying property, kidnappings, targeted killings and sexual violence.
“Children in Haiti are being robbed of their childhoods and their futures. The impact and long-term consequences of child trafficking are devastating for the victims and their families, as well as for the stability of the country,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk.
While there is no comprehensive data on the number of children trafficked by gangs, in 2024 the UN estimated that more than 500,000 were living in areas under gang control.
Gangs now control 90 percent of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, and killed nearly 6,000 people in 2025, according to the UN.
For years, Haiti — the poorest country in the Americas — has been in the throes of deadly gang violence, with frequent murders, rapes and kidnappings.
About 1.4 million people, or 10 percent of the population, have been displaced by the violence, and nearly half of all Haitians face acute food insecurity, including 1.2 million children under the age of five.
Children are lured into gangs’ orbit either “by what they perceive as power, social status or protection”, or through “violence, threats, food or drugs,” the UN rights office said.
Law enforcement officials often view children trafficked by gangs as perpetrators rather than victims, the report added.
It said some children accused of gang association had been summarily executed by police officers or killed by so-called self-defence groups.
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