Introduction
Since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in Port-au-Prince on July 7, 2021, Haiti has faced a deteriorating economic situation, a political vacuum, and increasing gang violence, all of which contribute to what experts have identified as an ongoing protection crisis. The U.N. Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) reported that the first quarter of 2024 was the country’s most violent period in two years, with at least 2,505 people killed or injured in relation to gang violence. Gangs have weaponized sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) on a massive scale, particularly in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. Volker Türk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said sexual violence in Haiti “is pervasive and very likely to have reached levels not seen before.”
Existing and available data shows 5,587 cases of SBGV were reported in 2023, a 50% increase from 2022 figures – and the numbers do not tell the full story of the full brutality and intensity of these crimes. For example, U.N. reports detail how armed elements carried out collective rapes (in public and sometimes for hours) of both elderly women and of girls as young as 10. Such SGBV/CRSV is commonly weaponized in contexts including gang attacks, subjugation of the local population, as a ransom tactic in kidnappings, and while citizens – particularly women and girls – carry out regular, daily activities.
With the recent establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council and the subsequent deployment of Kenya-led multinational forces, Haiti has an opportunity to more effectively address the specific needs, vulnerabilities, and experiences of women and girls, particularly in the context of preventing and responding to SGBV and CRSV. By meaningfully including women in transition efforts, particularly by giving them more representation and equitable voting power on the Transitional Presidential Council, these patterns and contexts can be properly understood and addressed.
Existing trends demonstrate a correlation between increased SGBV and discrimination and the outbreak of conflict, as well as evidence that preventing post-conflict sexual violence is associated with preventing the recurrence of overall violence. The firsthand knowledge and insight women, and particularly survivors, can bring would enable the government to provide better and safer access to basic needs and services, repair the communal and societal damage done by the weaponization of SGBV/CRSV, and build a sustainable peace for all Haitians.
Causes of Sexual Violence in Haiti
Haiti is a patriarchal society where social, political, economic, and other institutions are organized around the idea of male superiority. Given this context and the history of violence against women in Haiti, there are long-held societal beliefs about gender norms and roles that are clearly reflected in the ongoing gang violence. While such deeply engrained misogyny means that SGBV/CRSV primarily affects women and girls, men and boys are also subjected to these horrors, while members of the LGBTQIA+ community face higher risks and even fewer avenues for protection and justice. (Author’s note: The reference to only two genders in this report is reflective of the statistics available.) A patriarchal culture normalizes crimes committed by men against women’s bodies while simultaneously stigmatizing those subjected to such crimes. Survivors of SGBV/CRSV are often left emotionally – if not also physically – isolated, as trends of victim-blaming for and broad stigmatization of sexual violence are common in Haitian society and even within a survivor’s family.
It is thus not uncommon for women and girls to find themselves coerced – by gangs and by their own family members – into sexual relationships with gang members, with the consent of women and girls rarely given any meaningful consideration. Such arrangements can provide the families with access to certain basic services as well as protection, while refusing or resisting these arrangements increases the likelihood of danger. In describing this phenomenon, BINUH quoted one local source as saying that “women in gang-controlled areas belong to the gangs.”
Survivor accounts and data gathered by the U.N. show how gangs carry out acts of SGBV/CRSV with extreme brutality and ruthlessness, for example in front of relatives or in public, betraying their intentions of inflicting humiliation, spreading terror, and ensuring the deterioration of familial and social fabrics. Examples from the same report provide further evidence of these intentions, for example, in how gangs have subjected older women to crimes of sexual violence, including rape, which must be understood in the context of the Haitian culture’s deep respect for the elderly. The intent to cause terror and dysfunction is also seen in the gangs’ weaponization of SGBV/CRSV against women and girls carrying out their daily activities, particularly when this requires crossing into rival gang territory. By attacking people who are simply carrying out necessary, daily activities such as attending school or work and who must do so in areas controlled by rival gangs, the perpetrators are able to keep the communities in a constant state of disruption. Gang members also commit acts of SGBV/CRSV against individuals in areas under their own control to subjugate the local population. By putting people in a constant and seemingly permanent state of terror, gangs are able to assert and solidify their power and control.
Kidnapping for ransom is an essential revenue source for armed elements, who regularly use acts and threats of sexual violence as tactics to coerce victims’ families to make often financially devastating ransom payments. After ransoms are paid, kidnapping survivors who were subjected to sexual violence often face a combination of guilt and stigmatization. In some cases, perpetrators share video recordings of the sexual violence with victims’ families as a means to secure ransom payment, thus subjecting their hostages to secondary victimization while also targeting their families with a separate form of sexual violence. These events contribute to the deterioration of familial and societal fabrics and can harm the affected communities for generations.
While the nature of these crimes is well known, their perpetrators face virtually no accountability. Survivors, witnesses, and officials face the threat of reprisals if they report, or act upon reports, of SGBV/CRSV by gangs. Given that gangs largely control the movement of the local population in their respective areas, this fear of reprisal is intense and justified. Survivors, who are often under gang surveillance, face reprisals if they are thought to be coordinating with rival gangs or police. This surveillance, combined with gang-erected checkpoints, severely restricts freedom of movement and further hampers the ability of survivors to access medical and emergency services in safe areas, as health care access within their own neighborhoods continues to deteriorate.
Haiti has long been plagued by impediments to rule of law and access to justice. That situation has further deteriorated since July 2021, with state institutions lacking resources and independence and subject to internal corruption and gang intimidation. There is also a significant distrust of law enforcement due to the complicity of some officials in perpetrating SGBV and the long history of impunity for SGBV in Haiti. The numerous issues with police and judiciary’s ability to prioritize protection of survivors and the shared fear of gang reprisals held by officials and survivors leave survivors wary of trusting state officials and institutions. By ensuring state officials and institutions maintain a gender-sensitive and survivor-centered focus – the first step of which is to include women, particularly survivors, in transitional and future governmental endeavors – Haiti’s new leaders can help rebuild trust within communities and improve the efficacy of prevention and protection measures.
Displacement is another common context for SGBV and, as internal displacement increases across and outside the Port-au-Prince area, the risk of such violence also increases. In March 2024, there were an estimated 362,551 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Haiti, an estimate that swelled to 578,074 just three months later. Access to basic services – already difficult for most Haitians – is even harder for IDPs. While recent developments such as the deployment of Kenyan peacekeeping forces may have positive impacts in the Port-au-Prince area, the risk of gang violence and internal displacement is expanding to or increasing in areas outside of the capital.
In general, IDPs tend to find themselves in insecure and unsafe living conditions, and their numbers are often overwhelmingly made up of women and children. Displacement allows for the reinforcement of harmful gender norms that leave women economically and socially disadvantaged, thus increasing their risks of sexual violence, mortality, and abductions. Displacement in Haiti follows this pattern and largely affects women and girls, as gangs often murder the men and then rape or otherwise abuse the women before burning down their homes. As violence and instability spreads outside of Port-au-Prince (including, for example, recent attacks in Ganthier), women and girls throughout Haiti are facing increased vulnerability to displacement and deprivation of basic services, exacerbating risks of SGBV/CRSV. To sufficiently understand the needs of IDPs and to work toward a setting in which IDPs have the option for a voluntary, safe, and dignified return home or resettlement, those affected must be actively involved in Haiti’s transition.
Many among the Haitian population are understandably wary of the deployment of international security forces, given how the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti became infamous for its controversies and human rights abuses. Because of this history of violence and impunity, and the general sentiment that such forces are more interested in protecting foreign interests over Haitian people and interests, Haitians are hesitant to trust new foreign interventions. With a Transitional Presidential Council that meaningfully includes women, Haitians could maintain oversight of foreign interventions and have a role in the protection of their community and in advocacy for prevention and accountability both within Haiti and on the international stage.
Women’s Meaningful Involvement in Governance
The establishment of the Transitional Presidential Council is a welcome development in theory; however, its lack of meaningful inclusion of women is a major misstep. Despite being on the frontlines of Haiti’s crisis, women have been largely shut out of the body. There is only one woman on the council, Régine Abraham, and she does not have voting power. All other positions, including all positions with voting power, are held by men. The meaningful inclusion of women in the council and more broadly in public life would help ensure that day-to-day experiences are understood and Haitians’ needs are met.
At the moment, women are underrepresented in Haitian public and political life; however, their roles have been multifaceted and nuanced, and women have been actively involved in addressing Haiti’s gang conflict. For example, Cap-Haïtien Mayor Yvrose Pierre succeeded in tackling gangs with the help of the National Police and, under her mayorship, the city has maintained stability. As proof of what women are capable of accomplishing, Pierre cites the women who preceded her in Haitian politics including Ertha Pascal-Trouillot, a major figure in the establishment and strengthening of democratic institutions, processes, and freedoms in Haiti. Building on this history of meaningful participation of women in Haiti’s governing entities will be a necessary first step to improving the security of women by incorporating their valuable insight into governance and peace efforts. Notably, studies have shown a direct correlation between the security of women and the security of states.
Given the evidence that women’s security is a useful indicator for state security, it is necessary to include women in leadership roles. As one of the major, underlying trends contributing to the lack of safety and security for Haitian women is SGBV/CRSV, it naturally follows that survivors must be involved in transitional and governance efforts as well. In recent years, international entities and actors have worked on filling the gaps in the knowledge and understanding of CRSV and its impacts. In 2021, the Global Survivors Fund outlined preliminary findings of its Global Reparations Study, which confirmed the necessity of centering survivors in any reparations process. While no group of survivors is homogenous, the study found the following core elements described among survivors’ needs: recognition and reparations (both symbolic and financial); access to immediate rehabilitation and long-term care; access to support and training related to finance, employment/profession, education, legal, and administrative areas; accountability; the restoration of community and dignity; and specific, individual needs. By incorporating these findings from other contexts and working with both local actors and international groups such as the Global Survivors Fund, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council and other state-building and governing entities can build institutional knowledge and provide a meaningful starting point for survivors in Haiti.
Haiti is obligated by both its domestic law and its international agreements to prevent SGBV – including CRSV – and to protect women and girls from all forms of discrimination. Haiti is party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as well as other international human rights treaties (e.g., the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights). As the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) has explained, violence against women is a form of discrimination (thus prohibited under the Convention), and conflict settings place women at higher risks of SGBV. Among its recommendations in General Recommendation No. 30, the committee stresses the need to ensure access to justice; adopt gender-sensitive investigative procedures for SGBV; conduct gender-sensitive training, including codes of conduct for police, military, and peacekeepers; and build judicial capacity, particularly in the context of transitional justice mechanisms.
The recommendations further stress the need for standardized data collection methods as well as the allocation of adequate resources and measures to ensure access to comprehensive and holistic medical and psychosocial care for SGBV survivors. By integrating the committee’s recommendations and fulfilling its obligations under CEDAW, Haiti will also be working toward upholding the principle of customary international law that prohibits gender-based violence against women as well as its obligations under regional agreements like the American Convention on Human Rights (subject to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights) and the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women. Furthermore, all such treaties abrogate any laws contrary to them, according to Article 276.2 of the country’s constitution (1987, amended in 2011).
The meaningful inclusion of women in transitional governance and justice efforts is not only in line with these international and domestic legal obligations but will also provide a greater understanding of the experiences of Haitians on the ground, as well as illuminate the root causes of SGBV and the larger insecurity that stems from it. While attention to and reparations for sexual violence are often deprioritized in favor of a misguided approach of focusing on the “bigger picture” of conflict, recent research has pointed to the continuance of SGBV postconflict as being associated with a greater chance of lethal violence once again reaching levels of active armed conflict. In its General Recommendation No. 30, the CEDAW Committee similarly emphasized how efforts to eliminate SGBV can contribute to conflict prevention and recurrence of violence postconflict. Thus, a genuine focus on the bigger picture for Haiti’s transitional government must necessarily include the higher prioritization of preventing and punishing acts of SGBV/CRSV. The clearest path to ending the ongoing violence in Haiti and achieving sustainable peace is to actively and meaningfully involve women, especially survivors of SGBV/CRSV, in the creation of Haiti’s future government.
Recommendations
- Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council must include more women with voting power. The meaningful inclusion of women in this and all future transition efforts will solidify the role of Haitian women in actively co-creating the future of their country. Given the impact of gangs’ weaponization of SGBV/CRSV on women and girls in particular, survivors must be actively involved and have agency in shaping their future society and government; they cannot be treated as passive or as mere recipients in a continued male-dominated landscape.
- The council and any future transition or long-term governmental measures must address the social and cultural gender norms and include efforts toward a more nuanced understanding of SGBV/CRSV as well as toward addressing the social stigma surrounding such violence. These efforts must likewise include a focus on the impact of SGBV/CRSV on men, boys, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. To do this, SGBV/CRSV survivors and Haitian leaders must partner with local organizations and civil society groups as well as international actors, such as the Global Survivors Fund, as well as rely on the work done so far by these entities. These actors and organizations are better equipped to work with survivors of SGBV/CRSV and center their needs.
- A welcome first step would be to partner with local organizations and survivors and incorporate the existing international studies on reparations. See, e.g.,
- Global Survivors Fund, Reparations are Affordable: Pathways to financing reparations owed to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (2023)
- Global Survivors Fund, Global Reparations Study Executive Summary Report of Preliminary Findings, “Reparations for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Status and Prospects” (2021)
- The council and any future government must build institutional knowledge about the reality of SGBV and best practices in other settings for meaningful change. To do this, the council must take steps to create survivor-centered services, learning from survivors in Haiti as well as organizations from other conflict contexts (e.g., the Panzi Foundation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the related Mukewege Foundation, which extended the focus beyond the DRC). There must be a survivor-centered, holistic approach that attends to the specific needs such as psychosocial support, reparations, and the rebuilding of trust in law enforcement.
- The council and any future government must prioritize the integration of Haiti’s obligations under domestic, regional, and international law with a particular focus on CEDAW and its General Recommendations. Haitian leaders should work toward equitable representation of women in political and public life, which itself requires not only the resources to prepare women for such roles and temporary special measures to ensure sufficient involvement but also protections against SGBV for women in public roles. Such protections must include meaningful and effective training on SGBV/CRSV prevention for public figures, Haitian National Police, those working at detention centers, those working with IDPs, and members of the Kenya-led (or any future) multinational forces.
