Food for arms: Rights group finds Haitian gangs luring starving kids, up to 30% recruits are children

Hunger and poverty drive children to join criminal gangs in Haiti, so much so that 30 per cent of the gang members are kids.

A report by Human Rights Watch has shown children are forced to join criminal groups that operate in thousands across Haiti. Their membership requires them to indulge in criminal activities and their vulnerability leads to abuse at the hands of senior gang leaders.

Much of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, is controlled by armed groups. As per estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2.7 million people, including half a million children live under these gangs.

‘I can eat when I am part of them’

The report by the rights group has found that gang members lure children with food into exploiting them. At home, they had to sleep with empty stomachs, but being part of criminal gangs put food in their mouth which compelled parents to allow their kids to join.

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“Before [joining], I lived with my mother … It was really hard to get food and clothes. At home, there wasn’t any food. But when I was with [the group], I could eat,” said a 16-year-old boy who joined the Village de Dieu group at 14.

Apart from facing violence from within the group, these children also have to endure brutality from rival gangs and the police. Girls are particularly at risk of sexual violence.

A humanitarian worker said, “Gabriel, the gang leader of Brooklyn [in Cité Soleil], asks his henchmen to bring him a virgin girl every month. With the boss doing this, there’s no way to stop others who do the same.”

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There’s no way to escape either as gang leaders threaten to kill children who refuse to do tasks assigned to them. “Once, they told me to blindfold someone we were going to kidnap. When I refused they threatened to kill me,” a boy told HRW.

What role do children play in gangs?

Children who are recruited into gangs are forced to loot, extort, kidnap and even kill people.

Initially, boys are used as informants to provide information on police patrols or facilitate robberies. Some have to run errands like purchasing food while others carry and transport arms.

For the job, these kids receive payments between 100 and 20,000 gourdes [under $1 to $150] per month, as well as food and shelter if they need it.