Children accompany armed gang members in a march organised by former police officer Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier, leader of an alliance of armed groups, in the Delmas neighbourhood, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 10, 2024. Haiti's armed gangs are increasingly recruiting children into their ranks, a report by Human Rights Watch warned on Wednesday, as near-famine conditions push boys to pick up guns while girls are sexually abused and forced into domestic work. Girls are raped and forced to cook and clean for gang members, the report said, and often discarded once they become pregnant. The leader of the Village de Dieu gang, for instance, is a rapper and publishes well-polished music videos of his soldiers. The report said he has a specialised unit to train children how to handle weapons and set up checkpoints.

Source: Daily Nation October 09, 2024 13:40 UTC