WASHINGTON, Feb 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Gangs in Haiti are recruiting children and targeting them with violence and sexual assault, Amnesty International said Wednesday in a report on the Caribbean nation ravaged by civil unrest.

Amnesty estimates that more than a million children live in areas controlled by or under the influence of armed gangs in Haiti, and condemned offenses committed against young people as "human rights abuses."

The report highlighted 14 Haitian children recruited by gangs to spy on rival groups and police, as well as to carry out work such as making deliveries or repairing vehicles. 

Girls were also victims of abductions, rape and other sexual assaults during gang attacks on neighborhoods, or after groups took control of areas, Amnesty said. 

It interviewed ten girls who had been victims of gang rape, several of whom became pregnant and resorted to unsafe methods to terminate their pregnancies, as abortion is illegal in Haiti.

"Gang-related violence has become such a daily reality that it is not uncommon to find several victims within the same family, or even sometimes the same victim having suffered several attacks," the report said.

Amnesty also identified attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as the blocking of humanitarian aid, as examples of "grave violations" suffered by children.

Haiti has no president or parliament and is ruled by a transitional body, which is struggling to manage extreme violence linked to criminal gangs, poverty and other challenges.

More than 5,600 people were killed in Haiti last year as a result of gang violence, about a thousand more than in 2023, the UN said.

More than a million Haitians have been forced to flee their homes, three times as many as a year ago.