Haiti

Gangs have employed collective rape as a weapon of warfare, and over 60 percent of gender-based violence cases involve sexual violence. Sexual violence against children has risen by 1,000 percent this year alone. UN peacekeepers have also sexually exploited and abused Haitian women and girls during past missions, leaving hundreds of mothers and children struggling with stigma and poverty while stoking mistrust toward external interventions. The toll of violence on women is compounded by pre-existing vulnerabilities, including their overrepresentation in low-wage informal jobs and lower rates of property ownership. Healthcare access is in crisis, exacerbating issues like maternal mortality; nearly half of all hospitals are out of service, gang attacks on medical facilities continue, and US foreign aid cuts revoked support upon which 40 percent of primary clinics depended. Amidst these challenges, Haitian women’s rights organizations—building on a longstanding legacy of activism—continue to lead frontline response and advocacy. For instance, sixty-five organizations, including Haitian groups and international allies, signed an open letter urging the Transitional Presidential Council to enhance protection for women and girls and prioritize their needs.

Haiti encounters multiple threats to its long-term security and ability to hold planned February 2026 elections to restore democratic governance. The full effects of US foreign aid cuts—which previously accounted for 60 percent of humanitarian aid—will continue to unfold, placing women and girls at risk of losing their remaining access to healthcare, food support, and other essential services. This would be detrimental to the nearly half of all Haitians facing severe hunger, with approximately one million female-headed households experiencing acute food insecurity. Women and girls who have fled Haiti face further challenges, with reports of sexual exploitation and violence by security forces in the Dominican Republic and sweeping deportations of pregnant Haitian women and new mothers. Women’s ability to safely vote also remains questionable due to the suspension of safe spaces as a result of gang violence, high rates of displacement, and the risk of attacks by gangs on polling stations. Without improved security and restored resources, the path toward democratic governance and women’s full participation will remain precarious.

Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council’s (TPC) mandate expired on February 7, 2026, dissolving the interim governing body without a constitutional succession plan or an elected authority in place. Governance breakdown risks further sidelining women—who remain underrepresented in leadership—and eroding recent efforts to advance gender quotas and implement credible, inclusive elections. US-backed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé assumed control following the TPC’s expiration, initiating a political transition that has unfolded amid degraded state capacity and rampant gang violence. Although the TPC approved an electoral decree in December 2025 and a draft calendar includes presidential and legislative polls in 2026, implementation remains vulnerable to insecurity and political contestation.

Recent UN reporting indicates that at least 26 gangs operating in Port-au-Prince and surrounding departments are increasingly engaged in child trafficking and forced recruitment. Girls face systematic sexual exploitation, including rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and forced domestic labor; sexual violence against children has surged by 1,000 percent since 2023. Boys are coerced into armed and criminal roles—ranging from surveillance and extortion to participation in killings and kidnappings—often following violent initiation rites. This pattern not only constitutes a grave protection crisis, but entrenches gendered cycles of violence, undermines access to education and safe livelihoods, and erodes the social foundations necessary for long-term stability and women’s meaningful participation in Haiti’s future governance.

A January 2026 report documents a sharp rise in sexual and gender-based violence in Haiti’s capital, increasingly used by armed groups to terrorize communities. Since 2021, admissions at a specialized survivor clinic in Port-au-Prince have nearly tripled—from roughly 95 cases per month to more than 250 in 2025—with 98 percent of survivors being women and girls. Since 2022, over half of survivors reported that their attackers were members of armed groups, with assaults often involving multiple perpetrators and extreme brutality. Only one-third of survivors arrived within 72 hours of assault, limiting their ability to access effective HIV prevention. Most were unable to obtain timely emergency contraception. The report highlights severe gaps in shelter, relocation, and protection services, leaving many survivors without sustained recovery support.

Gang violence remains high, with fragmented armed groups exerting control over large parts of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, deepening instability and exposing civilians to harm. As gangs continue to consolidate control over major population centers and transport routes, civilians face severe movement restrictions and forced displacement. Women and girls fleeing violence are increasingly pushed into overcrowded shelters, where limited protection and services expose them to heightend risks of sexual violence, exploitation, and abuse, alongside continued patterns of rape, abduction, and coercion perpetrated by armed groups.

Damage from Hurricane Melissa in late 2025 continues to disrupt livelihoods and health infrastructure into 2026, with flooding and supply shortages limiting access to maternal health, contraception, and sexual and reproductive health services, particularly in already vulnerable areas. Persistent gang violence and gang-controlled roadblocks have further constrained humanitarian and healthcare access, with roughly 60 percent of health facilities in Port-au-Prince no longer in operation.

5.7 million people–over half the population—face acute food insecurity, with December 2025 assessments indicating that hunger levels are expected to deepen during the lean season from March – June 2026, as the agricultural community still works to recover from damage following Hurricane Melissa. Deportations and gang violence exacerbate barriers to accessing food and livelihood; more than one million women-led households report acute food insecurity while pregnant women and new mothers face heightened malnutrition risks.

Haiti’s designation for US Temporary Protected Status (TPS) was formally terminated in November 2025, with benefits scheduled to end on February 3, 2026. However, on February 2, 2026, a federal judge issued an order temporarily staying the termination, allowing TPS protections to remain in effect pending further litigation. While the US Department of Homeland Security has signaled its intent to challenge the ruling, the court-ordered pause currently prevents large-scale forced returns to Haiti, which would heighten protection risks for women and girls—including exposure to gang coercion, sexual exploitation, and barriers to reproductive and survivor-centered services.

Despite severe insecurity, the approval of an electoral decree in December 2025 and the submission of a draft election calendar targeting mid-to-late 2026 polls offer a limited opportunity to re-anchor the political transition in civilian governance. If implementation proceeds, international pressure to integrate women’s participation, candidate protection, and safeguards against political and gender-based violence could help prevent further exclusion of women from formal political processes during the transition.