How aid cuts are threatening women’s organizations responding to Haiti’s gang violence

As armed gangs expand their control, women-led organizations are providing critical support to survivors of violence and displacement, negotiating for humanitarian access, and supporting peacebuilding. Sweeping aid cuts put their work at risk. Armed gang violence has exploded in Haiti in recent years. Once largely concentrated in Port au Prince, armed gangs have expanded their control across the country, bringing with it violence and insecurity.

The impact on women and girls has been particularly devastating. Some 790,000 women and girls are among nearly 1.47 million people who have been forced to flee their homes. Gang members are using sexual violence as a tactic to terrorize, exploit and extort women and girls, and their communities. Homes and businesses have been burned to the ground, or taken over by the gangs, and more than 1,600 schools have been forced to close. Healthcare and legal services have been decimated – all at a time when the need for them is colossal.

Read more