Sexual violence soars in Haiti gang war
Nadia, who asked not to use her real name out of fear, was 19, and not ready to be a mother. She was studying at a professional school, hoping to lift up her parents and her country. But the young Haitian’s life changed last year when she was blindfolded and kidnapped on her way home from school in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. Eight months later she gave birth to her daughter. "They held me for three days, I spent the three days blindfolded and being raped constantly. They did not feed me, they beat me. I couldn’t tell where I was because I was blindfolded and I couldn’t see anything," she said. As Haiti continues to spiral and gangs gain a firmer grip on power, battling groups have increasingly employed sexual violence as a tool in their war for control.
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Haiti’s toxic gangs are plundering the Caribbean nation, kidnapping, extorting and displacing civilians who have nothing left to give. And now, they are using rape in their war for control.Â
As gangs tighten their grip on Haiti, many medical facilities in the Caribbean nation have closed. One hospital is standing its ground in one of the most violent parts of Haiti’s capital.
