Davensky was eight years old when armed men kidnapped him from school, pulled a black bag over his head, and dragged him into a truck. Stripped and locked inside a refrigerated room, he was handed a gun and told to kill another child. 'They said if I didn't pull the trigger, they would cut off my fingers,' he recalls. 'I did it.'
For two years, Davensky—now 14, an orphan whose name has been changed—was forced to work for a gang in Haiti. He robbed people at gunpoint, took part in kidnappings, and says he was compelled to kill a baby. 'I didn't have a choice,' he explains.
The United Nations warned this year of an 'alarming increase' in child recruitment by armed gangs in Haiti, estimating that minors now constitute half of all gang members. As gangs expand into rural areas, children are replacing slain fighters. 'Thousands have been killed in operations, so they are filling that vacuum,' says Diego Da Rin, Haiti analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Coercion and Exploitation Drive Recruitment
For some children, recruitment begins with coercion; others are driven by chronic hunger and displacement. 'Some children have lost their parents in massacres. Others have been displaced or forced out of school,' says Ulrick Tintin, legal director at Défenseurs Plus, a Haitian human rights organisation. 'The groups take advantage.'
Amid the violence, thousands of schools have closed and entire communities have been uprooted. According to the UN human rights agency, several gangs have established welfare systems for children living on the streets or whose families cannot provide for them, offering meals, clothing and shelter in abandoned buildings.
Pierre Espérance, director of Haiti's National Human Rights Defence Network, states: 'The state doesn't exist any more and, in the poor areas, the children don't have other alternatives. They need to be involved in the gangs to survive.'
Life Inside the Gangs
After his forced recruitment, Davensky was locked in an abandoned house with other children and let out only for assignments. Four times a day, older gang members brought fried chicken, and every three months he received about $50. 'Children are offered meals, weekly payments and given jobs as lookouts,' says Da Rin. 'From there, their involvement slowly grows until some of them receive a weapon.'
Children are also used to monitor police movements, carry messages and gather intelligence. Over time, they graduate to more dangerous roles: guarding kidnap victims, collecting extortion payments, carrying weapons and participating in attacks. Payments for routine tasks range from $100 to $300, while taking part in kidnappings or armed assaults can bring up to $700, according to the UN.
Young people are enticed to rise through the ranks for higher payments and the power these positions confer. Others remain against their will, often without pay.
Girls Face Sexual Exploitation
Sara was eight when her father died. Sent to live with relatives, she was abused and denied food as punishment. At 12, she was thrown out and survived on the streets, washing cars and selling water. When she was about 14, gang members approached her. 'They said I had to obey,' she recalls. 'I went through a lot of misery to survive.'
Sara was mostly made to run errands but says she was also raped. The UN reports that girls as young as 12 are subjected to sexual enslavement and exploitation by gang members. In some neighbourhoods, girls are forced into arrangements known as ti menaj—'little sweethearts'—assigned to individual gang members. In desperate circumstances, some families encourage these relationships hoping a daughter will be protected from rape.
Refusing a gang can be fatal. Sara says her closest friend refused to run an errand; gang members raped the 16-year-old, beat and killed her, then set her body on fire.
Challenge for International Mission
The growing use of child soldiers poses a formidable challenge for the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), now deploying to restore security. Expected to number 5,500 police and military officers from countries including the US, El Salvador and Chad by autumn 2025, the force faces a difficult dilemma.
'They already put children on the frontlines,' says Da Rin. 'That will be extremely problematic for the Haitian security forces and the foreign forces.' He adds that gang leaders are 'completely cognisant of the moral conundrum' and are 'absolutely ready to use children as a deterrent against iron-fist operations.'
Humanitarian agencies stress that any long-term solution requires more than military strength. Thousands of children who have spent years inside armed groups need lengthy rehabilitation. 'The magnitude of the problem lies in the fact that it has been going on for five or six years. Children have been born in that time, and for many this is the only context they know,' says Marta Hurtado, a UNHCHR spokesperson.
William O'Neill, the UN's human rights expert on Haiti, asks: 'How do you repair a society where the social contract has been torn apart? And what do you do with those gang members, half of whom are minors?'
Last year, the Haitian government and Unicef launched the Prejeunes programme to rehabilitate children recruited by armed groups. Sara and Davensky are now under protection in one of its transit centres, where they attend school. But both struggle to imagine a future beyond survival. 'I went through hell,' Sara says. 'If my mother and father were alive, I would not be in this situation. I dream that one day someone will come and take care of me. But now I am exhausted. I feel like I cannot go on.'
