Women This Week: New Report Outlines Staggering Impact of Gangs on Children in Haiti

Haitian Girls Experiencing Alarming Rise in Sexual Violence  

A report published by Amnesty International this week shows the grave impact that gang violence has had on children in Haiti since the assassination of the president in 2021. The percentage of gang members who are recruited as children has increased by 70 percent, and more than one million children live within areas controlled or under the influence of gangs. Furthermore, at least 30 to 50 percent of gang members are children who are pressured to follow orders for fear that their families will be killed if they do not. The report notes that Haitian girls are disproportionately falling victim to abduction, rape, and sexual assault perpetrated by gang members. A UN representative said, “There has been a staggering 1,000 percent rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti, which has turned their bodies into battlegrounds.” The report goes on to say that the children “had no choice, and that their involvement was predominantly out of hunger or fear.” Advocates have called on the Haitian government and international community to provide humanitarian assistance and support for Haitian children impacted by gangs.   

Increases in Births and Infant Mortality Rates after Abortion Bans 

Rates of birth and infant mortality rose noticeably in the first eighteen months after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to two new studies published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers from one study observed 22,180 additional births—a 1.7 percent increase—in states with abortion bans. The researchers also found that the additional births disproportionately involved mothers who were younger, unmarried, received Medicaid, had lower levels of education, and were from minority groups. An additional study showed that there was a 6 percent increase in infant mortality in the same states that adopted abortion bans. These numbers were even higher for groups with previously elevated mortality rates, including among non-Hispanic Black infants, where mortality was 11 percent higher after abortion bans were implemented than would have been expected. Dr. Caitlin Myers of Middlebury College points to two main drivers of these increases. First, women who are unable to end pregnancies with congenital anomalies later experience infant mortality as the babies die soon after birth. Second, women who cannot obtain abortions through other means—including traveling or ordering abortion pills via mail—are “more likely to be poor, more likely to be women of color, and those populations have higher rates of maternal morbidity and mortality, infant complications, infant mortality.” 

Liechtenstein  Elects First Female Prime Minister  

Last week, Liechtenstein voted for Brigitte Haas to lead the government as prime minister after her conservative party—the Patriotic Union—won a plurality of votes in the recent election. She will become the country’s first female elected leader and will succeed the prime minister of her own party on March 20. Haas, a lawyer and managing director of the Chamber of Commerce and Ministry, will share power with Prince Hans-Adams II, as the country is a constitutional hereditary monarchy. Women only gained full suffrage in Liechtenstein in 1984. Women were first allowed to run as candidates in the country in 1986, which saw the election of the first woman, Emma Eigenmann, to the parliament.  

Diya Mehta is the intern for the Women and Foreign Policy Program.