Sexual violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, has escalated alarmingly since 2021, becoming a deliberate tool to terrorize the population. Women and girls suffer a disproportionate impact amid deteriorating infrastructure and widespread sexual violence.
Based on a decade of medical data, MSF’s Pran Men’m clinic has treated nearly 17,000 people since 2015, 98% of whom are women and girls. The number of survivors has nearly tripled: from 95 per month in 2021 to over 250 in 2025.
Growing brutality of sexual violence
Sexual violence shows increasing ferocity. Since 2022, 57% of survivors reported assaults by armed groups, many of them gang rapes involving more than 10 attackers. Nearly one in five suffered multiple incidents, forcing displacements that expose them to further risks.
Survivors face barriers such as stigma, poverty, and insecurity, which delay care. Only one in three arrives within three days of the assault, preventing HIV prevention; 59% fail to arrive within five days for emergency contraception.
Deficiencies in services exacerbate sexual violence
Historical context of crisis in Haiti
This sexual violence arises amid gangs controlling 80% of Port-au-Prince since 2021, following the assassination of President Moïse. The UN reports thousands of displaced people and a police collapse, exacerbating abuses as a weapon for territorial control.
Diana Manilla Arroyo, MSF coordinator in Haiti, points out: “The explosion of violence directly impacts the bodies of women and girls.” The report urges sustained funding for free medical and psychosocial care.
Urgent actions required
- Expand access to comprehensive services for survivors of sexual violence.
- Recognize its deliberate use by gangs to subjugate the population.
- Coordinate Haitian authorities, the UN, and donors on recovery-centered responses.
Amnesty International experts agree: sexual violence persists due to impunity and a lack of safe shelters. Background data shows similar patterns in Haitian conflicts since 2010, with peaks following the earthquake.
Sexual violence in Port-au-Prince demands immediate action to empower survivors and restore control over their lives, in a Haiti plunged into armed chaos.
