Women’s Bodies: Another Battlefield in the Haitian Gang Wars

This post was originally written in Kreyòl

Content warning: this post contains descriptions of sexual assault

As these groups seize the material assets of the people living in these areas, they also consider women’s bodies as objects at their disposal.

There was a time when post-war analyses never took the violence perpetrated against women in the context of war into account. These instances (victims) were considered collateral damage, and there were no efforts made to bring these women justice. While sexual violence used during the Second World War was cause for major outcry, two years prior, in 1937, the Nankin Massacre – a town in China – the Japanese used sexual assault as a means to bring the Chinese to their knees. Based solely on the cruelty demonstrated during that massacre, this event should be remembered as one of the darkest events in the world’s history, a day we should never forget. And although this is the first documented episode of mass-rapes perpetrated against women, this harrowing event was hardly the first or last time this would occur.

Technically, Haiti is not a country affected by military war, but Haitian women’s bodies are used as conquerable territories in armed gang conflicts. Haitian women are often the first unfortunate victims of territory conflicts between armed groups. According to the last report on Haiti published by the UN’s security council, all gang groups active on land perpetrate sexual violence. Armed groups of men use sexual violence as a means to terrorize, subdue, and punish the population, particularly women. As these groups seize the material assets of the people living in these areas, they also consider women’s bodies as objects at their disposal.

This complicated situation worsens when an opposing gang takes over that area. Invading a territory is not simply a game of grabbing. Invading and taking over a territory means taking everything that comes with it, privileges such as land, people, and material gains.

In a report published by RNDDH (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains) in December 2018, 11 women were counted among the victims of a collective sexual assault that happened during the Lasalin Massacre on November 13, 2018. We say “amongst” the victims, because those numbers do not take into consideration the women who were only in passing in the area as food vendors and, therefore, were not residents of the area.

In another RNDDH report published on August 16, 2022, relaying testimonies of mass-rape, it was declared that at least 52 women and girls were victims. There was a recurring statement throughout all these testimonies. While G9 gang members were assaulting them, they recalled being told that it was because they were all TiGabriel’s (another gang leader) wives that they were being assaulted. Women are never considered as whole human beings by gang members; they are seen as the adverse gang’s property deserving of being soiled.

Monique*, a survivor whose name has been changed to protect her identity, accepted to speak to Woy Magazine. Teary-eyed, she said: “I had just made a sale. I was with another woman, and we walked by a group of men. One of them told us to come to them while accusing us of being followers of Gabriel. In the end, I was assaulted by seven men. An 8th one asked me to pleasure him, and as I refused, he proceeded to strike me so hard on my back with a gun that I fainted. There was a tree close by where they would hang the underwear of women they had assaulted.”

Every day, the number of sexual assault victims rises in these gang-dominated areas. In a report published by the feminist organization, Nègès Mawon, covering the months of April to July 2023, in their sexual violence section, there are 181 gang members mentioned as assaulters. Victims have little to no access to proper medical treatment after having been subjected to these violent and foul acts, and are unable to seek justice as many of them have been threatened, along with their families, into silence.

Although the number of cases of sexual assault is as high as it is, there is no mass outcry demanding justice and reparations for these victims. The government, which is closely affiliated with the gangs, continues to watch the population’s abuse in silence. Haitian women will continue to be subjected to all forms of violence, not knowing when all of this will end.

Translated to English by L. Lherisson 

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