Using Children as Weapons

Amnesty International is sounding the alarm on the situation in Haiti. They are calling on all of us to sign their petition to urge the Haitian government and the international community to develop and implement a comprehensive child protection plan. This call is particularly urgent because Haitian armed gangs are recruiting starving children in anticipation of a long and bloody battle with international security forces. The situation is dire with over 700,000 children facing insecurity, abuse, and violence in 2026.

In September 2025, Organization of American States members endorsed a joint statement, “to build the Haiti that Haitians long to experience within their lifetimes.” Yet on the ground, hundreds, if not thousands, of impoverished children are being enticed by armed groups (which now control most of Haiti) to take up arms in return for food and shelter. Human Rights Watch (HRW) claimed in 2024 that 30% of Haitian gang members were children forced into illegal activities as armed soldiers or spies, or exploited for sex. That number rose to over 50% as estimated by the U.N. Security Council in August 2025, with children as young as eight years old being recruited.

In the first three months of 2025, there was a 700% increase in gangs' recruitment and use of children, compared to the same period in 2024. Over 500,000 children in Haiti live in neighborhoods controlled by armed groups, putting them at higher risk of violence and recruitment. Children are "pushed to join armed groups out of pure desperation, including horrific violence, poverty and a breakdown in the systems that should protect them,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF USA’s Executive Director. They are used by armed groups for different tasks, including as cooks, cleaners, ‘wives’, or forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations. Others are used as couriers, lookouts, and porters to carry weapons.

Haitian children are often exploited as informants because they attract less suspicion. They are also forced into extortion, kidnapping, and even murder. Girls are sexually abused and exploited (commercially) by gang leaders, discarded once they become pregnant, and beaten if they object. Most of these children are starving.

A Global Phenomenon

Armed groups recruit children not because they are strong fighters, but because they are easier to intimidate, indoctrinate, and misinform. Their recruitment becomes optimal when children are “poor in the sense of having bad alternatives,” that is, when they are hungry, lack educational and economic opportunities, or a social collapse leaves them with almost no outside options. In such conditions, coercion and punishment are not only effective but sustainable, making children uniquely vulnerable.

The Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda recruited younger abductees, who even though were less capable in combat, were kept longer than adults because they were easier to manipulate, more susceptible to misinformation, and had fewer means and lesser ability to escape. Children were threatened, forced to commit atrocities against their families, and made to believe that they coil never return home. The same is true in the Haitian case.

On TikTok, gang leaders flaunt cash, gold chains, and blinged out watches to lure in teenagers. For children living in poverty, many homeless and hungry, these images promise escape. Several told HRW they joined gangs out of desperation, only to find themselves trapped once they picked up guns. Aid workers describe the warning signs: new clothes, small amounts of cash, and sudden absences from school. When confronted, children almost always say the same thing: “I have to support myself, and the gangs are the only option.” With Haiti’s state services collapsed, hunger rising, and schools frequently shut, aid organizations say stopping minors from being drawn in is nearly impossible.

In Palestinian camps in Lebanon, economic necessity channeled individuals into clandestine militant and logistical roles. Informants described their participation as a response to destitution and the humanitarian crisis. A former Fateh (also known as the Palestinian National Liberation Movement) member, stressed that hunger was a factor that pushed women to volunteer in order to bring income to families. Smuggling and logistical roles became combat positions where women died trying to get food and water. 

In Haiti, the recruitment of children is ultimately with the purpose of preparing for fighting against international security forces and the Haitian police. Eventually, these children are being or will be used as ‘human shields’ during operations by criminal groups in their controlled areas.

A Cycle That Must Be Broken

Ted Gurr explains that a necessary precondition for violent civil conflict is relative deprivation, defined as an actor’s perception of a discrepancy between their value expectations (what they believe they are entitled to) and their environment’s apparent value capabilities (their chances of attaining those values). In the case of Haitian children, their starvation which is a form of extreme deprivation coupled with issues such as lack of educational opportunity represents the most acute form of collective frustration and has yielded a high modal strength of participation in collective violence. The more severe the relative deprivation, the greater the likelihood and intensity of violence. Starving Haitian children are drawn in not because they are ideal fighters, but because deprivation makes them the most vulnerable and the easiest to mobilize.

We need to make haste to break this cycle of violence in Haiti. First, the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force must put child protection at the center of its mandate, embedding child-safeguarding officers and securing schools and hospitals as no-go zones for gangs. Second, humanitarian access must be scaled up to deliver food, shelter, and psychosocial support in gang-controlled neighborhoods, reducing the desperation that fuels recruitment. Third, we need to create alternate economic and educational avenues for children, with accountability mechanisms. 

Haiti’s children need collective resolve. We urgently need a multitude of actors and organizations to band together to prevent further harm. Only a cohesion of initiatives focused on child protection, education, psychosocial support, livelihoods, vocational training, skills development and life skills acquisition could rehabilitate and safeguard the future of these children. 

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s only and do not reflect an official position of the University of Minnesota, the Human Rights Program, or the College of Liberal Arts. As an institution of higher education that values and promotes free speech, civil discourse, and human rights, we welcome a variety of perspectives and opinions from our student contributors that are consistent with these values.