GENEVA - The UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls today sounded the alarm over the deteriorating crisis in Haiti, warning that the systematic exclusion of women from leadership and decision-making and the widespread use of sexual violence are deepening insecurity and obstructing pathways to peace.
"Haiti is in the grip of one of the world's most severe crises, and women and girls are bearing the brunt," the experts said. "Yet they remain sidelined from processes that determine their safety, rights, and future."
Despite decades of international engagement and Haiti's own constitutional commitment to gender parity in public office, women are entirely absent from the country's transitional leadership, the experts noted. All seven voting members of the Transitional Presidential Council are men, and the new cabinet fails to meet the constitutional requirement of at least 30% representation of women.
The experts underscored that these discriminatory patterns violate Haiti's national and international legal obligations and undermine the prospect of sustainable peace. "Haitian women have long played critical roles in rebuilding communities, coordinating humanitarian aid, and supporting social cohesion. Their exclusion is not only unjust-it is a strategic failure."
The Working Group said criminal gangs continue to use sexual violence as a deliberate tool of terror, particularly in the capital and surrounding departments. Yet efforts to prevent and respond to these atrocities remain grossly inadequate.
"Haiti's crisis cannot be addressed without confronting the gendered dynamics of violence and governance," they said. "Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of terror. Survivors are left without support, resources, or legal recourse. Women are being displaced, exploited, and silenced, yet they are still absent from the bodies shaping the response."
Displacement sites starkly illustrate these failures, the experts noted. Reports of sexual exploitation and abuse in these settings are widespread, while systems for reporting or addressing such abuse remain weak or non-existent. While women and girls make up the majority of the displaced population, their underrepresentation in management committees leaves critical protection gaps and reinforces gender hierarchies.
The experts emphasised that the international community's response, including through the recently adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2793, has failed to adequately address these gendered harms and women's exclusion. "The resolution acknowledges the disproportionate impact of violence on women and girls, but it does not include concrete measures to ensure their leadership or to integrate gender perspectives across the security and governance agenda."
They called on Haitian authorities and international partners, especially States participating in the Standing Group of Partners for the Gang Suppression Forces, to take immediate steps to uphold the rights of Haitian women and girls. This must include ensuring women's equal participation in all political, security, transitional justice and recovery processes.
"As the global community marks 25 years since the adoption of landmark Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, Haiti is a painful reminder of what happens when its core principles are ignored," the experts said. "Women's inclusion is not a symbolic act; It is a cornerstone of any credible path out of crisis."
