How is gang violence affecting life in Haiti?
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hi, I'm Natalia Jiménez and you're listening to What in the World from the BBC World Service.

I want you to imagine for a second that you're waking up and the first thing you check isn't Instagram or X. I wake up every day and the first thing I do is check my phone for any safety updates and security alerts that come through on WhatsApp channels. Adriana Sousa is a young activist from Port-au-Prince in Haiti. And then I'll check in with coworkers to determine, depending on the present situation, which routes are safe to take and if it's even a possibility to make it to the office.

For many young Haitians, this is their daily reality. And why is that? Well, it's because they're part of the 2 million people, or 20% of Haiti's population, living in gang-controlled areas. Just in the capital, Port-au-Prince, gangs control over 85% of the city. In this episode, we're going to explain how Haiti got to this point in the first place.

And we're also going to find out from young Haitians themselves caught in the middle of all of this violence, what life looks like today in a country under the foothold of gangs. First up, let's hear more from Adriana, who sent us this voice note.

Hi BBC team! Growing up in Haiti, we'd often go to the beach, practically every weekend. I'd go to the mountains and parties with friends. But now most of my friends have left the country. And whenever I do hang out with a friend, it's generally at home. Every single day I think about my future here, whether I even have a future here. But it's a tough thought to carry when your family is here, your home, everything you know is here.

Some days communication is tough. If gangs have cut communication lines, the internet can be unstable and something as simple as making a phone call can be challenging. And so imagine doing school online, how difficult that can be at times. But there's also this constant fear of you or someone you care for being attacked or kidnapped. And it's common to be woken up in the night by gunshots.

However, there is also a strong sense of solidarity in some communities. For example, in my neighborhood, residents have gathered together and started up a local brigade. A lot of neighborhoods do this, and some days these are the people that will actually help the National Police fight off gang attacks. And I think that there's this general sense of anger, but we turn our anger into hope, and then we put our hope into action every single day by lending a hand and by sharing our stories.

I'm here with Nawal El-Meghafi, a BBC investigations correspondent who's recently returned from Haiti, where she was embedded with the Kenyan police, part of a UN-authorized multinational security support.

support mission. Noelle, thank you so much for speaking with us. I just want to start off by setting the scene here for our listeners. So having been on the ground, what would you say struck you the most about what Haitians are going through right now? Port-au-Prince is quite a big urban city, but now 80% of this capital city is

has become a no-go zone. Part of the gang-held areas that we drove around with the Kenyan police are completely deserted. You know, when we were driving around at one point, we saw this body in the middle of the road that was burning.

was what it was shocking. And I remember asking them, you know, whose body is that? And then they said, usually what the gangs do is they would take someone from the opposing gang and burn them. And that's kind of a way to fend off the other gangs from this territory. It's a way of showing them that they have taken control.

It really is one of the most dangerous places I've been to, but also one of the most beautiful and culturally rich. So it's really sad to see it deteriorate in this way. I just want to step back for a second. How did gangs become so powerful in the first place? In Haiti, it's decades of corrupt leadership, which has ultimately led to weakened democratic institutions, right?

the complete decimation of the country's main economic driver, which was agriculture. A lot of people had jobs in agriculture and because of international influence in the country, that's completely decimated. And so people are out of work, young people, there's high unemployment rates.

And then if you couple that with the proliferation of small arms, all these small arms and weapons being pumped in to the country, it's a recipe for disaster. And one of the main problems is this political class of the government. You know, they're willing to weaponize Haiti's struggles to cling onto power. And in the last decade or so, on top of all of this,

You know, Haiti has been a victim of natural disasters. There have been two major earthquakes, hurricanes. There's been so much international interference in Haiti that's led to it being so dependent on the international community. I mean, you spoke to gang leaders in Haiti. It was really interesting to hear one of them say they're doing these things because they

that has been done to them as well. Yeah, I mean, I was really taken aback by our interview with Talapele, who is the leader of one of the biggest gangs in control of Port-au-Prince. You know, I said, why are all these young men joining your ranks? Why are they joining these gangs? Is it because they're afraid of you? You know, you've been accused of raping women, you've been accused of burning people alive and

And he gave me a very simple answer. He said, you know, these young men, they come to me because they don't have jobs. They don't have opportunity. And Tlaplé offers them an opportunity to feed their families and to feed themselves. It's easier to get your hands on small arms than it is on food. And also part of it is revenge. A lot of these young men have seen friends or family members shot at by opposing gang members.

And if they aren't busy with a job or with any other kind of youth program, what ends up happening is they pick up arms and try and get revenge for the people that they've lost. UNICEF came out with a statistic saying that this year, the number of young children, we're talking between 7 and 18 that have joined these gangs, has risen by 70%. I mean, that's quite extraordinary.

And most public schools now have been shut down because 80% of this capital city has been taken over by gangs. And a lot of these schools are now IDP camps, so camps for internally displaced people that have had to flee these gang-held areas. They don't have many options. And so, you know, you can see why these young men are joining. And you can also get a sense of why...

What the international community is doing to try and to respond to this situation is failing. You know, bringing in forces to shoot at the gangs is not going to resolve the situation. That lack of options is really striking. What is the prevailing sense of what is ahead?

So right now, the international community has sent what they've called a multinational security force that's being led by the Kenyan police. And they are 400 police officers that are in armoured vehicles. And what they do is drive around gang-held territory. And their mandate basically is to pacify these areas, which means push out all these gang members from these neighbourhoods.

But really what they're doing is, you know, they're just shooting at gang members. They're not having much success. And that is the sense I got from Haitians. They're like, you know, why is the international community wasting resources sending these men to shoot at gang members? This isn't going to solve anything. Thank you so much, Nawal, for joining us today. Thank you, Natalia. Thanks for having me.

Haiti has seen over 15 years of UN peacekeeping missions. These interventions have left behind a controversial legacy, from allegations of sexual abuse to a cholera outbreak. These events have profoundly shaped public opinion in the country when it comes to outside forces. So let's bring in someone who's been living and reporting in Haiti throughout all of these crises,

Wildlor Merancourt, a reporter for The Washington Post and editor-in-chief of the Haitian publication Ayibo. Wildlor, can you help us understand how Haitians see outside intervention? Yes, I think if you talk to most regular Haitians, they will tell you the insecurity problem won't be solved by outside help.

They think we need to empower the Haiti security force. And I think it is mainly because most Haitians who are alive today, many of them were there during the last UN peacekeeping mission that ended in 2017.

This peacekeeping mission was instrumental in bringing the country to some form of stability in the 2000s. However, you know, right after it ended, the country, you know, slowly but surely, we started with the cycle of violence, right?

The UN peacekeeping mission was responsible for dozens of cases of human rights violations. UN peacekeeping soldiers were implicated, for instance, in multiple cases of rapes and

And fathering kids and leaving them behind. And some of the actions in Haiti, you know, when it comes to interventions in some neighborhoods, whether it was because of language problems, whether it was because they did not understand the terrain, many innocents were killed.

But on top of that, you also have 800,000 people infected by the cholera that was introduced by the UN in Haiti right after the earthquake. You're going to hear a bit more from Woodlor soon. We've spoken earlier about how young people are being caught in the crossfire. So we asked some of them to send us voice notes about how life looks like for them today. This is Joanna. ♪

Life for me is complex and unpredictable. Every day I face many difficulties. No electricity, challenges accessing clean water, unreliable transportation and even trouble getting to school. And let's not even get started on economic struggles, lack of job opportunities and so on.

Still, there are moments that bring joy, like sharing a meal with my family, chatting with friends or participating in community activities. I'm determined to focus on what I can control. For example, I prioritise continuing my education, developing my skills and looking for job opportunities. I believe solidarity is key. It's our strength and it motivates me to work towards creating a better future. And this is Corrine.

I'm 25 and I was forced to leave home because of armed men. When you live in a country where people's rights aren't respected, when women's and girls' rights are absent, you just have to activate your survival mode. Every day you have to go out and seek out training while hoping that a bullet won't erase your dreams. I

I hope to still be here, to stand tall, and I'll be ready when the change comes. I want to stand up for my country, despite everything. I'm a woman living in Haiti, and I have hope. Back to World Law Now. So we spoke to a few young women in Haiti. They spoke to us about hardship, but also about hope.

What signs of hope are there right now? Well, personally, everywhere I go, I see hopeful Haitians trying to do the best they can to...

sustain themselves and help their neighbors. The fact that most Haitians now understand and advocate for a Haitian solution to Haiti problems, I think it's a very promising thing. But on top of that, it's the regular everyday actions everywhere you go that shows people

not hopeless and quite the contrary. You see teachers and talk to so many professionals

who are making the inward migration, leaving the capital Port-au-Prince to strengthen the institutions and organize themselves outside of Port-au-Prince to circumvent the violence in the capital. More and more activities outside of the capital, and these are hopeful signs. Certainly no lack of resilience from Haitians. Woodlor, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you. One thing is for sure, Haiti's crisis is layered. With everything from political collapse to economic hardship and foreign intervention that hasn't always helped. From what we've heard today, these challenges are being met by communities determined to confront them head on.

Among them are young Haitians that are inheriting this reality, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Because what happens next will not only shape the country's path forward, but the future of an entire generation. I'm Natalia Jimenez, and thanks for listening to What in the World from the BBC World Service. See you next time. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

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