Human Rights Watch reports that sexual violence has become yet another escalating and "horrific" tool of the gangs that keep spreading their power in Haiti. Some 4,000 women and girls have reported being raped by gang members just this year,

The statement was issued just days after gangs launched a pre-dawn attack Tuesday around an upper-class community in Haiti’s capital, forcing residents armed with machetes and guns to fight side-by-side with police to repel gunmen.

Gang violence has forced many children to seek refuge in overcrowded schools repurposed as shelters or with host families, often with little to no access to clean water, food, or healthcare.