The Rape of Young Boys by men, a Silent Scourge in Haiti

Sexual abuse against young boys is spreading in silence, driven by prejudice and a lack of institutional support

Lire cet article en français

The rape of young boys is spreading in silence in Haiti, a half-dozen survivors and people familiar with the practice tell AyiboPost.

This reality unfolds in a society steeped in homophobic and gender-based prejudices, where rape is generally perceived as something suffered exclusively by women and girls.

A man living in a displaced persons camp in Lalue raped a thirteen-year-old boy at the end of last year, according to testimony gathered on-site by AyiboPost on May 9.

According to Ricot Vilbrun, the spokesperson for the central committee who confirmed the incident, the man, who was armed, assaulted the boy — an orphan with no father or mother — on three separate occasions. He also threatened him with death.

The victim reported the incident to one of his friends, who relayed it to the committee members.

« We heard the victim, but the perpetrator had time to flee, » Vilbrun tells AyiboPost. « We never would have imagined that the first rape in the camp would be committed by a man against a little boy, » he adds.

This case is not isolated.

« The rape of male minors by men is rampant in Haiti, but it is taboo, which explains why it is rarely talked about, » says Marie Rosy Auguste Ducena, program director at the National Human Rights Defense Network.

The RNDDH has already investigated the matter.

Two « shocking » episodes have stood out to Ducena in recent years.

The first involves a six-year-old boy regularly raped by his stepfather, with whom his mother had nonetheless assumed a healthy parental bond.

The child subsequently suffered from chronic infections requiring medical examination. It was through this process that he disclosed to his family the threats made against him by his abuser. The man had threatened to kill his mother if the incident ever came to light.

Another case documented by the RNDDH involves an eight-year-old boy, the son of a subcontracting worker in Port-au-Prince. The child was raped by a man from his neighborhood.

According to Ducena, the muscles of his posterior were severely damaged, leaving him completely incontinent. The perpetrator was apprehended by police.

That is a rare outcome.

Parents go to great lengths to suppress these cases, which prevents human rights organizations like the RNDDH from conducting the follow-up needed to support victims through the justice system, according to Ducena.

Haiti adopted a Child Protection Code in 2022. The former penal code, amended in 2005, punishes the rape of minors under fifteen with sentences of up to twenty years of criminal imprisonment. A new penal code — enacted in June 2020 — stiffens the penalties for the rape of minors. But its enforcement remains ineffective.

Generally, legal proceedings go nowhere in a context of chronic impunity, a dysfunctional judiciary, and the near-total absence of policies to combat sexual abuse in the country’s schools.

For instance, diplomat Claude Alix Bertrand, a former student at Saint-Louis de Gonzague, publicly recounted having been abused in the 1980s by Evans Lescouflair, a former employee of the school.

Lescouflair, a former minister of Sports, was arrested in Panama in connection with the case, then released by the Haitian justice system « for humanitarian reasons » by investigating judge Walter Wesser Voltaire in July 2022. He nonetheless faces multiple similar accusations.

The ineffectiveness of the justice system drives families deeper into silence.

That is what happened in the case of Sophonie, a woman in her twenties whose five-year-old godson was assaulted by a man close to the family in Maïs-Gâté in 2016.

The child’s family suppressed the matter, and the perpetrator managed to flee without facing any significant consequences.

« Today, I believe that the silence and taboo surrounding these rape cases are in no way a responsible stance. They must absolutely be denounced, » the woman concludes.

Contacted by AyiboPost, the Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR) declined to comment on the matter.

Victims like Normil Denoil, 24, must go on living with the aftermath of their assaults, often without any psychological support.

Denoil was beaten before being raped by three men in Bel-Air, in the wake of the 2010 earthquake.

« One of them stuffed a jersey into my mouth to muffle my screams, another held me in place while the last one raped me, » Denoil recalls.

Afterward, his attackers threatened him with a firearm and a motorcycle chain. They ordered him not to speak of the incident to his family or anyone in the area.

Denoil has indeed said nothing since — not even to his mother, who died in 2024. The family had been forced to leave the neighborhood after the assault.

By : Junior Legrand

► AyiboPost is dedicated to providing accurate information. If you notice any mistake or error, please inform us at the following address : hey@ayibopost.com