On May 28, Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council elected former Prime Minister Garry Conille to lead the country once again and head its transitional government, which holds a mandate through 2026. No women were interviewed for the position. Although the move offers a step toward stability amid the widespread gang violence that has marred the country in recent months, the council still has much to achieve, especially when it comes to prioritizing women’s empowerment and addressing gender-based violence.
Haitian women are on the front lines of the country’s crisis: as first responders, as political and civil society leaders, and disproportionately as victims. Yet the council’s seven voting members are all men; one woman, Régine Abraham, is a non-voting observer. As the transitional council will wield significant power over Haiti’s response to instability and state reconstruction, women’s voices and needs must be represented.
It has now been more than seven years since Haiti held elections; its last elected officials left office in January 2023. In April, acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry stepped down in the face of a violent insurgency as gangs united to demand his resignation and greater political involvement. Although gang violence is a long-standing issue in Haiti, the current crisis was triggered by the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
The power vacuum created a space for gangs to expand territorial control and exercise a greater monopoly on violence, including through rape. In addition to overseeing the planned Kenya-led international security intervention, the transitional government aims to create a national security council to respond to gang violence and establish a government action control body, which would oversee government budgets and pursue accountability. Even still, it needs to do more when it comes to prioritizing women’s inclusion and safety.
The lack of female voting members on the transitional council is at odds with Haitian women’s demonstrated leadership. Since the Haitian Revolution began in 1791, women have played a vital role in the country’s history. Although they remain underrepresented in politics, they have served at Haiti’s highest levels of government, including as a provisional president, prime ministers, Supreme Court justices, mayors, ambassadors, government ministers, parliamentarians, and leaders of political parties.
Excluding women from leadership roles thus deprives Haiti’s transition of crucial expertise.
Today, women are at the forefront of addressing Haiti’s gang conflict. Women-led organizations provide lifesaving humanitarian aid and are in close contact with the needs of those most impacted. Women leaders have also achieved rare victories in ending gang violence. Yvrose Pierre, the mayor of the northern port city of Cap-Haitien, joined forces with the National Police to aggressively tackle gangs—in part by demolishing structures on the city’s outskirts—and has maintained its continued stability.
Haitian women also bear the brunt of gang violence. Fighting remains characterized by brutal sexual violence, including gang rape, which predominantly targets women and girls. In the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Cité Soleil, according to a study published in May 2023, 80 percent of women reported having experienced gender-based violence, and the number of identified survivors has increased throughout 2024. Women are disproportionately affected by poverty, food insecurity, displacement, and lack of medical care caused by gang violence, as well as the decimation of public services.
There is a critical window of opportunity to identify and address these harms: If the needs of Haitian women are not accounted for within the unfolding leadership transition, it risks prolonging their suffering and exposure to violence.
There is a legacy of women’s leadership generating tangible gains for Haitian women, with women leading the establishment of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Rights, achieving the vote on the constitutional principle of a 30 percent quota for women’s participation in public service, and enabling the passage of legislation reclassifying rape as a crime and criminalizing trafficking for both sex and labor.
Women’s expertise will be an asset to achieving a just political transition and security for all Haitians, in addition to furthering the specific needs of women and girls. Cross-national research finds that women’s inclusion in peace negotiations strengthens the durability and quality of agreements reached, while greater gender equality is associated with more resilient democracies.
The current lack of female voting members on Haiti’s transitional council also raises the specter of impunity for gang members for widespread rape. Haitian gangs are pushing for greater inclusion in the political transition and amnesty to protect them from prosecution. The absence of women’s voices may lead officials to abandon accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes in the service of negotiation. Doing so would deny justice to victims, inhibit efforts to address socioeconomic vulnerabilities that fuel gender-based violence, and risk signaling that these violations are tolerable. In other cases, such as that of Peru or Colombia, such impunity and normalization have driven high rates of post-conflict violence against women and girls.
Yet there is hope. Haiti’s National Commission on Truth and Justice, established in 1995, was the country’s first commission to explicitly include sexual violence in its mandate. Although its impact was limited, its final report identified how sexual violence was weaponized against women and recommended enhanced legal protections against rape. This demonstrates that inclusion of sexual violence in present-day justice efforts is possible.
Tackling impunity and the underlying socioeconomic drivers of gender-based violence is even more urgent given the pending deployment of the Kenya-led mission. Although the intervention could help stabilize the country, past international interventions in Haiti have been marred by reports of sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by foreign troops, including U.N. peacekeepers—another gender dimension that Haiti’s interim leadership must consider and address.
A failure to recognize and condemn sexual violence by gang members could create an enabling environment for future abuse by other actors. Poverty is a significant underlying factor in sexual exploitation and abuse; taking steps now to support economic opportunities and job creation for women is a key part of prevention. With U.S. personnel already laying the groundwork for the international mission in Haiti, time is running out.
As a first step, the transitional council must seek to more meaningfully include women in its decision-making now. Doing so requires enhanced protection for women leaders from both online abuse and physical violence. UNESCO Ambassador Dominique Dupuy was initially named to be on the council but quickly stepped down due to harassment and death threats. On June 11, the new members of Conille’s cabinet were named; the appointment of two women—Ketleen Florestal and Dupuy—to head the finance and foreign affairs ministries, respectively, is an initial victory for women’s leadership.
Women and women’s organizations, including those in the Haitian diaspora, must also be central to the design and implementation of any transitional justice mechanisms. Strengthening relationships with other women-led organizations can help Haitian women learn from past experiences and best practices. Although implementation remains fraught, examples of gender-sensitive peace agreements, such as that of Colombia, could offer further insight into advocating for women’s comprehensive inclusion within negotiations.
Second, women leaders and organizations should use the current window to advocate for women’s rights and organize in advance of the establishment of a long-term government. For example, women’s organizations should encourage the transitional council to adopt legislation on the prevention, punishment, and elimination of violence against women, which was tabled by the Senate in 2018 but ultimately not enacted. The bill was introduced by Sen. Dieudonne Luma Étienne, the only woman in Haiti’s most recently elected Senate.
Women must also use this time to prepare to run in future elections and take on leadership roles in public service, including in the police, judiciary, and military. These efforts must be paired with a sincere push by the council to excise corruption. Research across 182 countries finds that women’s political inclusion is associated with greater development outcomes only when corruption levels are low.
Third, the transitional council and the newly appointed prime minister and cabinet must adopt a gender-responsive approach across relief and recovery efforts. Recognizing and pursuing accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes are vital to ending cycles of violence against women both during and after conflict. A gender-responsive approach is needed to minimize harm for Haitian women and girls who come forward in any consultation, investigation, or justice process, as well as to navigate complex cases in which women were forced or coerced into joining gangs.
Fourth, sexual and gender-based violence committed by gangs, including rape, must be addressed as a critical public security issue. The current crisis highlights how these violations are tools to sow instability, force displacement, and control territory. Ending sexual and gender-based violence is thus central to preventing the recurrence of future insecurity in Haiti. In fact, research in other conflict settings finds that a high rate of sexual violence—even when fighting among combatants has declined—is associated with a greater likelihood of resumed violence.
Ending these violations requires accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes and the elimination of the underlying inequalities that fuel this violence. Creating additional employment opportunities for women, strengthening and enforcing policy and legal protections from gender-based violence, and better integrating women into the justice system are starting points. But both interim actors and the next government must also prioritize long-term support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
For Haitian women, the stakes of the current political transition are enormous. This moment is an opportunity not only to achieve women’s immediate protection but also to enshrine their long-term rights, inclusion, and security. Harnessing women’s collective power is necessary to achieve a better future for all Haitians.
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