UN report details sexual abuse investigations involving foreign forces in Haiti
By Max Saltman, Caitlin Stephen Hu, Hira Humayun, CNN
(CNN) — A United Nations report from February details four sexual abuse investigations, one involving a 12-year-old child, that implicate members of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) forces, a Kenyan-led and US-backed military mission to combat gang violence in Haiti.
“In 2025, the United Nations received four allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse involving personnel from the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti,” the report says.
“All the allegations were found to be substantiated by investigations conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.”
Three of the victims were children who were allegedly raped. A fourth victim, who allegedly suffered sexual violence, was 18-years-old.
The UN report states that the cases were referred to the MSS and its successor organization, the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), for “appropriate investigation and remedial measures.” CNN has reached out to the spokesperson for the MSS for comment.
The MSS was transitioned last year into the GSF, with a broader mandate to combat armed groups in the country. The news comes days after Chadian soldiers with the GSF arrived in the country on Wednesday.
The allegations were first reported by the Haitian newspaper Ayibo Post.
Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, told CNN that the report “has been shared with the Gang Suppression Force,” emphasizing that the mission is not under UN supervision.
“Four cases is four too many,” William O’Neill, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Designated Expert on Haiti, told CNN.
“There must be independent investigations followed by prosecutions if the evidence is there. Maximum transparency and no impunity. And justice for the victims,” he said.
The document indicates that all four cases were investigated by the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with the case involving the 12-year-old investigated internally by the MSS.
The report adds another bitter note to the MSS mission, which struggled for a year to support local police’s response to an epidemic of gang violence before ending in October 2025.
Haiti was plunged into crisis in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated President Jovenel Moise. Gangs have since seized control of much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, leading then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to request international military support in 2022.
The MSS mission was widely perceived as a failure, with funding shortfalls and a lack of personnel. Gangs have continued to kidnap, kill and displace Haitian civilians. In the first five months of 2024, 2,680 people were killed and more than 1.3 million forced from their homes, according to UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk.
“Nothing has changed,” said Réginald Fils-Aimé, a Haitian doctor with Zanmi Lasante, Haiti’s largest non-governmental healthcare provider. The group was forced to shutter several hospitals due to violence. Gangs control significant supply routes, disrupting access to medicine and equipment.
The report is not the first instance of misconduct lodged against international peacekeeping personnel in Haiti. CNN previously reported that UN peacekeepers sent to Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake fathered and abandoned dozens of children with Haitian women.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
