Officials say that the scale of the gang violence has reached unprecedented levels.
Heavily armed rival gangs began clashing and seizing territory in Port-au-Prince with new intensity in late April, forcing more than 16,800 people, including children, to abandon their homes and shelter in temporary accommodation. The flare in violence has spilled into dozens of neighborhoods, with hundreds of families caught in the crossfire.
" Testimonies collected and cited by Bachelet included beheadings, chopping and burning of bodies, and the killing of minors accused of being informants for rival gangs. Gangs have also gang-raped children as young as 10, a tactic used to punish people living in areas under rival control, Bachelet said.The clashes have forced 11 medical centers and at least 442 schools to close -- with some burned down and burgled.