A rights watchdog has said that Haitian gangs are increasingly recruiting children, amid the country’s humanitarian crisis.

Human Rights Watch says hundreds, if not thousands of children, have joined gangs in recent months, driven by hunger and poverty.

They are reportedly being forced to commit crimes ranging from extortion and looting to killing and kidnapping.

HRW added that girls are being sexually abused and forced into domestic work.

In Haiti, violence has been escalating since February when gangs launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions across the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Now, the United Nations says the unrest has displaced more than 700,000 people.