A group of women and children cook and chat in a displacement shelter in Léogâne. Credit: UNICEF/Maxime Le Lijour
By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 3 2024 (IPS)
As a result of the ongoing hostilities from gang violence in Haiti, children continue to bear the brunt of the humanitarian crisis. Armed gangs have committed various human rights violations, many of which compound issues surrounding food insecurity, displacement, and social instability for millions of children in Haiti. Children have also lost their access to education and continue to be recruited into gangs. It is crucial for the international community to prioritize the multifaceted crisis facing Haitian children in order to avoid losing an entire generation to violence.
According to the latest estimates from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), more than 1.3 million children have been affected by gang violence over the course of this crisis. More than 700,000 people have been displaced, with over 50 percent of that population being children. These figures are predicted to have increased in the recent weeks due to the intensification of violence across capital city Port-Au-Prince and its surrounding areas.
On December 2, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held a special meeting at UN Headquarters to discuss the deepening social insecurity that is unfolding in Haiti and how children have been hit the hardest. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell addressed the council to stress the urgency of the current situation.
“Armed groups are regularly committing grave rights violations against children, including killing and maiming. So far this year, we have seen a staggering one-thousand percent increase in reported incidents of sexual violence against children,” said Russell.
Due to accelerating violence, particularly in the capital, access to education for thousands of children has been greatly compromised. According to Russell, over 1.5 million children have lost access to education. Additionally, armed groups are actively recruiting children for use in gang operations. Current estimates indicate that 50 percent of all gang members in Haiti are children, marking a 70 percent increase in child recruitment over the past year. These children are being used as cooks, informants, and sex slaves, with many forced to commit violent acts themselves.
María Isabel Salvador, Head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) adds, “Across Haiti, gang violence has turned schools into battlegrounds, disrupted healthcare, and left thousands of children malnourished and traumatized. Alarmingly, children are increasingly being recruited into gangs, robbing them of their innocence and turning them into tools of violence.”
Across Haiti, approximately 5.5 million people, including 3 million children, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance. According to the latest statement released by the World Food Programme (WFP), more than 700,000 people, including 365,000 children, are internally displaced and living in overcrowded shelters. Additional data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) suggests that one-in-two Haitians do not have enough to eat, with roughly two million people facing emergency levels of hunger. At least 6,000 internally displaced Haitians are facing catastrophic hunger, which is the most severe form.
“Food security and the nutrition situation continues to be a challenge. The highest levels (of hunger) were reported this year, with a record level of 5.4 million people being acutely food insecure, which is close to half of the population in Haiti. Half of that number is children. 125,000 children are acutely malnourished,” said Wanja Kaaria, Representative for WFP.
Additionally, the collapse of the healthcare and water sanitation systems continues to put the lives of children and families in Haiti in grave danger. This has given way to the rampant spread of illness and infectious disease, with cholera being a major concern.
According to a statement from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), it is estimated that there are “87,616 total suspected cases, 4,858 confirmed cases, 85,071 hospitalized cases, 1005 institutional deaths and 314 community deaths.” Much of these cases are attributed to the dwindling supply of clean water, failing water systems that have been damaged from ongoing hostilities, and a severely strained healthcare system due to an influx of injured persons.
Haitians continue to face medical emergencies and deaths caused by gang violence, with limited access to healthcare. Since the escalation of violence in Port-Au-Prince began on November 11, medical facilities have been greatly overwhelmed by the sheer scale of needs. According to PAHO, the volatile and unpredictable security situation in the capital has created significant difficulties in accessing medical services for patients with chronic illnesses and pregnant women, leading to an increase in dire medical emergencies and complications.
“Hundreds of thousands of children and families living in besieged communities are largely cut off from humanitarian aid,” stated Russell in the recent ECOSOC conference. This is largely due to persisting access challenges caused by social insecurity. Despite these issues, the United Nations is on the frontlines of this crisis, distributing essential resources to affected communities.
With conditions continuously deteriorating, it is urgent that humanitarian responses are scaled up. The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Haiti is currently only 43 percent funded. The UN urges member states and donors to contribute to meet the growing needs.
IPS UN Bureau Report
