UNICEF: 70% increase in recruitment of children in Haiti
The number of children in Haiti recruited by armed groups has jumped 70 percent over the past year, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned Sunday, with nearly half of the gang members now made up of children.
Decades of political instability have plagued Haiti, but over the last few months, there has been an uptick in violence in the Caribbean country, with gangs controlling 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince.
The unprecedented spike, registered between the second quarters of 2023 and 2024 points to a worsening protection crisis for children in this violence-plagued Caribbean Island, UNICEF said in a statement.
The recent surge in child recruitments has been fueled by an increase in violence, a widespread poverty rate, a lack of education system, and a near collapse of critical infrastructure.
“It is a mystery how the poor trapped children will get out of the vicious cycle,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in the statement, ” The numbers are rapidly growing.
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