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<\/p>\n
Children now constitute around half of the gang members who have taken de facto control of large swathes of the country,\u00a0Vanessa Frazier told journalists at UN Headquarters, following her first fact-finding mission to the Caribbean island nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some 18,000 schools are reported destroyed, damaged or non-functional.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, children in Haiti are facing levels of violence that no child, anywhere,\u00a0should ever endure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a country where gang violence has led to widespread disorder for many years, Ms. Frazier said growing up in Haiti means a \u201cdaily struggle to survive, live in constant fear, and be subject to intimidation, violence, family separation, displacement, and trauma<\/strong> as gangs take advantage of the vulnerability of these children.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2025 alone, the recruitment and use of children nearly tripled.<\/strong><\/p>\n At the same time, killing, maiming and abductions of children almost doubled, with sexual violence also rampant and increasingly used as a deliberate tactic<\/strong> to instil fear and punish communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>The Haitian Government and its partners reassured me that the protection of\u00a0children is at the centre of their agenda,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n One major development is the implementation of the handover protocol signed with the UN in 2024 to facilitate the transfer of children associated with gangs, to child protection services.\u00a0<\/p>\n For children who may have committed serious crimes, Ms. Frazier said, international juvenile justice standards apply, with detention only as a last resort.<\/p>\n \u201cI stressed in all my meetings that children encountered during security operations must be treated first and foremost as victims<\/strong>,\u201d Ms. Frazier said. \u201cThey must be swiftly handed over to child protection services for care, protection, and reintegration.\u201d<\/p>\n However, she warned that this principle was not always being followed by authorities, and called for change.\u00a0<\/p>\n At an overcrowded detention facility in Port-au-Prince called CERMICOL, Ms. Frazier said 80 children have been held for many years in \u201cdisastrous conditions, without charges, including many on suspicion of association with gangs. None has ever been seen by a judge<\/strong>. Most do not receive visits from their families. They are on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n Ahead of the launch on 1 June of the Security Council-mandated Gang Suppression Force (GSF) operation, Ms. Frazier called on authorities to end the mistreatment and release the children being held \u201cas per the handover protocol.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to emphasise that there is a window of opportunity now to do the right\u00a0thing as the GSF deploys<\/strong>. Security and child protection cannot be separated,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Efforts that focus on long-term reintegration outcomes for children are also being ramped up, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and Les Cayes, where a facility is being renovated to receive up to 600 children separated from the gangs.<\/p>\n The broader humanitarian and protection crisis is compounding children\u2019s suffering. Many live in areas fully controlled by armed gangs, cut off from school, healthcare, and basic protection services.\u00a0<\/p>\n They told me they want only one thing: to go to school, to play, to learn, and simply to be children again<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI was informed that 18,000 schools were either destroyed, damaged or non-functional because of the gangs,\u201d she said, creating conditions that isolate children and dramatically increase their vulnerability to recruitment, exploitation and abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n Military use of schools and hospitals also surged sharply<\/strong>, highlighting a sharply deteriorating protection environment.<\/p>\n \u201cNo child should have to grow up in such conditions,\u201d Ms. Frazier said.<\/p>\n \u201cI met young children and adolescents who were already in a situation of vulnerability within their own homes and had gone through an uninterrupted cycle of violence inside and outside their homes,\u201d Ms. Frazier said.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Ms. Frazier also said that while heartbreaking, the children\u2019s testimonies were full of hope.\u00a0<\/p>\nChildren are victims<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Window of opportunity\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Broader humanitarian crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Hope, despite \u2018uninterrupted cycle of violence\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n