According to the United Nations, the recruitment and use of children will almost triple in 2025 compared to the previous year. Children now represent between 30% and 50% of the members of these gangs. At the same time, cases of children killed or mutilated have almost doubled, while sexual violence against minors remains widespread.
Continuous cycle of violence
Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
“Growing up means struggling every day to survive, living in constant fear and being subjected to intimidation, displacement, violence and trauma,” Frazier said, referring to children locked in an “unending cycle of violence.”
During her mission, the UN official met the head of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), Carlos Ruiz Massieu, as well as the Representative of UNICEF in Haiti, Geeta Narayan. She also met with Haitian officials, the Special Representative of the Gang Suppression Force, representatives of civil society, international donors and children affected by violence.
Ms. Frazier welcomed the efforts of the Haitian government to place child protection at the heart of its security priorities, particularly through the implementation of the transfer protocol signed with the UN in 2024. This mechanism provides that children under 18 encountered during security operations are considered primarily as victims and quickly handed over to child protection services.
Visiting an overcrowded detention center in Port-au-Prince, she recalled that the detention of minors must remain a measure of last resort, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Paris Principles to which Haiti has adhered.
Importance de la réintégration
The UN official also insisted on the importance of the reintegration of children who have left armed gangs. She visited several transit centers supported by UNICEF, where minors benefit from support before returning to their families and communities.
“Every child I spoke with told me one thing: they want to go to school, play, learn and, above all, just be children,” she said.
For Ms. Frazier, the protection of children remains inseparable from the lasting return to stability in Haiti.
