‘Unprecedented’ number of children on the run in Haiti

The number of children displaced by violence in Haiti has almost doubled in the past year, with 680,000 now uprooted from their homes, a new UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Child Alert report found.

An alarming 3.3 million children — the highest number on record — are now in need of humanitarian assistance and cases of acute malnutrition, child recruitment, gender-based violence and other children’s rights violations are on the rise.

“Children in Haiti are being displaced at a distressing pace and scale,” said UNICEF chief Catherine Russell. “Each time they are forced to flee, they lose not only their homes but also their chance to go to school, to be safe, and to simply be children.”

‘Unprecedented’ displacement

Decades of shocks from deadly earthquakes to political fragility and economic chaos have led to one of the world’s most complex humanitarian emergencies in Haiti.

Armed gangs now control over 85 per cent of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as key roads, cutting families off from food, healthcare, protection and forcing them to flee.

More than 2.7 million people, 1.6 million of whom are women and children, are estimated to be living under the control of armed groups. The report warns that the scale of displacement is unprecedented as the number of refuge sites has soared to 246 nationwide in the first half of this year alone.

Education under siege

In Port- au-Prince and surrounding areas, classrooms have become targets and shelters. More than 1,600 schools were closed while 25 were occupied by gangs, depriving many thousands of students the opportunity to learn.

An additional barrier alongside gang violence and school closures is the cost of education. Only 15 to 20 per cent of schools are public, and even those still require families to pay for textbooks and uniforms, according to the report.

A call for action

UNICEF has treated over 86,000 children with wasting – a life-threatening form of malnutrition – and is providing healthcare to 117,000 people, reaching 140,000 people with safe water, among other actions.

Yet the agency’s work remains severely underfunded and without an immediate injection of resources, critical programmes will be severely constrained, the agency says.

“The children of Haiti cannot wait,” warned Ms Russell. “Like every child, they deserve a chance to be safe, healthy and to live in peace. It is up to us to take action for Haiti’s children now.”

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