Children Enduring Record Levels of Forced Recruitment, Sexual Abuse, Hunger
Amid relentless armed violence, collapsing schools and hospitals, and a worsening humanitarian crisis leaving millions at risk, the UN Chief warned the Security Council today that Haiti faces a “perfect storm of suffering”, with children enduring unprecedented levels of forced recruitment, sexual violence and hunger.
“Civilians [in Haiti] are under siege,” said Secretary-General António Guterres, stressing that State authority is crumbling as gang violence engulfs Port-au-Prince and spreads beyond — paralysing daily life and forcing 1.3 million people to flee. Reports detail rape and sexual violence, repeated attacks on hospitals and schools, and the collapse of the rule of law. With 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, Haiti ranks among the five global hunger hotspots of “highest concern”.
Aid workers, especially local responders, face threats of violence, extortion and kidnapping. Despite the danger, they continue delivering food, water, medicine and shelter — reaching 1.3 million people in the first quarter of this year alone. “Yet, Haiti remains shamefully overlooked and woefully underfunded”, he stressed, noting that $908 million is required in 2025 to support 3.9 million people, yet less than 10 per cent has been received — making Haiti the least-funded humanitarian appeal worldwide. “This is not a funding gap. It is a life-and-death emergency,” he asserted, urging donors to act before lifesaving operations grind to a halt.
Citing his annual report on children and armed conflict, he said Haiti ranked among the top five countries for grave violations against children in 2024: the UN verified 2,269 such violations against 1,373 children — nearly five times more than the previous year. Children are being abducted, killed, recruited and subjected to horrific sexual violence, including gang rape. “These are crimes that scar bodies, minds and futures,” he said. With basic services collapsing and mass displacement worsening, children are left without education, healthcare, or safety.
The 2024 Handover Protocol between the UN and Haiti’s Government is “an important step” towards protecting children detained for alleged association with armed groups, he said. However, he warned of the growing threat posed by so-called community self-defence groups — some aligned with police forces — implicated in grave violations, including the summary execution of children. He urged all authorities to implement the Handover Protocol nationwide.
While the political situation remains fragile, there are “emerging signals of hope”, including increased cooperation between the President of the Transitional Presidential Council and the Prime Minister, who are leading consultations to advance the political process. Coordinated international security support, he stressed, is essential to bolster national efforts, protect civilians and create conditions for a return to the rule of law and credible, inclusive elections.
Welcoming efforts to advance his proposal to strengthen the Multinational Security Support mission through UN logistical and operational support, he urged the Council to swiftly authorize an international force with UN backing and predictable financing. Security measures, he emphasized, “must go hand-in-hand with increased pressure on those fuelling the violence” through an effective arms embargo and targeted sanctions against gang leaders, financiers and arms traffickers.
“With unity inside the country, and resolve from this Council, the Haitian people can emerge from the perfect storm, begin to turn hardship into hope, and reclaim their future,” he concluded.
UN Children’s Fund Still Delivering Lifesaving Aid Despite Obstacles
Presenting a detailed briefing on the grave and widespread violations of children’s rights, Catherine Russell, Executive Director, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said: “Haiti’s children continue to endure unimaginable suffering amidst the brutal armed violence.” The recruitment and use of children by armed groups is rampant, she stressed, estimating that children currently account for a staggering 50 per cent of the armed groups’ members. Children are being forced into combat roles, directly participating in armed confrontations, and subjected to appalling sexual violence that has reached “unprecedented levels”.
In 2024, reported cases of sexual violence against children rose by 1,000 per cent over 2023, she noted, with over a quarter involving gang rapes. “This constitutes a widespread campaign to terrorize communities and inflict lasting physical and psychological trauma on children,” she said, emphasizing that girls account for most victims and survivors.
Amid this devastating reality, UNICEF and partners are being denied access to deliver humanitarian assistance. Armed groups, she said, are preventing aid from reaching the 1.6 million children and women in areas under their control. Last month, six UNICEF staff members were taken hostage during a lifesaving mission — although later released, the incident highlights the dangers humanitarian workers face.
Despite these obstacles, UNICEF continues to deliver lifesaving aid. So far this year, together with partners, it has treated 21,000 children for severe wasting, provided healthcare to 117,000 people and ensured access to safe water for 140,000. “Today, I ask all Members of this Council to use all available leverage to protect children and to support concrete actions to prevent further violations,” she said.
Silent Condemnation of Entire Generation of Children
The Council then heard from Jean Jean Roosevelt, a musician and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, who stated that “armed violence is tearing Haiti apart like a broken guitar whose strings produce nothing but tears and cries”. With armed groups taking over entire neighbourhoods, “children now live in a symphony of fear; every alleyway turned into a dissonant note”.
These children, he said, pay the heaviest price: forcibly recruited, abused, and used as cannon fodder, as though their youth no longer held any value. “Schools, once sanctuaries, have become minefields”, he added, with classrooms destroyed or turned into shelters for displaced families.
Calling this reality “a silent condemnation of an entire generation”, he noted that over 1.5 million children lack regular access to education; 3.3 million — two out of three — depend on humanitarian aid; and 129,000 risk dying of hunger this year. “Behind these figures that we repeat aloud over and over, there is a face, a name, a fragile dream: perhaps that of a little girl who wanted to be a doctor or that of a boy who dreamed of playing the drum at carnival,” he said. However, “these dreams are now suspended and suffocated”.
“Let us act so that Haiti may once again have schools, hospitals, and safe spaces; so that children no longer live in fear, but in the promise of tomorrow”, he urged. Addressing the Council, he pledged: “The children of Haiti have sounded the alarm, raising a cry of urgency. Will you continue to answer it? For the time to come to their aid is not tomorrow, nor the day after… it is now.”
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