Since the murder of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gang violence has impregnated Prince Port-Au Capital and has expanded to other regions, displacing more than one million people.
The International Organization for Migration (IIM) estimates that more than half of those displaced are children, which means that one in eight Haitian children has been uprooted in recent years.
Children on the first line
Such displacement puts an already vulnerable population at risk, increasing its possibilities of malnutrition, sexual violence and abuse. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has documented a 1,000 percent increase in sexual violence against children between 2023 and 2024.
Continuous displacement also puts children at risk of being recruited by gang; It is already estimated that they represent 50 percent of all gangs in Haiti.
Ocha said that the shocking death of a six-year-old girl on May 3 after she was brutally violated in a temporary displacement site in Port-Au-Prince was a marked reminder of the extreme dangers faced by children who live in highly precarious conditions.
“This intolerable act shakes our conscience,” said UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti, Ulrika Richardson, in a statement.
“No child should endure such violence. We hope justice is served.”
‘We can’t look the other way’
Despite the increase in challenges to provide help in Haiti, UN humanitarian couples have intensified efforts to support survivors of sexual violence in the affected regions.
In recent months, more than 6,000 people, many of whom are women and children, have received psychosocial attention. In addition, 745 dignity kits have been distributed and 600 people have been reached by a growing number of mobile care clinics.
The partners are also implementing legal, medical and socioeconomic services of reintegration.
However, the ability of UN agencies and partners to continue distributing this help is affected by severe sub -financing. Only in relation to gender violence, the UN has only received five percent of the $ 11 million necessary to continue providing services to save lives.
Mrs. Richardson confirmed the UN commitment to children in Haiti.
“We can’t look the other way,” he said. “The suffering of the children of Haiti is a call to our collective humanity. Acting together, in a coordinated and determined way, is more necessary than ever to protect civilians and ensure displacement sites.”
Deported migrants pass the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti in Ouanaminthe.
Deported pregnant women
The UN humanitarians in Haiti have also expressed a deep concern about the growing number of pregnant women and amamanta deportees of the neighboring Dominican Republic, in violation of international standards.
During the last month, approximately 30 pregnant or breastfed women have been treated in humanitarian centers on the Haitian border.
“These expulsions raise serious humanitarian and human rights concerns, particularly when they involve pregnant women or mothers with very young children,” Richardson said.
Deportations are part of a greater increase that witnessed more than 20,000 deportations of the Dominican Republic alone in April, the highest number registered.
The UN team in Haiti requested regional solidarity and migratory policies that defend human dignity.