PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the number of children being recruited into armed groups across Haiti has increased by 70 per cent over the past year. It said the unprecedented spike also reveals the alarming deterioration of child protection amid escalating violence in the Caribbean nation.

According to the latest estimates, children now comprise up to half of all armed group members, with recruitment driven by widespread poverty, lack of education and collapse of essential services.

“Children in Haiti are trapped in a vicious cycle – recruited into the very armed groups that are fuelling their desperation, and the numbers are growing,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, noting that “chaos and horror have become part of daily life”.

The situation in the capital, Port-au-Prince, is significantly alarming, with 1.2 million children living under constant threat of armed violence. An estimated 25 per cent of all 703,000 internally displaced persons are children, living under dire conditions and exposed to multiple threats.

The deteriorating security situation has led to a sharp rise in violence against Haiti’s most vulnerable populations. Sexual violence and rape have become rampant, with reports from the Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict indicating a tenfold increase in children exposed to sexual violence this year alone.

This year, UNICEF provided support services, including psychosocial support and community sensitization to over 25,000 people affected by sexual and gender-based violence in 2024.

In response to the protection crisis facing children recruited by armed groups or at risk of recruitment, UNICEF has implemented several initiatives including training security forces and civil society organisations on child protection measures.

They also provide care for former child soldiers, along with psychosocial support and family reunification services.

UNICEF is calling on all parties in Haiti to prioritise child protection, support the immediate release of recruited children and ensure their rights are central to any agreements.

“Children in many parts of Haiti are subjected to atrocities no child should ever have to experience,” Russell said, adding that it “leaves them with psychological and emotional scars that might haunt them for a lifetime”.