JamzNG Latest News, Gist, Entertainment in Nigeria
Children now make up half of the gangs that have de facto taken over large parts of the country. Vanessa Frazier told journalists at UN Headquarters, after his first fact-finding mission to the Caribbean island nation.
Around 18,000 schools were reported destroyed, damaged or non-functional.
“Today, children in Haiti face levels of violence that no child anywhere should experience,” he said.
In a country where gang violence has caused widespread chaos for years, Ms. Frazier said growing up in Haiti meant “daily struggle for survival, living in constant fear, and being subjected to intimidation, violence, family separation, displacement, and trauma when gangs take advantage of these children’s vulnerabilities.”
In 2025 alone, recruitment and use of children nearly tripled.
At the same time, the killing, maiming and abduction of children has almost doubled Sexual violence is also rampant and increasingly used as a deliberate tactic to instill fear and punish society.
Children are victims
““The Haitian government and its partners assured me that protecting children is at the top of their agenda,” he said.
One major development is the implementation of a handover protocol signed with the UN in 2024 to facilitate the transfer of gang-linked children to child protection services.
For children who may have committed serious crimes, Frazier said, international juvenile justice standards apply, with detention only as a last resort.
“I emphasize that in all my meetings children encountered during security operations must first and foremost be treated as victimsMs. Frazier said. “They must be immediately handed over to child protective services for care, protection and reintegration.”
However, he warned that this principle was not always followed by authorities, and called for change.
At an overcrowded detention facility in Port-au-Prince called CERMICOL, Ms. Frazier said 80 children have been detained over the years in “Very poor conditions, no charges, including many suspected of being connected to gangs. Nothing the judge ever saw. Most of them do not receive visits from their families. They are alone.”
‘Window of opportunity’
Ahead of the launch on June 1 Security Council-mandated Gang Suppression Force (GSF) operations, Ms. Frazier called on authorities to end the abuse and release the detained children “according to handover protocols.”
“I want to emphasize that there is an opportunity now to do the right thing as the GSF is implemented. “Children’s safety and protection cannot be separated,” he said.
Efforts focused on long-term reintegration outcomes for children are also being stepped up, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and Les Cayes, where a facility is being renovated to house up to 600 children separated from gangs.
Wider humanitarian crisis
The broader humanitarian and protection crisis adds to children’s suffering. Many live in areas completely controlled by armed gangs, cut off from schools, healthcare and basic protective services.
They told me they only wanted one thing: to go to school, play, learn, and be kids again
“I was told that 18,000 schools were destroyed, damaged or dysfunctional because of the gangs,” he said, creating conditions that isolate children and dramatically increase their vulnerability to recruitment, exploitation and abuse.
Military use of schools and hospitals also increased sharplyhighlighting a sharply deteriorating protection environment.
“No child should grow up in these conditions,” Frazier said.
Hope, despite ‘unbroken cycle of violence’
“I met young children and teenagers who were in vulnerable situations within their own homes and had experienced an unbroken cycle of violence inside and outside their homes,” Frazier said.
However, Ms. Frazier also said that although heartbreaking, the children’s testimonies were full of hope.
“They told me they only wanted one thing: to go to school, play, learn, and be kids again. Even in the darkest times, Haitian children continue to show extraordinary resilience. They deserve more than just survival – they deserve the opportunity to grow, dream, and reclaim their childhood.”
He said he was “deeply moved by the resilience and courage of Haiti’s young generation.”
