UNICEF warns that the recruitment of children by armed groups in Haiti tripled last year

Puerto Rico.— The recruitment of children by armed groups in Haiti tripled last year as poverty and violence deepen in the troubled Caribbean country, according to a new report by UNICEF published on Thursday. The increase occurs while gang violence displaces a record 1.4 million people in Haiti, more than half of them children who, according to experts, are exposed and vulnerable. "The magnitude of the increase is certainly a surprise," said Geeta Narayan, UNICEF representative in Haiti. "It's devastating." The United Nations estimates that between 30% and 50% of members of armed groups are children, and some of them are recruited from as young as 9 years old, she said in a telephone interview.

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"The smaller the child, the more they can be controlled," he said. "They have less ability to defend themselves, to be disruptive... They can be forced to do horrible things." The UN Secretary-General is expected to provide a breakdown of how many children were recruited last year in his annual report on Haiti in the coming months. The gangs that control approximately 90% of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as strips of land in the central region of the country, have become very dependent on children, experts said. Children generally act as spies, carry ammunition and weapons, and are often tasked with watching kidnapped people, Narayan said. Meanwhile, girls often face sexual violence and are assigned domestic tasks, such as cooking and washing clothes. "In many cases, the child or the family receives some kind of payment," he said. Previous UN reports have stated that payments can range from $30 per week to several hundred dollars per month. Narayan pointed out that sometimes families are paid to give up a child and noted that they have no other option given the extreme poverty of the country. More than 60% of the nearly 12 million inhabitants of Haiti live on less than $4 a day, and hundreds of thousands of Haitians suffer from hunger or are on the verge of starvation. Meanwhile, gang violence forced the closure of more than 1,600 schools last year, with armed men occupying more than two dozen of them, affecting more than 243,000 students. In total, almost half a million children have had their education disrupted due to the persistence of violence, according to UNICEF. Narayan added that UNICEF has received anecdotal reports that children in armed groups are drugged and develop an addiction. "That makes the child even more dependent on the armed group," said Narayan, adding that these groups can be attractive to minors. "There is no alternative for these children. The armed group offers them weapons, power, food and identity."

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Around 500 children who used to be gang members have escaped or been arrested by authorities during operations in recent years, but reintegrating them is difficult, experts say. Currently, UNICEF helps these children by placing them in a safe place where they receive medical attention for possible injuries or drug addiction, and then they meet with counselors and social workers who try to contact their families. "Children associated with armed groups should not be treated as perpetrators," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement. Much of the success of reintegration depends on the child's age and gender, when they joined an armed group, and when they were released, Narayan said. Other factors include whether their family or community wants them back. "In some cases, there has been a breakdown," she said. "There is so much stigma associated that they don't want to get the child back." Some of the most difficult cases are those of older teenagers, Narayan said. "If you have an 18-year-old who has been in armed groups for five years, that young person is not going to go back to school," he said, adding that Haiti needs learning or vocational training options, and that UNICEF needs up to $30 million to reach every child.

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Narayan said he hopes that more children will be helped as the current UN-backed and Kenyan police-led mission, which lacked sufficient personnel and funding, transforms in the coming months into a so-called gang suppression force, which will have more power. He pointed out that the current prime minister and other government officials are also committed to freeing the children and reintegrating them. "There is political will at the highest level," he said. "It is essential that we seize this opportunity."