Haiti, a chronic and forgotten emergency
Haiti is experiencing an unprecedented crisis. It is a confluence of overlapping crises and a combination of threats that endanger the safety and well-being of children more than ever before: armed violence, forced displacement of the population, and the collapse of basic services in a context of extreme poverty. Added to this are the natural disasters to which the country is prone, further weakening its already fragile infrastructure and its capacity for reconstruction.
The situation has worsened over the past couple of years with the intensification of armed groups that now occupy the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are spreading terror to other departments in the central and northern parts of the country. The escalation of violence in recent months has led to a surge in displaced persons, reaching 1.4 million in a country of 11.8 million. More than half are children, a figure that has doubled in the last year and is the highest recorded to date. These are children who not only flee their homes, but also leave behind their neighborhoods, their schools, and their friends and families, driven into absolute insecurity. Imagine the impact this has on a child's life.
Families leave out of fear of violence and kidnappings, settling in makeshift camps in schools and public buildings, or with relatives in safer areas. It is estimated that there are already more than 246 of these camps, which are not permanent because people are constantly moving to new locations due to pressure from armed groups. When a school becomes a shelter, it means that educational activity is interrupted. Last year, 1,600 schools closed: either abandoned because they were located in dangerous areas, or because they were occupied by gangs or displaced people. This meant that 250,000 children lost access to education.
Two years ago, one of these shelters was a secondary school. Now, 8,000 people live crammed into what used to be classrooms, in spaces divided by tarpaulins and plastic sheeting, without privacy and in precarious conditions, where humanitarian aid organizations struggle to provide clean water and medical care through mobile clinics. Obviously, these are places that lack protective measures and leave children and women highly exposed and at risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse.
The effects of displacement are devastating in humanitarian terms, but one of the worst consequences of armed violence is the recruitment of children, a practice that seems to have no end. UNICEF estimates that between 30% and 50% of members of armed groups are under 18 years old, who may be forcibly recruited, driven by desperation or manipulation, or simply because they are immersed in the same environment of violence. Once recruited, they are used as lookouts or messengers during their initiation.
For UNICEF, demobilizing and reintegrating children linked to armed groups is a priority. In one of the reception centers, where it is surprising to find young children, a team of therapists and educators attends to boys, and also some girls, and provides them with psychosocial support to help them overcome the violence and abuse they have suffered during their time with the gangs. Jean, 15, arrived at the center four months ago. He had acted as an informant and had seen other children carrying and using weapons. Now, all he wants is to return to his family and go back to school. In fact, the center traces families to try to reunite them. But it's not an easy task: sometimes they are not accepted, precisely because of their involvement with an armed group, especially in the case of girls with children, even if the children were conceived through rape.
The violence and the blockage of basic services and humanitarian routes also have serious health consequences: half of Haiti's population suffers from acute food insecurity—1.2 million of whom are children under 5—while more than a million need clean water and sanitation services.
The priority now in Haiti is saving lives and mitigating the effects of violence. The lack of resources and insecurity hinder humanitarian assistance, with children paying the price for increasingly reduced budgets. Without sufficient funding, it will be necessary to choose, limit interventions, and make difficult decisions to formulate lasting responses and solutions in a volatile and complex environment like this.
