A new UNICEF report released yesterday says the recruitment of children by armed groups in Haiti tripled last year as poverty and violence deepened across the troubled Caribbean country. The surge comes as gang violence displaces a record 1.4 million people across Haiti, more than half of them children, whom experts say are left exposed and vulnerable.
UNICEF’s representative in Haiti, Geeta Narayan said the United Nations estimates that 30 per cent to 50 per cent of members of armed groups are children, with some as young as 9 years old being recruited. She described it as devastating.
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 upcoming months.
