Source: United Nations (video statements)
Press Conference by Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, on her recent mission to Haiti.
Frazier said, “children in Haiti are facing levels of violence that no children anywhere should ever endure. Armed gangs terrorise communities and children are paying the highest price.”
She said, “I witnessed profound suffering for many children,” which left her “deeply concerned, but also profoundly moved by the resilience and courage of Haiti’s youngest generation.”
She said, “growing up means a daily struggle to survive, live in constant fear and be subject to intimidation, violence, family separation, displacement, and trauma, as gangs take advantage of the vulnerability of these children.
In 2025 alone, the Special Representative said, “the recruitment and use of children nearly tripled compared to previous years” and added that “it is estimated that more than half of gang members are children.”
Frazier said that in her meetings with Haitian government officials and its partners, she was reassured “that the protection of children is at the centre of their agenda,” and welcomed the government’s efforts “in taking concrete steps to protect children, including through the implementation of the handover protocol signed with the United Nations in 2024 to facilitate the transfer of children associated with gangs to child protection services.”
She said she had stressed “that children encountered during security operations must be treated first and foremost as victims.”
The Special Representative emphasised that “there is a window of opportunity now to do the right thing” as the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) deploys, and said, “security and child protection cannot be separated. Without protecting these children and supporting all children affected by violence, lasting stability in Haiti will not be possible.”
She said the special representative of the GSF had assured her that “protocols and systems were being put in place to protect children during operations and trained contingents pre and during deployment on child protection.”
Stressing the importance of economic activity for the implementation of training and reintegration programs, Frazier said, “you’re going to give vocational training. But then they come out of the reintegration program, and they don’t have anywhere where they can use this vocational training you gave them. What’s the point? Right. So, we need to work hand-in-hand with many agencies, in order to ensure child protection, fully.”
She said, “the economic part of it is very important. We need to create jobs”.