Almost three million children ‘desperately need protection and support’ in Haiti
(United Nations News) Nearly three million children, the highest number on record, need humanitarian support in Haiti, where they face staggering levels of violence that have exacerbated hunger and malnutrition in a country already mired in poverty and a resurgence of deadly cholera.
“Being a child in Haiti today is harsher and more dangerous than it ever has been in living memory. The threats and hardships children face are simply unimaginable. They desperately need protection and support,” said UNICEF Haiti Representative Bruno Maes.
Children find themselves in the crossfire, or directly targeted, as armed groups terrorize the population in their fight for territory and control, mainly in the capital Port-au-Prince, and increasingly in the neighbouring Artibonite region, said UNICEF.
Children are being killed or injured on their way to school while women and girls face extreme sexual violence, the agency noted. Kidnappings for ransom have skyrocketed, as have attacks on schools. Tens of thousands have been displaced by the violence.
Read more at: United Nations News
Source: CARICOM TODAY