Children and women have become a “target” of gangs in Haiti and are increasingly involved in violent incidents that include killings, injuries, rapes and kidnappings, Unicef reported on Thursday.
United Nations data indicate that between September 2020 and February 2021 the number of children and women victims of armed attacks allegedly attributed to criminal gangs has increased significantly in Haiti, from 45 to 73 incidents, including killings, injuries, rapes and kidnappings.
“Boys and girls and women in Haiti are no longer simply victims of criminal gangs, they are increasingly becoming their targets,” warned the regional director of the United Nations Children’s Fund ( Unicef) for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jean Gough.
Just a few days ago, the UN agency said, gunmen broke into an orphanage and raped two girls, aged 13 and 14, and a 27-year-old woman in the Haitian capital of Port-au -Prince.
The incident left 36 children traumatized, Unicef said, which, along with the Haitian child protection authority IBESR and several partner NGOs, provided immediate medical and psychosocial care to the victims and other minors in the orphanage.
“Unicef strongly condemns this despicable act of violence, demands that the perpetrators appear in court and urges the Haitian authorities to redouble their efforts to establish alternative family care options instead of orphanages,” he said. the United Nations.
He also urged “all actors to refrain from attacking children, adolescents and women,” and called on the new Haitian government to take steps to curb gang violence against children and girls “.
THE COLLES “ARE EXTENDING THEIR KINGDOM OF TERROR”
Gough denounced that “week after week, criminal gangs in Haiti are expanding their realm of terror and fear into more families and more communities.”
Unicef explained that during the 2019-2020 school year, about 60% of all Haitian schools were closed for 60 days due to violent social unrest.
This 2021, “the growing violence and insecurity of gangs prevented many boys and girls from going to classrooms in various urban areas of Port-au-Prince and its environs.”
“Gang violence needs to be stopped,” Gough said, and reiterated that “maintaining the safety of boys and girls should be one of the top priorities of the new Haitian government.”
CRISIS IN HAITI
Haiti’s new prime minister, Claude Joseph, was sworn in on Wednesday hours following the resignation of his predecessor, Joseph Jouthe.
Joseph, who was the Foreign Minister, was invested without being voted by Parliament, a procedure required by the Constitution, due to the fact that the Legislature is closed from January 2020 -for the postponement of the elections scheduled for 2019- and since then President Jovenel Moise has ruled by decree.
Haiti is experiencing a new crisis that includes an open confrontation between Moise and the opposition, which demands its exit, as well as a situation of insecurity such that armed gangs dominate areas of Port-au-Prince, while the increase in kidnappings to demand ransom is greater.