In Haiti, schools have traditionally been considered respected safe zones, regardless of the country’s crisis of the moment. Not anymore.
Schools are increasingly targets of armed violence, the United Nation’s leading child welfare agency said Thursday, reporting that shootings, ransacking, looting and kidnappings in Haiti’s schools have increased ninefold in one year.
“As children reel from the effects of armed violence, insecurity in Haiti shows no sign of abating,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. “Violence continues to take a heavy toll on children’s lives in and around Port-au-Prince, and schools are no longer spared. A child who is scared to go to school is a child more at risk of being recruited by armed groups. We must act urgently to protect children’s lives and futures.”
