Haiti: schools closed, continuous violence, food emergency, millions of people at risk of famine

ROMA – Against the backdrop of the humanitarian crisis and the fighting between armed gangs in Haiti, the United Nations agencies in the field document the difficult living conditions of children, on whom the worst effects of this guerrilla war fall, including closed schools, violence and now also a serious food crisis. According to a recent report published by theHIM, students in the capital Port-au-Prince have lost hundreds of hours of lessons.

The closure of schools. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) at the end of January 900 schools were temporarily closed throughout the country but the majority of them are located in Port-au-Prince, and around 200 thousand children and young people were left without lessons. Other schools, the few that remained open, closed at the end of February in the capital, when armed gangs attacked the prisons and freed 4,500 prisoners, opening up a new, even bloodier phase of the ongoing guerrilla war. The gangs now control 80 to 90 percent of the capital’s neighborhoods and children are particularly exposed to violence, sexual abuse and recruitment. “The people of Haiti are caught in the crossfire,” explains Catherine Russell, head of UNICEF. “Children’s spaces have turned into battlefields. Every day that passes brings new hardships and new horrors.”

Schools and children. By the end of March, the spiral of violence had displaced at least 362,000 people, many of whom had found temporary refuge in public buildings, including schools. Every classroom in every school has been transformed into a temporary home for multiple families. Playgrounds have become makeshift refugee camps full of tents welcoming refugees. The gyms have been transformed into open dormitories for those seeking safety. “Many schools are not accessible because they are located in places where guerrilla warfare is particularly violent,” says Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative. “Some school facilities are occupied by gangs, others by displaced people and still others have been looted or destroyed.” On the afternoon of March 25, heavily armed groups entered a school in the center of Port-au-Prince and set fire to 23 classrooms. In another incident in the La Saline neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, 3,500 children were trapped in two schools as gangs fought outside the buildings. UNICEF had to deal with the armed groups for four days of followed to ensure the safe release of all children. The situation for children in Haiti is very dangerous – explains Maes – because they are killed, injured, many are terrified by the violence they see every day, including bodies burned in the streets. Despite the obvious dangers , parents still want to send their children to school, UNICEF points out.

What happens outside Port-au-Prince. As the gangs continue to expand control over roads, ports and other crucial infrastructure within the capital, they now aim to conquer other facilities in other areas of the country, where in general schools are still open and functioning and are welcoming many children displaced people from Port-au-Prince, to allow them to continue their studies even if their parents cannot afford to pay for tuition and fees.

The humanitarian response. United Nations agencies are working together to distribute basic necessities such as food, water and shelter to thousands of Haitians in need and to help children return to school. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) currently provides psychosocial support to students forced to leave school due to violence and the World Food Program (WFP) provides hot meals to 250,000 children across the country. UNICEF is committed to the school reintegration of children who have escaped violence in the capital, also creating alternative learning programs to in-person school.