The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated this Saturday that some 2.6 million children and adolescents in Haiti they will need humanitarian aid immediately this 2023 due to the violent crisis that plagues that country.
“Humanitarian assistance to children, adolescents and their families, one of the few remaining lifelines for children and adolescents in Haiti, is a ‘bumper’ that prevents the country from entering a spiral of social unrest, insecurity, instability and more poverty”, said the director for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNICEF, Garry Conilleduring a visit to the country this week.
The number of Haitian minors in need of humanitarian assistance increased “Half a million” in the last two years due to the increase in the Gun violence, the cholera outbreak, food insecurity and inflation their access to basic services was restricted, according to Unicef.
“This is one of the most difficult times to be a child or adolescent in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” Conille said.
And he added that “with a limited access to clean water, affordable food, basic health care and protectionchildren, adolescents and their families are reaching a critical point”.
“Without urgent additional support, their humanitarian situation is likely to deteriorate further in the coming months,” he warned.
Unicef warned that the crisis in Haiti is affecting the protection and education of minorssince most of the schools were closed for seven months in 2022 and they started to reopen last October and that around 1.2 million minors are threatened by violence in Port au Prince.
Like the cholera outbreak, which has claimed more than 500 deaths since it was declared last October, it is also harming infants since children under 10 years of age account for one in three confirmed casesaccording to the UN agency.
“Regardless of what may divide Haitians, the future of our children and adolescents should unite us all. Entrepreneurs, civil servants, artists, teachers, professors, nurses and religious leaders can be part of a positive domino effect throughout Haiti by investing in children,” Conille pointed out.
Unicef called on the international community to “urgently” increase funding to the humanitarian response in Haiti.
The Fund is looking 210 million dollars for its operations in Haiti in 2023, more than double what it requested last year, due to the growing need to provide services to children, Conille noted.
It is also trying to address the gender violence and violence towards children in Haitian homes, where corporal punishment remains common.
Haiti has been immersed in crisis and violence for years, a situation that worsened after the assassination in July 2021 of the then president Jovenel Moïse by alleged mercenaries, most of them Colombians, who broke into his private residence.
Last October, the Government officially requested the dispatch of a foreign force, to which the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterresproposed establishing a “quick acting force” made up of soldiers from one or several countries and not under the United Nations flag, an initiative that has not yet materialized.
(With information from EFE and Reuters)
Keep reading:
UNICEF warned of the displacement of 37 million children, an unprecedented number since World War II
UNICEF warned that 7 million children are at risk from Russian attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine
The six pillars of educational transformation according to a Unicef study
Source-www.infobae.com