Haiti

In his 2025 annual report (S/2025/247) on children and armed conflict (CAAC), the Secretary-General (SG) listed the Viv Ansanm coalition for the recruitment and use and the killing and maiming of children, rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, and attacks on schools and hospitals. The SG’s latest report on Haiti (S/2025/641), highlighted escalating child protection concerns linked to widespread gang violence with 60 cases of killing and maiming and the abduction of at least 12 children, while gangs continued to subject children to sexual violence, including rape and sexual slavery. In September 2025, the Security Council authorized the transition of the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support Mission to a Gang Suppression Force (GSF), alongside the establishment of a United Nations Support Office to provide logistical and operational assistance. The mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) was extended through January 2026. The Security Council should:

• Ensure that the GSF prioritizes and mainstreams the protection of children throughout its mandate in all the planning and conduct of its operations, including through capacity-building; supports the release and recovery of children from armed gangs and their immediate handover to civilian child protection actors, and provides protection to and facilitates access for child protection actors to affected children;
• Call on Member States participating in the GSF to establish an oversight mechanism to prevent human rights violations or abuses, in particular sexual exploitation and abuse, to deploy dedicated child and Women’s Protection Advisers;
• Call on all parties to take immediate and concrete steps to end and prevent rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, ensure survivors have access to comprehensive, gender-sensitive, and age-appropriate response systems and services, and strengthen preventive measures;
• Urge all armed gangs to immediately release all children under 18 from their ranks and end and prevent all child recruitment and use, the killing and maiming of children, their abductions; reiterate that children associated with armed forces and gangs should be treated primarily as victims, and their reintegration should be prioritized; encourage the Government of Haiti to fully and consistently implement its 2024 handover protocol on the transfer and reintegration of children allegedly associated with armed gangs and the release of detained children to civilian actors, including through sufficient child protection capacities;
• Call on the Viv Ansanm coalition to adopt action plans with the United Nations to end and prevent grave violations against children;
• Call on all parties to allow and facilitate the safe, timely, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected populations, especially children;
• Urge donors to swiftly mobilize additional flexible funds to support the humanitarian response in Haiti, including resources for child protection and reintegration programs.

PANAMA AND THE UNITED STATES ARE THE SECURITY COUNCIL PENHOLDERS ON HAITI.

This information is based on Watchlist’s Children and Armed Conflict Monthly Update – January 2026.