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UN PhotoUNICEF / HAITI CHILD RECRUITMENT
STORY: UNICEF / HAITI CHILD RECRUITMENT
TRT: 01:56
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: HAITIAN CREOLE / NO SOUND
DATELINE: 14 AUGUST 2025, HAITI
1. Close up, a child shuffles a deck of cards
2. Med shot, children play together
3. Med shot, feet of three young boys
4. Close up, hands of a child
5. Close up, a child moving his feet
6. Close up, a young boy sketches with a pencil at the transit centre
7. Close up, feet move restlessly
8. Various shots, hands carefully arrange dominoes
9. Close up, the silhouette of a teenage girl, her face subdued
10. Med shot, children sit on the ground and play cards at the transit centre
11. Med shot, children play soccer at the transit centre
12. Wide shot, children gather around a table and share a meal at the transit centre
13. Close up, a child eats quietly
14. Close up, a child writes on a blank sheet of paper
15. SOUNDBITE (Haitian Creole) Ali, 15 (name changed), displaced orphaned child:
“Before all of this, I lived with my mother. There was a lot of shooting. I lost my mother to this violence. I became a street child begging to survive and sleeping on the streets. It was a Saturday. I was walking when a black car stopped near us. Men got out and offered us a lot of money. Five of my friends went to take it. They were happy. Then the men pulled out five guns and handed them to my friends. They ordered me to go buy marijuana in the street. When I said I couldn’t do that, they yelled at me to do it. I really like this space. Here, I find friends to play with. They take good care of us. One day, I dream of becoming a pilot.”
16. Close up, a child’s mouth, quiet
Before violence shattered his life, Ali, 15 (name changed) lived with his mother. After intense gunfire erupted in his neighborhood, he lost her to the violence and was left alone. Forced onto the streets, he begged to survive and slept outside, exposed to abuse and exploitation. One day, men approached him and his friends with money. Moments later, guns were placed in the hands of the boys. When Ali refused to follow their orders, he was threatened.
Today, Ali is at a transit centre established by UNICEF and the Haitian Institute of Social Welfare and Research (IBESR), where he is receiving care, protection and psychosocial support. In 2025, the Haitian government and UNICEF launched the PREJEUNES programme to strengthen the prevention of and response to child recruitment. Since 2024, more than 500 children formerly associated with armed groups have received specialized protection and reintegration support across Haiti.
“I really like this space. Here, I find friends to play with. They take good care of us. One day, I dream of becoming a pilot,” said Ali.
The number of children in Haiti recruited and used by armed groups has skyrocketed by an estimated 200 percent in 2025. And overall situation for children in Haiti remains critical. More than 1.4 million people are internally displaced, over half of them children facing overlapping crises, including armed violence, natural disasters, and extreme poverty. These conditions have fueled the growth of armed groups, increasingly forcing children into recruitment.
