Number of displaced children in Haiti almost doubles in one year

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PORT-AU-PRINCE/NEW YORK, 8 October 2025 - The number of children displaced by violence in Haiti has almost doubled in the past year, with 680,000 now uprooted from their homes, according to a new UNICEF Child Alert report released today. Overall, more than 1.3 million people are displaced across the country as spiraling violence, collapsing services, and lack of humanitarian access push Haiti deeper into crisis.

The report warns that the scale of displacement is unprecedented as the number of displacement sites has soared to 246 nationwide in the first half of 2025 alone, while many children have been forced to flee multiple times as violence spreads.

"Children in Haiti are experiencing violence and displacement at a terrifying scale," said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. "Each time they are forced to flee, they lose not only their homes but also their chance to go to school, and simply to be children."

The Child Alert highlights that displacement is compounding other crises. Over 33 per cent of sites lack basic protection infrastructure, leaving children and women at heightened risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse. Schools often double as shelters, further disrupting education for nearly half a million students.

Haiti continues to face overlapping crises with now more than 3.3 million children requiring humanitarian assistance; over one million children face critical levels of food insecurity. Approximately 288,544 children under five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year. Armed groups control more than 85 per cent of Port-au-Prince and key roads, cutting families off from food, health care, and protection, while humanitarian actors risk grave danger to reach those most in need.

Together with partners so far this year, UNICEF has treated more than 86,000 children with wasting, provided healthcare to 117,000 people, and reached 140,000 people with safe water. Since 2024, the Government of Haiti and UNICEF have demobilized and reintegrated over 178 children through the framework of the Protocol for the Handover of Children Associated with Armed Groups.

UNICEF is calling for urgent international support to scale up life-saving assistance and protection for displaced children, including safe shelter, family tracing and reunification, psychosocial support, and access to health, nutrition, education, and clean water and sanitation.

Yet UNICEF's Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Haiti remains severely underfunded. Without an immediate injection of resources, critical programmes will be severely constrained, depriving children of the protection and care they desperately need.

"The children of Haiti cannot wait," said Russell. "Like every child, they deserve a chance to be safe, healthy and to live in peace. It is up to us to take action for Haiti's children now."

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Download the full Child Alert here: LINK