Vanessa Frazier (Special Representative) on her recent mission to Haiti - Press Conference

All right. Good afternoon. We're delighted to be joined by Vanessa Frazier, who is the Secretary General's Special Representative for children in Armed Conflict, who's just been back from Haiti. So, Vanessa, please welcome. And I think this is your first briefing in your. Now that you're part of the team.

Yes, excellent. Welcome.

Thank you very much.

And good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Vanessa Fraser, special representative of the United Nations, Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict.

I have just concluded my first official visit to Haiti as the special representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict and the first visit of NESRs GCAC to the country. I visited Haiti to assess firsthand the situation of children affected by armed violence in the country. I witnessed profound suffering for many children. What I witnessed during my mission has left me deeply concerned, but also profoundly moved by the resilience and courage of Haiti's youngest generation. The challenges faced by children in Haiti are extraordinarily complex, multi layered and multi dimensional. I met young children and adolescents who were already in a situation of vulnerability within their own homes and had gone through an uninterrupted cycle of violence inside and outside their homes. It is difficult to understand that children so young could have already experienced such tragic circumstances. Yet for many, it is a reality. Growing up means a daily struggle to survive, live in constant fear, and be subject to intimidation, violence, family separation, displacement and trauma as gangs take advantage of the vulnerability of these children. The objective of my mission to Haiti was to engage with the representatives of the government and key national institutions to strengthen the protection of children affected by armed violence and support the work of the United nations on the ground. Today, children in Haiti are facing levels of violence that no children anywhere should ever endure. Armed gangs terrorize communities and children are paying the highest price. Price. In 2025 alone, the recruitment and use of children nearly tripled compared to previous years. It is estimated that more than half of gang members are children. Killing and maiming of children almost doubled, as well as abductions. Sexual violence is rampant and increasingly used as a deliberate tactic to instill fear and power. Communities and the military use of schools and hospitals surged sharply, underscoring a sharply deteriorating protection environment. Beyond violence itself, the broader humanitarian and protection crisis is compounding children's suffering. Many children live in areas fully controlled by armed gangs, cut off from schools, health care, and basic protection services. For example, I was informed that 18,000 schools were either destroyed, damaged, or non functional because of the gangs. This isolation dramatically increases their vulnerability to recruitment, exploitation, and abuse. No child should have to grow up in such conditions. During my mission, I met with the Minister of Foreign affairs, Her Excellency, Ms. Raina Forbin, the Ministry of justice and Public Service, the Institut pour la Banetre Social et des Recherches, the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantlement and Reintegration, the special representative of the Gang Suppression Force, as well as representatives of the United nations system, the diplomatic and donor community, civil society organizations, and I also met, of course, with children affected by violence. The Haitian government and its partners reassured me that the protection of children is at the centre of their agenda. I welcomed the government for its efforts in taking concrete steps to protect children, including through the implementation of the Handover Protocol signed with the United nations in 2024, to facilitate the transfer of children associated with gangs to child protection services. I stressed in all my meetings that children encountered during security operations must be treated first and foremost as victims. They must be swiftly handed over to child protection services for care, protection and reintegration, in line with the existing Handover Protocol. This is not always the case and it must change. I visited an overcrowded detention facility in Port au Prince called Saint McCall, where about 80 children have been held for many years in disastrous conditions without charges, including many on the suspicion of association with gangs. No one has ever been seen by a judge.

Some have been there for as long as eight years.

Most do not receive visits from their families. They are on their own. I reiterated that children under the age of 18 encountered during security operations must be treated first and foremost as victims. As I already mentioned, for children who may have committed serious crimes during their association with gangs, international juvenile justice standards apply, with detention to be used as a last resort and in line with Haiti's obligations under the Convention of the Rights of the Child and commitments to the Paris Principles, which it has endorsed. This is a distressing situation. I advocated with Haitian authorities that a solution must be found for these children and that they must be released, some as per the Handover Protocol, with expedited effect, especially as hundreds more children could be arrested and separated from gangs. As the GSF starts its operations on the 1st of June, I want to emphasize that there is a window of opportunity now to do the right thing. As the GSF deploys, security and child protection cannot be separated. Without protecting these children and supporting all children affected by violence, lasting stability in Haiti will not be possible. The special representative of the GSF assured me that protocols and systems were being put in place to protect children during operations and train contingents pre and during deployment on child protection, I also visited a reintegration project, a few reintegration projects actually, in Port au Prince, where I had the privilege of speaking directly with children who have escaped or have been released from armed gangs. I visited another reintegration project in another part of the island called Lekay that receives already some children and is being renovated to receive up to 600 children who are who will be separated from the gangs. The children's testimonies were heartbreaking, but also full of hope.

They told me what they want only one thing, what we hear from children everywhere. They want to go to school, they

want to play, they want to learn

and simply to be children again.

Even in the darkest moments, Haitian children continue to show extraordinary resilience. They deserve more than survival. They deserve the chance to grow, to dream and to redeem and reclaim their childhood.

I want to reiterate the unwavering commitment

of the United nations to support Haiti in all efforts to strengthen the protection of children. We will continue to work closely with the government, benu, unicef, civil society, and all partners to ensure that every child in Haiti is protected, supported and given the opportunity to thrive. Haiti's children are not the future. They are the present. And they cannot wait. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So we'll take some questions.

Thank you so much and congratulation for assuming this important post. My name is Abdul Hamid, Abdul Hamid Sayyam from the Arabic daily Al Qudsel Arabi. I recall that when you were representing your country, you almost broke in tears talking about the children of Gaza without any underestimating the suffering of the children in Haiti and Ukraine. I saw that you started your career going to Ukraine, Russia and Haiti and not paying enough attention to the children in Gaza. The question is why? And second, I just want to recall that your predecessor was the most biased UN official ever. The children she said she wrote about In 2024, only 1,259 Palestinian children were killed, which is. I challenged her that more than this number was killed in one month, not one year. So I want you to give me some your ideas about your report regarding the children of Palestine. Thank you.

Please, shall we take a few?

Oh, I answered. So obviously the. We are in the.

In the process of drafting the Secretary General's annual reports. I cannot comment on the Secretary General's reports and on reports that have not yet been published. But what I can say in general is that, yes, trends have increased. Unfortunately, we are not seeing a decrease in any numbers, which shows just basically how dire the situation of Children continues to be everywhere, not just in Palestine. But when you look at our reporting, it is important to understand that in our specific report in the CAC mandate, the reports need to be UN verified

to a very specific high level. So then you require two primary sources for our reporting. So the numbers are not the absolute numbers. Our report is different than others. So they are reports that indicate the trend and indicate that that violation is occurring in that situation. The numbers are not absolute, but those numbers are verified to such an extreme

level that they can be used even in evidence and court.

Basically the evidence that we have on them, this is the difference. So the numbers will never be the same as they are in even other UN reports. But it's not because there is a disparity.

It is because our method for verifying is different.

And then you also have to understand in Gaza, we have a situation where we do not have access, right?

So the UN verification becomes very difficult.

So this is why the numbers are so low.

But we premise this in the preamble

of the Secretary General's report every year.

So I'm sure that my predecessor would

have explained this also. This is a situation.

Those numbers does not mean that those are the only numbers of children that have died. It just shows that there is this. But when you have over 1,000 children

that have been killed in one situation and you have, you know, 101 and another shows disparities already in our reporting, the numbers from.

If you compare numbers from different situations, you can already tell what.

Where there are big differences, but they're not absolute numbers. This is what I need to explain to you.

Are you planning to visit Gaza or to.

Of course, I would like to visit

every single country situation which is on our report. But, you know, I advocate for all

children, not just for one.

Right.

And we have to. You also have to understand Gaza actually is very well reported on, very well covered. We know what is going on over there.

We have a very dedicated country team

that's doing very good reporting. And, and there are some other situations that really do require urgent attention also. And this is the reason why.

And so I did go to Syria

and Lebanon as one of the first places I went to, because there's clearly

an important change which is going on in Syria, and it is important that we immediately get in to work with the new Syrian government who is determined

to, you know, turn a new leaf and protect children.

So we have to begin at the beginning to accompany them. Of course, I went to Lebanon also because, you know, it was a clear, easiest thing to do. And I'm so glad that I went there before now this outbreak of crisis, because I can understand even better what is going on now. We went to Haiti because there is this window of opportunity which is really important to engage with the government of Haiti at the moment before the GSF starts. So this is one of the reasons why we have carried out these and Ukraine and Russia I visited because this year we, we will also produce the first country report on that situation because it is three years since the first listing in the Secretary General's report of the Russian Federation. So this is how we choose. It is not a priority because of what the children are going through, but it is because of just the way the reporting and the situations reporting

program

for, for our, for our mandate. So this year the important one will be the country report on Ukraine. So of course those two were important. And as I explained, Syria and Lebanon because of the change that happened over

there, and Haiti because of the GSF coming in.

So we try to time them according to what is going on and the

maximum impact we can have because of

the timing of the video visit.

Jessica, then Stephano,

thank you for the briefing. Jessica Lema from France 24. Could you just tell us some more about the children you met? What were their stories? What did they tell you personally about their trajectory, how they ended up in a gang? Did you get a real insight into how that happens? Can you tell us and then who do you blame for their plight? What are the root causes?

So there are a number of causes.

This is not something that just has happened overnight. It is something that has continued. You know, it has grown for many years. The situation in Haiti has been dire. As a developing country, the poverty and the economic development really is one of

the root causes that there is.

The government institutions are very weak also. And you know, there hasn't been elections for 10 years.

So everything feeds into the cycle.

And frankly, I think that, you know, the UN has done very well there and the international community in helping Haiti

move along and helping the people, but not enough. The Haitian government has not done enough to work on its, on developing its economy.

There are huge disparities in the economy.

There are some very, very rich Haitians

and some, and more, you know, less than 1%. And the disparity with the very, very

poor is evident and clearly that is that it all contributes.

So I don't blame anyone. But the situation needs to change and there really is a window opportunity now.

But we have to work on many parallel tracks.

The GSF is an important track because

you need to have the security in order to ensure that there's child protection.

So why do I say this? Let me give you an example.

At the moment, if we separate children from gangs, then there is a handover protocol which works well and we have these children.

I will tell you some of the

stories they told us.

But then when we come to their

reintegration, how do you reintegrate them if

maybe their family is part of a gang or maybe there were violence at home already? I did mention that some of these children first started encountering violence at home and they left. And this is how they found themselves in gangs. And you might also have children that

have parents who are too poor to

take the children back and feed another mouth.

It is a reality of the level of poverty that there is.

It's not because they don't love their

children, but they absolutely cannot take care of them.

And they need the international community to

take care of this child.

And you might not be able to reunite a child because the family might

be able to take care of them

and might not be an active gang member, but they living in an area

which is actively controlled by gangs.

So you are placing the child back

into a vulnerable position. So there are many problems with the reintegration process, which is why the GSF plays a very important part for us

to be able to ensure some of these reintegrations when we have the separations.

Right.

So some of the stories that they told us. I met a 12 year old boy who told me he did not want to go back home because his mother had taken a machete to his head

and he had a huge scar to prove it.

And then he eventually was into a gang, separated and came back out, but does not want to be reintegrated into his family because of this situation. There are many scenes. Single mothers raising children in Haiti. We need to. In my discussions with the government, we spoke very much at the support we have to give to single mothers. Vocational training, creating economic activity for them, because some of them have been with

their husbands who are in gang members.

But it just is a system in the society. There are many single mothers with children. And this is part of the problem. I met some girls which had harrowing stories. One girl told us how she had violence at home.

So she left eventually made her way through five gangs where she was abused and endured a lot of violence against her.

Always leaving and just going back in out of desperation. And the last time she after the fifth gang and she managed to escape and she was living as A homeless person in a cemetery where another homeless man living in the same cemetery raped her three times. There was a woman who took pity on her and asked the authorities if

she could adopt her and take care of her.

And they said, no, you cannot, for some reason. And eventually she made herself her way into this transition center that I visited.

This girl today is only 15.

And it's not a unique story. The stories were harrowing and they were all similar. So it's a cycle. I won't have to repeat every story that we had. There were some girls who even just listening to the others then couldn't even express what they had been through because

it is really something which the sexual

violence is something really very, very present and used a lot. And the girls and even the boys are very vulnerable in that community, unfortunately.

Thank you, Stefano. Then Dorsey, thank you.

Stefano Vaccara italpreslavushi, New York I commend you instead, Ambassador, because I think it was important to go to Haiti because it's incredible what's happening in Haiti and nobody talks about it. There is no big headline anywhere. So part my question was the one that Jessica has one wanted to know about your exchange with the children. At this point, I'm asking this, did that, did any of these children ask you if you actually could do something for them? And I'm talking about, you know, something like as U.N. i mean, did they understand they are maybe 10 years old, 12 years old, but that you represented an organization, a huge organization they feel really wanted. I mean, if the country that belong to this, they could help them, but they don't. And so I ask you that you report and that's your work, your job. But can you also do some work with whatever ambassadors or powerful people to explain that there is no case probably in the world with the responsibility to protect if it still exists, applies to Haiti.

So the UN is really present in Haiti and UNICEF has done incredible things really. And I don't know the situation that the children would be in today if UNICEF wasn't present.

So although the situation is really, really

very dire,

there's a ray of hope because UNICEF is very, very present there

and has done a lot carries out these centers and in very precarious situations. 90% of Port au Prince is covered by is controlled by gangs. So it's really very difficult even for me to get around was very, very difficult for me to fly to Lekai was a whole, you know, it was easier for me to go to the front line of Ukraine, of the Ukraine war than to Fly out of, in and out of Haiti. So, I mean, it is, you know, you really feel the security issue there. And, and you know, hats off to the. I really commend the organizations on the ground. They work a lot. They work a lot. They're very present and they are known. And these children, yes, they did ask us. They want schools. They want schools. And this is why the center that I visited in Lakai, I did speak to the donor community and the foreign, the platter community on my last day that was present there. And I did many of them already

support UNICEF for this project.

And I, you know, will be asking for more support for them because it will be a very important part of the process because in Lekai, it is an area where it does not look like Port au Prince at all. It looks like what Haiti should be, you know, and if we manage to,

you know, with the gsf, we're separating children, managed to take them to the

same center for rehabilitation and there's some reintegration there.

There is a school on the premises. They can have some vocational training depending on their age. If they're older, to be vocational training.

If they're younger, they would of course be inserted into the educational system.

But there then it is important that really.

And this was my discussions with the

Haitian government, the Haitian government has its own role to play also.

Economic activity is very important.

So if we are going to have this process, if you're going to train

these, you know, in the reintegration program, you're going to give vocational training.

But then they come out of the

reintegration program and they don't have anywhere where they can use this vocational training you gave them. What's the point?

Right?

So we need to work hand in hand with many agencies in order to ensure child protection fully. The economic part of it is very important. We need to create jobs.

You need to create jobs for the mothers, but also for these children that we are trying to reenter.

Children, not the very young, I'm talking 16, 17 and 17 year olds that we can give vocational training to make sure that they don't go back into the gangs. Because if they come out of our reintegration at 17, 18, and they have, you know, no, no job, they're going to. The independent.

Can't just live at home or go to school.

Right?

They're going to go back into a gang and you just have a vicious circle.

So you need to create this economic activity. There are things that can be done, of course, but we need to have public private partnerships need to engage. You know, there could be tourism centers. Lakai is a beautiful area with the most magnificent beaches. You know, there could be activity which has developed.

It has its own airport. Clearly it is a city safe area, safe part of the island.

You know, one could try to develop and create jobs. It's very important.

Thanks very much. I think you said that GSF will start operating June 1st. Because what my understanding is that they will be, I guess, fully deployed by the end of the year for the

operation, I think in October

through December. So it's a little confusing. So when they say they're going to be combating gangs, what is your understanding of that? Because I'm sort of surprised to hear you say that they're going to be working with children on reintegrating children separating from the gangs. That sounds like something.

I do not say that.

Okay, so what they will separate.

So.

So what will happen is we have

a handover protocol with the Haitian government for children who are separated from armed

groups to be handed over to the United nations system for their integration process.

Now, at this point in time, the

GSF and the Haitian government are also negotiating their own protocol which will feed into ours. So as the GSF will be suppressing gangs, they, the children will be separated and those children will be given to the Haitian government who, through the. Who will then, through the Handover protocol, give them to us. They don't give. The GSF will not give the children

to the United Nations.

This will go to the Haitian government who will then hand over to the United nations system through the Handover protocol.

So this Haitian government agency is competent enough to.

They have been very responsive.

So far the handover protocol has worked well. They have agreed that the definition of a child is anyone up to the age of 18. This is what is defined in our Handover protocol and it was being negotiated the definition which is being used also for the GSF protocol with them. So they have been very. When I was at Sarah McCall, I said that there were 80 children in this detention center who are still in pre trial detention. I immediately advocated for 30 of them to be handed over to the UN system through the Handover protocol.

And I heard today already that the Haitian government has been responsive and this will be implemented.

So they're very responsive.

Last question, Joe. Yeah.

Joseph Klein, Canada Free Press during your visit in Haiti, did you experience any resistance to speak with you or any distrust of the UN Kind of as a residual consequence of the cholera epidemic that the UN Peacekeepers caused?

No, not at all. The UN Flag flies very high there. There's an actual fact, I think, for me, I think that maybe there's a bit too many expectations on the un. I feel that the Haitian government needs to understand there are some decisions and some policies that they have to carry out, right? Like, you know, facilitating economic activity, incentives for, you know, with the rich Haitians to create economic activity for the poorer Haitians to create jobs. There are some things that the Haitian government, with us accompanying them, of course, other United nations bodies, not us, but it is important for us and the child protection, to ensure child protection system in general. But no, the un. I had all those open to me. My program was so packed every single day that at one point I had to remind them that I hadn't eaten for a day and a half. And please, can I eat a sandwich when we're in the car going between one meeting to the other. And they brought us a sandwich because we were like, everybody wanted to meet to talk with us, to discuss with us what can we do. So completely open to. And they really, you know, depend on the UN's assistance and guidance.

Vanessa, thank you very much. We hope to see you back here soon.

I hope so, too. Thank you.