Haitian children are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire as more are recruited into gangs dominating large swaths of the country, according to a UN official.
In a press briefing, Roberto Benes, UNICEF regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, said he observed an increase in the recruitment of children, with kids as young as 10 being forced into the organizations.
Benet went on to say that he will play a role in the training of armed forces set to be deployed to the country to strengthen the fight against gangs.
The UN Security Council has approved expanding and transforming the current security mission, mostly comprised of Kenyan police officers, which has largely been unable to yield results.
The unit can now have up to 5,500 uniformed personnel and can have both police officers and soldiers. This stands in contrast with the current mission, which only contemplates police.
"We have all mechanisms in place to ensure that whoever will be mandated on the ground to actively carry out this operation is properly trained," Benes said in another passage of the briefing.
The proposal was pitched by the U.S. and Panama. Before the vote, the U.S.'s s chargé d'affaires in Haiti, Henry Wooster, said the force would be much more lethal than the current one.
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